Of course, time will tell everything. But I think that if Bukele's doing something tremendous can benefit his country and citizens with this project, it will make a big impact.
I agree. Bukele is taking a step in the right direction. And I'm pretty sure others will follow if he can pull it off. If I were in a position of power in my country, I would definitely be getting on board, although I'm not sure I'd adopt Bitcoin. Definitely a faster blockchain with wit higher capacity. EOS? Solana? Another option?
It was a pleasure to write. And thanks for the comment. As a Venezuelan AND crypto enthusiast, El Salvador is definitely on my radar. A lot of the same problems that led to Bukele's decision are valid here. Our central bank is not independent from the national government and bad monetary policy has lead us to have the world's highest inflation rate. We've had two "reconversions" that slashed some zeros from our currency; 8 in total. So 1 of today's Bolívares is worth 800,000,000 of the ones that were circulating in 2000. Even so, current exchange rate is about 3.200.000 Bolívares per US dollar. If you do the math, that's 320,000,000,000,000 old Bolívares. BTW, our highest denomination bank note is for 1,000,000 Bolívares (about 30 US cents). So, bad monetary policy leading to hyperinflation, check. The US dollar hasn't been officially declared as legal tender, but any store you go into will have their product's prices listed in US dollars. Finally, with millions of Venezuelans having fled the country, there are a lot of remittances flowing into families here. So we're in basically the same place El Salvador is right now. The difference is that we don't see president Maduro adopting Bitcoin. Especially since he insists on government-created Petro crypto token, which has been a complete failure. But adoption of cryptocurrencies could happen anyway, as more people and businesses are starting to use it. For the past month I've been able to shop at a local mini market that started accepting BNB.
Thanks for the comment. You're absolutely right! If El Salvador can pull it off, anyone can. And as more countries share their success stories, the ones that follow will have an easier time because investors will want to get in on the action that has proven effective elsewhere. Being the first, they will have to work hard to pave the road. Believe me... if I could move to El Salvador just to add one more person to those using Bitcoin daily, I would.
Salvador has been making a lot of changes for the better this last years. This is prove of it. Even if for some extremely reason this “doesn’t work” (which I don’t see possible) they’re trying to changes how things are getting done !
Absolutely. You can be on the opposing end of Bukele's political views, criticize him for being a bit too authoritarian or question his motivations for all of if. But you can't say there have been no results. There have been positive actions and changes in the country. They are trying new ways of doing things and this is something we can all see. As a medical doctor, I was absolutely impressed by the COVID-specific hospital he put together. I hope he can be at least half as successful with Bitcoin.
I want them to succeed as well. I'm sure that if they do, it will start a domino effect around the world. Their announcement to adopt Bitcoin might not be enough to give the push towards more countries doing the same. But their success will be. I'm pretty sure of it.
It's a huge step from El Salvador, and I think developing countries like El Salvador should also make use of BTC and other cryptocurrencies, because it would take them one step closer to their goals. On the other hand, I don't believe developed countries will do something about this in short run. They are just observing for now, their welfare and economy are in a good position so they don't want to take a radical decision yet.
There ARE countries where the traditional banking system works better than in developing countries and they have good, solid monetary policy. Inflation is low to negligible and they don't depend as much on remittances (more likely those are the very countries remittances are coming from). So, of course they will be slower to adopt cryptocurrrencies. It's an "If it ain't broken" situation for them. So crypto and DeFi enthusiasts should definitely be looking elsewhere for good news. It's developing countries that are more likely to adopt first, and where success (or failure) stories will probably be initially coming from.
I want to see how big businesses like McDonald's implement this. It will set a precedent to be used elsewhere and hopefully boost Bitcoin adoption worldwide.
We're living in exciting times. Good things are happening.
Funnily enough, McDonald's was explicitly mentioned during one of the government's announcements. Right now I can't recall whether it was Bukele or Zavala that said something along the lines of "When you walk into your local McDonald's, they won't be able to say "we don't take Bitcoin". They'll have to do it because Bitcoin is legal tender". You just have to love how a tiny Central American country is basically forcing one of the most iconic US companies to accept crypto.
El Salvador has made a life changing move and if it's Successfully implemented/Completed i can assure that El Salvador names would be remembered atleast by the 70% of the world cause this move can change Everything in El Salvador and their move can change the whole world cause if they are successful other countries are gonna adapt it too and i heard some news that USA is also thinking about something don't know what but we will get to know in the upcoming days :)
Thanks for the comment. AFAIK, the US (like Sweden and China, among others) are thinking more along the lines of a CBDC (central bank digital coin). These would be purely digital like cryptocurrencies, but controlled and issued by a central bank instead of decentralized. Basically just regular US dollars, except they wouldn't need to print bills or mint any coins. Sweden was actually among the first countries to state their intentions in this area. I think it was in 2019 that a government spokesman stated that most payments in the country were electronic anyways, so they were thinking of stopping issuing physical currency altogether. I have a friend in Malmö who says he hasn't used or even held any cash in over five years.
Thanks for the comment. You're right. It's a step in the right direction but a lot of things can go wrong. We'll just have to hold our breaths and hope Murphy's Law doesn't come anywhere near El Salvador for now.
A very nice article. I didn’t have much background on El Salvador or Bukele. It’s interesting that the attorney general was let go under the circumstances. Did the investigation just stop after that?
Thanks for the comment. I'm not Salvadoran and have little knowledge of Salvadoran Constitutional Law, so I won't comment on the legality of what happened. But I do know that the investigation by the Attorney General's office was stopped in its tracks.
Hearing things like this while BTC is falling gives me hope
I hope many countries support btc like el salvador because if the states support it, men like elon musk can't control the market, the people win
El Salvador introduced his country to the world with this news. I'm sure the bad economy will improve, this news is officially revolutionary in the economy, congratulations al salvador
Citizens will continue to lose if governments do not support crypto.
Biden, Putin, Macron, Erdogan please hear my voice
I don't know where El Salvador is. I think he was the initiator of a very important revolution. I think in a hundred years ' time, El Salvador will be written in textbooks.I believe that this is just the beginning. Other countries will not be insensitive to this and will accept it one by one. But it's not a week's process, maybe it'll take years.
Thanks for the comment. El Salvador truly is a pioneer, taking that all-important first step into something new. I'm hoping this will be just the first of many countries that will adopt crypto and make them legal tender or, at least, officially support them alongside their fiat currencies. They do have to fight a bit battle, both from within (there's already a petition to the Salvadoran congress to derogate the Bitcoin Law) and from abroad, as central banks, the World Bank and IMF aren't going to let go of their control that easily. But Bukele seems to have the big brass ones needed to pull it off.
In 2018 I was happy just hearing news saying that certain cities around the world are thinking of adopting crypto. It didn't happen and bitcoin recovered. Even if something were to go wrong in the next 3 months (which I'm expecting 100%) Bitcoin will prevail!
Of course, time will tell everything. But I think that if Bukele's doing something tremendous can benefit his country and citizens with this project, it will make a big impact.
I agree. Bukele is taking a step in the right direction. And I'm pretty sure others will follow if he can pull it off. If I were in a position of power in my country, I would definitely be getting on board, although I'm not sure I'd adopt Bitcoin. Definitely a faster blockchain with wit higher capacity. EOS? Solana? Another option?
I wish America was cool enough to do something like this, it would help with the debt problem with China, that's for sure.
America is cool enough. El Salvador is in America, after all! :)
Yes !!!
America is a continent !
Good point!
I think anything can happen in the future. Who knows :)
I think it's a logical decision to take a step towards predictable innovation when a country is in bad shape or not. This applies to all countries.
In this direction, it will provide an extraordinary benefit rather than the problem it brings to the country.
I think other countries should take an example.
Thanks for the article.
It was a pleasure to write. And thanks for the comment. As a Venezuelan AND crypto enthusiast, El Salvador is definitely on my radar. A lot of the same problems that led to Bukele's decision are valid here. Our central bank is not independent from the national government and bad monetary policy has lead us to have the world's highest inflation rate. We've had two "reconversions" that slashed some zeros from our currency; 8 in total. So 1 of today's Bolívares is worth 800,000,000 of the ones that were circulating in 2000. Even so, current exchange rate is about 3.200.000 Bolívares per US dollar. If you do the math, that's 320,000,000,000,000 old Bolívares. BTW, our highest denomination bank note is for 1,000,000 Bolívares (about 30 US cents). So, bad monetary policy leading to hyperinflation, check. The US dollar hasn't been officially declared as legal tender, but any store you go into will have their product's prices listed in US dollars. Finally, with millions of Venezuelans having fled the country, there are a lot of remittances flowing into families here. So we're in basically the same place El Salvador is right now. The difference is that we don't see president Maduro adopting Bitcoin. Especially since he insists on government-created Petro crypto token, which has been a complete failure. But adoption of cryptocurrencies could happen anyway, as more people and businesses are starting to use it. For the past month I've been able to shop at a local mini market that started accepting BNB.
As you said, I didn't know where El Salvador was.
I found out after the bitcoin decision.
But I loved the sections in the article.
The reason is that everyone is just talking about the good aspects.
They talk about the hard parts as if they don't exist.
But here's the good part.
If El salvador can do it, every country can do it.
Actually, it's a great task, although it's a difficult task.
I hope El Salvador makes it.
El Salvador must succeed.
Thanks for the article.
Have a nice day.
Thanks for the comment. You're absolutely right! If El Salvador can pull it off, anyone can. And as more countries share their success stories, the ones that follow will have an easier time because investors will want to get in on the action that has proven effective elsewhere. Being the first, they will have to work hard to pave the road. Believe me... if I could move to El Salvador just to add one more person to those using Bitcoin daily, I would.
Salvador has been making a lot of changes for the better this last years. This is prove of it. Even if for some extremely reason this “doesn’t work” (which I don’t see possible) they’re trying to changes how things are getting done !
Absolutely. You can be on the opposing end of Bukele's political views, criticize him for being a bit too authoritarian or question his motivations for all of if. But you can't say there have been no results. There have been positive actions and changes in the country. They are trying new ways of doing things and this is something we can all see. As a medical doctor, I was absolutely impressed by the COVID-specific hospital he put together. I hope he can be at least half as successful with Bitcoin.
Time will tell. Thanks for the update on the situation. I'll keep this in my radar.
Thanks for the comment, I was my pleasure
I really want El Salvador to use bitcoin successfully.
this would be the first successful example of a real exercise.
and many countries will follow.
In other words, we will have taken a big step towards the world we have dreamed of.
All of us who invest in crypto and rely on this technology should do something and play a role in its success.
El Salvador's success or failure will not only affect them.
We must take responsibility.
Thanks for the great article.
I want them to succeed as well. I'm sure that if they do, it will start a domino effect around the world. Their announcement to adopt Bitcoin might not be enough to give the push towards more countries doing the same. But their success will be. I'm pretty sure of it.
It's a huge step from El Salvador, and I think developing countries like El Salvador should also make use of BTC and other cryptocurrencies, because it would take them one step closer to their goals. On the other hand, I don't believe developed countries will do something about this in short run. They are just observing for now, their welfare and economy are in a good position so they don't want to take a radical decision yet.
Hopefully, we will get good news gradually.
There ARE countries where the traditional banking system works better than in developing countries and they have good, solid monetary policy. Inflation is low to negligible and they don't depend as much on remittances (more likely those are the very countries remittances are coming from). So, of course they will be slower to adopt cryptocurrrencies. It's an "If it ain't broken" situation for them. So crypto and DeFi enthusiasts should definitely be looking elsewhere for good news. It's developing countries that are more likely to adopt first, and where success (or failure) stories will probably be initially coming from.
That makes sense! Thanks for adding up to my comment.
I want to see how big businesses like McDonald's implement this. It will set a precedent to be used elsewhere and hopefully boost Bitcoin adoption worldwide.
We're living in exciting times. Good things are happening.
Funnily enough, McDonald's was explicitly mentioned during one of the government's announcements. Right now I can't recall whether it was Bukele or Zavala that said something along the lines of "When you walk into your local McDonald's, they won't be able to say "we don't take Bitcoin". They'll have to do it because Bitcoin is legal tender". You just have to love how a tiny Central American country is basically forcing one of the most iconic US companies to accept crypto.
El Salvador has made a life changing move and if it's Successfully implemented/Completed i can assure that El Salvador names would be remembered atleast by the 70% of the world cause this move can change Everything in El Salvador and their move can change the whole world cause if they are successful other countries are gonna adapt it too and i heard some news that USA is also thinking about something don't know what but we will get to know in the upcoming days :)
Thanks for the comment. AFAIK, the US (like Sweden and China, among others) are thinking more along the lines of a CBDC (central bank digital coin). These would be purely digital like cryptocurrencies, but controlled and issued by a central bank instead of decentralized. Basically just regular US dollars, except they wouldn't need to print bills or mint any coins. Sweden was actually among the first countries to state their intentions in this area. I think it was in 2019 that a government spokesman stated that most payments in the country were electronic anyways, so they were thinking of stopping issuing physical currency altogether. I have a friend in Malmö who says he hasn't used or even held any cash in over five years.
Great read! Even though there are a lot of things that can go wrong, definitely a step in the right direction.
Thanks for the comment. You're right. It's a step in the right direction but a lot of things can go wrong. We'll just have to hold our breaths and hope Murphy's Law doesn't come anywhere near El Salvador for now.
A very nice article. I didn’t have much background on El Salvador or Bukele. It’s interesting that the attorney general was let go under the circumstances. Did the investigation just stop after that?
Thanks for the comment. I'm not Salvadoran and have little knowledge of Salvadoran Constitutional Law, so I won't comment on the legality of what happened. But I do know that the investigation by the Attorney General's office was stopped in its tracks.
I'm so glad to hear that
Hearing things like this while BTC is falling gives me hope
I hope many countries support btc like el salvador because if the states support it, men like elon musk can't control the market, the people win
El Salvador introduced his country to the world with this news. I'm sure the bad economy will improve, this news is officially revolutionary in the economy, congratulations al salvador
Citizens will continue to lose if governments do not support crypto.
Biden, Putin, Macron, Erdogan please hear my voice
thanks for your time
I don't know where El Salvador is. I think he was the initiator of a very important revolution. I think in a hundred years ' time, El Salvador will be written in textbooks.I believe that this is just the beginning. Other countries will not be insensitive to this and will accept it one by one. But it's not a week's process, maybe it'll take years.
Thanks for the comment. El Salvador truly is a pioneer, taking that all-important first step into something new. I'm hoping this will be just the first of many countries that will adopt crypto and make them legal tender or, at least, officially support them alongside their fiat currencies. They do have to fight a bit battle, both from within (there's already a petition to the Salvadoran congress to derogate the Bitcoin Law) and from abroad, as central banks, the World Bank and IMF aren't going to let go of their control that easily. But Bukele seems to have the big brass ones needed to pull it off.
In 2018 I was happy just hearing news saying that certain cities around the world are thinking of adopting crypto. It didn't happen and bitcoin recovered. Even if something were to go wrong in the next 3 months (which I'm expecting 100%) Bitcoin will prevail!
El salavador also believes that such a tender has a positive result, and the bill gradually increases the acceptability of bitcoin by countries.
If El Salvador uses this trump correctly, its rise will be inevitable.