Two years ago, El Salvador shrugged off a chorus of warnings and adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in a bid to revitalize its economy and improve access to financial services.Economist Cesar Villalona told AFP that Bitcoin "does not exist in the local economy" in any significant way, because in El Salvador "everything" is paid in dollars: wages, services and goods.
  • 1bluepixel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9915·
    10 months ago

    Despite government incentives to use Bitcoin, people distrust it because they know how volatile it is and 70% of the population thinks it’s a scam.

    Turns out even the Salvadoran poor are more financially savvy than tech bros.

    • alienanimals@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1053·
      10 months ago

      1bluepixel is an intelligent person who knows what he is talking about!

      Edit: Alright, I’ll admit I’m wrong. You are pretty dumb. Stay classy.

      • 1bluepixel@lemmy.worldEnglish
        447·
        10 months ago

        El Salvador adopted both BTC and the U.S. dollar at the same time as national currencies. It’s not a matter of BTC vs. SVC.

        Edit: The person I’m replying to edited their comment instead of admitting they were wrong. Classy.

        • dogslayeggs@lemmy.worldEnglish
          329·
          10 months ago

          You’re getting downvotes from the cryptobros who refuse to acknowledge the legitimate criticism of their holy savior BTC.

          • deafboy@lemmy.worldEnglish
            21·
            10 months ago

            I have not seen a single piece of legitimate criticism of BTC anywhere on the whole wide lemmyverse. And there’s plenty to criticize.

        • moriquende@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          10 months ago

          El Salvador adopted USD in 2001 and phased out the Colon (former currency) over the next few years. Bitcoin came way later.

      • dogslayeggs@lemmy.worldEnglish
        195·
        10 months ago

        The story and OP’s blurb both say that all the locals use USD for everything, not the El Salvador Colon. So you comparing the volatility of the ESC to BTC is worthless.

    • SuperDuper@lemmy.worldEnglish
      294·
      10 months ago

      Imagine buying groceries with bitcoin and having to wait 15 minutes at the register for enough confirmations to post on the block chain, only to realize that if you had gone to the store 15 minutes later your groceries would have cost $8 less due to the constantly changing value of your currency.

      • Pratai@lemmy.caEnglish
        93·
        10 months ago

        I’m finding it hard enough imagining that bitcoin has any true value.

      • ourob@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        42·
        10 months ago

        This is why I don’t accept that any crypto is currently acting as a functional currency. Who is out there actually pricing things in bitcoin? You’d have to be a fool since you would have little to no control of whether or not you could possibly make a profit.

  • deafboy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    10 months ago

    One cannot force people to be free. Bukele did a huge disservice to bitcoin by making its acceptance mandatory.

    Organic adoption is the only way.

    The most depressing is the fact that he will be unjustly celebrated by the same media outlets that criticize him, in <2years when the bitcoin price peaks again.

  • shortwavesurfer@monero.townEnglish
    1334·
    10 months ago

    The reason this article exists is because the price as measured in blood money is 26k. If it were 60k a whole different tune would be playing about how great of an idea it was. Actually imo its better now than at its high because moon boys want little to do with it while people who really understand why it exists use it just fine.

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.worldEnglish
      423·
      10 months ago

      So you are saying that if Bitcoin weren’t so volatile, then this would be a good idea? I mean, if my grandma had two wheels she’d be a bicycle.

      • shortwavesurfer@monero.townEnglish
        715·
        10 months ago

        No, i am saying that even though it is volitile it has people who will use it anyway. I am personally a monero user and i buy some on a monthly basis (id really love to get paid in it) and then pay my bills with it, spend it on things i want, and do it all again next month. I really don’t have to concern myself with the price because i am organically using it and will get more in a few weeks no matter what the price does.