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- El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s attempts to adopt Bitcoin have been met with skepticism by three-quarters of Salvadorans
- Disruptiva, a researcher, performed the study, which has a margin of error of 2.8 percent
- Almost half of the respondents 46% acknowledged having no knowledge of Bitcoin
According to a poll issued on Thursday, more than three-quarters of El Salvadorans are suspicious of President Nayib Bukele’s quest to recognize bitcoin as alternative legal cash, a blow to the maverick leader. Only 20% of those polled in El Salvador approved the adoption of Bitcoin legal tender, according to the survey, which was conducted between July 1 and July 4. Last month, President Bukele’s congressional colleagues adopted legislation granting bitcoin official currency status in the small Central American nation, a first for bitcoin. President Bukele said pushed for bitcoin adoption as a method to make it easier for Salvadorans living abroad to send money home.
Report of the researcher Disruptiva
The poll was performed by researcher Disruptiva, which is linked with Francisco Gavidia University and has a margin of error of 2.8 percent. According to Reuters, roughly 54% of respondents thought the Bitcoin adoption campaign was completely incorrect, while another 24% thought it was only somewhat true.
Almost half of the respondents (46%) acknowledged having no knowledge of Bitcoin. Around 65 percent of them were uninterested in being compensated in digital currency. Oscar Picardo, the head of Disruptiva’s institute of research, know-how, and innovation, stated that this is a risky bet on digital transformation.
If bitcoin becomes legal tender, there will be issues
Cross-border Bitcoin remittances, according to the economist, are insane because the asset will need to be instantly converted into dollars in order to be used. If Grandma is waiting for her remittances in El Salvador and you want to send Bitcoin, that’s fine, but what does she do? Hanke explained that she needs to go to the ATM to get dollars because that is the only way she can buy something. Businesses in El Salvador, on the other hand, will be forced to accept Bitcoin.
Since El Salvador cannot print US dollars, an article in Foreign Policy by incisive Bitcoin critic David Gerard, author of the book 50ft blockchain attack, hypothesized that its adoption of BTC could be part of an effort to source US dollar cash from its citizens to pay off their foreign debts.
JPMorgan said last week that adopting bitcoin as a second form of legal tender would be difficult to justify and that doing so could jeopardize relations with the International Monetary Fund.
How has President Bukele’s Bitcoin announcement been received?
The idea is likely to maintain President Bukele’s reputation in El Salvador, where he is seen as a trailblazer, as well as boost Bitcoin’s appeal, which has seen significant oscillations this year. It’s also considered excellent news for the cryptocurrency market as a whole.
Some crypto experts, however, have criticized the move, claiming that El Salvador could have looked into other crypto options that would have worked better as a currency than Bitcoin, whose three transactions per second processing rate is seen as too slow when compared to other virtual tenders like Bitcoin Cash or Monero.
Then there are many who are completely opposed to private cryptocurrencies, citing the lack of a central governing authority, the potential for fraud and money laundering, high energy costs, and excessive volatility as reasons for their opposition.
The El Salvador Bitcoin law will go into force on September 7th
The country’s new Bitcoin law was passed on June 9 and will go into effect on September 7, making the world’s most popular cryptocurrency a parallel official currency in the Central American country. The government released a Bitcoin wallet dubbed Chivo late last month but stressed that it was only one choice.
President Bukele, a Bitcoin enthusiast, indicated at the time that the wallet would not charge fees or commissions for transactions and would not take a cut when converting BTC to USD. He announced in late June that any Salvadoran adult who installs the Chivo wallet app will be eligible for a $30 BTC airdrop.
BTC adoption has been hailed by President Bukele as a way to ease remittance payments from citizens living abroad and reduce dependency on the US dollar, which has been the country’s official currency since 2001. Around 70% of El Salvador’s population lacks access to bank accounts or other financial services, but based on this short survey, they have yet to perceive the benefits of Bitcoin as a potential solution.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
