ㅤ

[Symmetrick]

ㅤ

[jackg]

Does making it legal tender mean stores have to accept it there (that's not a thing in Europe so idk - you can get turned away with 50s in the UK if they're not comfortable accepting them).


The crash, also, was ultimately quite slow. Residents could probably have pulled their funds out in time. But, if they hadn't, that might be something the government were trying to do to get people to borrow money or buy a surplus of goods (to stock up on food for example). It could also be to put their economy up of it's dying quite badly as most who stayed expect btc to do quite well for the rest of this year.

[Vishnu.Reang]

I am quite suspicious about these protests. It needs to be seen who is provoking the people. As far as ordinary El Salvadorans are concerned, I guess they will be better off with Bitcoin, rather than with the US Dollar (the national currency - Salvadoran Colon is no longer in use). Fluctuation in the exchange rate is a concern, but at least BTC is not losing its purchasing power as badly as the US Dollar. It is beyond my comprehension why some people prefer to use the USD, despite the big spending plans announced by Biden recently. The purchasing power of the USD is going to drop like a rock.

[Lucius]

The opposition is always against the government, and these protests are just a continuation of political resistance by the opposition - Deputy of El Salvador’s Opposition Party Sues Country Over Bitcoin Law.

Of course there are risks with Bitcoin, but a country that doesn't have its own currency and needs a solution can't just wait for it to fall from the sky - they take risks, but not exactly as some think they haven't prepared and are doing everything overnight. Bitcoin Beach is a project that has been going on for some time in El Salvador, and has been successful so far.

Does making it legal tender mean stores have to accept it there (that's not a thing in Europe...)

El Salvador is the first country in the world to pass such a law, a legal tender means that every buyer must be allowed to pay with Bitcoin if he wants to - what exists in Japan and Germany is not the same, which was already discussed at the beginning when this news went viral.

[avikz]

El-Salvador is a democratic country and not a Monarchy. So it is evident that opposition exists! So it's no wonder that some people are trying to mess with the government. That happens in every country where democracy exists. Also I don't think that their government didn't make it mandatory for the citizens to use bitcons. They have added bitcoin as an additional method along with the existing ones. Whoever finds it useful, will use it. It just a political agenda showcasing as a public protest by the media.

Otherwise it just doesn't make sense! If something is not mandatory for the citizens to follow, citizens can simply ignore it!

[dothebeats]

I understand the opposition's sentiments regarding bitcoin, though if it's evidently working on initial data, then it's suggesting that it could work in the long run with enough tinkering, adjustments, and support from the government and the public. As of the moment, it appears that the El Salvador government does not have any plans to fix their economy and offer a robust and long-lasting solution to not rely on band-aid supports such as introducing a cryptocurrency as legal tender in their country. It's good for us bitcoiners, but probably not for the country as a whole, most especially since bitcoin is still a highly volatile asset albeit being widely-regarded as the 'real deal' of cryptocurrencies.

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

77% is a lot of people, that's probably the reason why some people including me that expected the price to go up because of the declaration that bitcoin is a legal tender didn't happen. I think this will take time and all it needs is for the government to not budge and stick to the plan, people will adapt to it in the end.

[sapnu]

We cannot really expect unity so soon from a changed system. We should also take consideration on the type of government El Salvador has wherein it is democratic so it is much expected that the voice of people would matter a lot to the country's current situation. Also, bitcoin is not something everyone is patronizing and supporting, there are many people who are against the legalization of it still as different factors gets considered. Maybe, after a few adjustments and making people see how helpful it could be, standing against the government would not happen again.

[Karartma1]

I must confess that I'd have preferred that Salvadorans would have started accepting bitcoin because they wanted to. Any form or coercion, even if it's done with good intentions, it's bad to me. September's a bit far away so we don't know whether Salvadoreños will be ready or not when Bitcoin's legal tender.
I'd like to see the data behind the poll to get a sense of who were the people interviewed because 77% is a big number.

[Wexnident]

For complaint 1, I have nothing to say really, it's been a usual argument used to defame Bitcoin and so isn't really worth it bringing up anymore imo. Complaint number 2 though, it's not like stores are being forced to ONLY use Bitcoin in transactions no? They can still use fiat side by side so I don't see any reason why it's even a complaint. Sure, stores would most probably have an issue with it, but can be handled quite easily if managed well imo. Customers would have no problem at all since it's their option whether to pay with Bitcoin or fiat.

The last one though clearly shows abuse of power. Kind of happy about the adoption, but not through something like this imo. There's at least a 90 day breather time though, so I hope something chanes within that time span.

[mu_enrico]

It turns out that 77% of Salvadorans consider the new law on accepting bitcoin as a means of payment an extremely bad idea.
https://decrypt.co/75613/77-el-salvador-residents-believe-bukele-bitcoin-law-not-wise-move

It's a bad idea if people must accept BTC, but okay if they can freely choose what's best for them. Probably this issue arises because the government forces the people to accept BTC where: (1) still expensive, (2) adoption problem especially for older people.

[Gyfts]

I don't think their concerns are unreasonable, the biggest case against BTC as a day to day currency is volatility. I don't expect the low wage earners of El Salvador to understand why their local currency might even be more unstable than Bitcoin given the currency is attached to government and politics, but the easiest rebuttal is to expand the time frame they look at. BTC had its price cut in half over these last few months. But look over the course of the year? Where is BTC now?

[mckinleeanael07]

it seems that they have negative thoughts about BTC and most of them are not knowledgeable about the real technology of BTC. they are the people who do not accept innovation or are the anti fans of BTC.

[Sterbens]

Every policy that is implemented, there will always be parties who do not like it. that's normal, considering that in El Salvador not all people will accept crypto as a legal payment. Especially at the beginning of the adoption of the Bitcoin payment system it was clearly a habit that would cause some resistance.

The government needs to use other options for those who really don't like the new policy, so that they have the freedom between using Bitcoin or not. The government needs to think about the future impact, because if El Salvador becomes a country that fails to implement a payment system with Bitcoin, Bitcoin's bad image will automatically spread to all elements of society. And of course other countries will withdraw their adoption plans to follow El Salvador.

[Gozie51]

The people that are protesting might be doing that for majorly another reason. If a government is not performing well, the people won't happy with there policies. Perhaps introduction of the use of bitcoin may be one of the policy that the people don't understand. El Salvador government can't just make policy and force it down the throat of the people. The government need to build trust by sensitize and reorientate the people about the use of bitcoin and the benefit especially investment opportunities.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Does making it legal tender mean stores have to accept it there (that's not a thing in Europe so idk - you can get turned away with 50s in the UK if they're not comfortable accepting them).

I doubt that.  It's the same thing in the US with larger denomination bills; merchants can choose not to accept them if they don't want to.  Making something legal tender just means that businesses can accept it for payment if they want to, not that they have to--but again, that's coming from my knowledge of how the US does things.  I don't have any idea what it would mean in El Salvador, but I don't think it means anyone's being forced to accept bitcoin.

I'm not surprised that bitcoin isn't a very popular alternative to cash, even in a country like El Salvador.  As OP pointed out, its volatility means that it's generally not a great hedge against a fiat currency that's failing--at least not in the short term.  That's why I'd never want to accept bitcoin as an alternative to cash for my paycheck.  The week-to-week swings in value make it impracticable. 

[stompix]

El Salvador is the first country in the world to pass such a law, a legal tender means that every buyer must be allowed to pay with Bitcoin if he wants to - what exists in Japan and Germany is not the same, which was already discussed at the beginning when this news went viral.

I said there are going to be problems if you rush head in first and you don't give merchants even a breather or release a program to help them with the transition, I assume a lot of the business owners protesting have little knowledge of bitcoin, don't have skills to implement this by themselves and don't even understand what they are supposed to do. We have a shop with a lot of customers at retirement age, although they do use WhatsApp and video calls and other apps on their smartphones, some even play games, I almost never see them using a card, so I understand it's quite a shock to find overnight you need to accept something as payment that you didn't even know existed before.

He could have delayed this and added some extra steps but probably he saw himself in the spotlight, everyone googling his name and every news station in the world wanting an interview and went full steam ahead.

The rushed nature of the project is evident when analyzing the responses by age. The population over 65 years old believes that Bitcoin is a metallic currency. Those between 30 and 55 years old think it is a metallic and virtual currency. And only those between 18 and 29 years old believe that Bitcoin is a virtual currency.

Well, it just made the experiment more interesting.
 

It turns out that 77% of Salvadorans consider the new law on accepting bitcoin as a means of payment an extremely bad idea.

This is good for bitcoin!!!!

[Ucy]

Does the law really obligate businesses to accept Bitcoin? That will probably justify the protest if true.
Bitcoin is voluntary currency and no one should be compelled to accept or use it.
I hope the government takes the issues highlighted by the protesters seriously and help create a safe platform for safe use of Bitcoin.
I don't see why Bitcoin and the national fiat shouldn't exist together on the platform, and people can choose to use it or the other or both.
They could use Bitcoin mostly for international transfer and for storing some values while fiat takes care of mostly local needs

[maju69]

It is clear that bitcoin is very volatile and manipulative. For many segments of the population, the next bitcoin dump can turn into a crash. Because in the long term, you can wait out the fall in prices, but not in the short term. And they will have to convert it at a loss.

So I see this will not be realized well if almost 77% still think that the new policy has given birth to a fairly large demonstration. By opposing government policies, it means that the people there are still not fully aware of the use of Bitcoin. The government should have prepared some anticipation if such a thing happened. We certainly urge the government in the economic sector to respond quickly. If not and left for too long, the impact will be very bad for the growth of Bitcoin as a legal payment. Because so far El Salvador is a reflection of other countries to follow.

[Yogee]

These protests coming from different groups are what I consider as part of the birth pains from the approval and implementation of the Bitcoin law. Let's face it. Many of the citizens are most likely unfamiliar with BTC so how do we expect them to react? The actual numbers may be much higher than the 77% in the survey.

...
I doubt that.

It's required. Refer to the article 7 of El Salvador's Bitcoin Law https://freopp.org/el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-full-proposed-english-text-9a2153ad1d19