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[amishmanish]

Obviously, the Salvador government is not ready yet.
1. Infrastructure: mobile phones, network and other equipment
2. The government should deal with people's doubts (such as how to calculate prices, how to weaken the impact of currency price fluctuations on prices, etc.)

The sudden implementation of the decision could well be a reason for the discomfort being caused to the people. I'd hate to think that it was done to coincide with the Bitcoin Miami conference. The idea worked in the small locality of El Zonte, the famous Bitcoin Beach as it was funded by an anonymous donor to begin with.

Yet, it is pretty obvious that a lot of parts of the country wouldn't be having good access to internet and some people may not even have phones. So while, it was made mandatory that merchants should be able to accept BTC, if offered by the customer, quite a few of the old-school merchants would fear losing potential business. There definitely is a learning curve for bitcoin and I think this was what Chico wallet and the bitcoin airdrop was supposed to kickstart. All depends on how this is executed. The bewilderment with a radical change like this is natural for the public; so the protests may as well just be opposition parties taking the chance to channel that discontent. Well, its a democracy so these things should be welcome.

What would have been great is some actual feedback from Salvadorians themselves. There aren't many from there on the forum though. Are you?

[AicecreaME]

The crypto community, of course, is happy that countries such as El Salvador are already ready to accept bitcoin at the state level, as this contributes to even greater acceptance of bitcoin, its popularity, and, consequently, an increase in price in the future. For bitcoin investors, this is a happy event, but the residents of El Salvador do not really like it and they came out to protest against the new law.

https://decrypt.co/76576/el-salvador-bitcoin-law-citizens-protesting

... group of Salvadorans composed of leftist unions, student associations, and others gathered at the Legislative Assembly yesterday to protest the country's adoption of Bitcoin as its national currency.

The group, organized by the "Block of Resistance and Popular Rebellion," used banners and slogans to demand that the so-called Bitcoin Law, which makes BTC legal tender and obligates businesses to accept it, be revoked.

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 is a law that generates legal insecurity and that could be used to defraud users and also facilitate money and asset laundering," said activist Idalia Zuñiga. 

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.

Another protestor expressed her concerns about Bitcoin's price volatility. “For those earning a minimum wage, in one moment you may have $300 in Bitcoin and the next day those $300 can turn into $50," she said, before pointing to BTC's price plunge from a high of $63,595 in April to half
that today.

But this part of the article once again confirms the rumors that the adoption of bitcoin in countries such as El Salvador, Panama is a planned step for market manipulation. Too quickly, such a serious step as the adoption of a new means of payment was considered at the government level.

Protestors can also rightfully grumble over how the law came into being as it's a reminder of President Nayib Bukele's control over all branches of the Salvadoran government. Despite the fact that a bill must normally go through a strenuous process of study, consultation, and adaptation, the Bitcoin Law was approved in less than six hours from the time Bukele officially presented it to Congress.

Although it has already been approved, the Bitcoin Law stipulates a period of 90 days to become effective, meaning Salvadorans will be obligated to accept Bitcoin come September.

The opposition has always a say in everything most especially in a democratic country. They have all the right to voice their opinion anyways. However, I just don't understand the need to protest against the new policy since I think it is just optional for the El Salvadorians to use bitcoin as an alternative mode of payment. They can always use the other available modes of payment if they want to. Why bother to protest when you can opt to ignore the newly implemented law because you are not interested? I think the law about bitcoin adoption as legal tender in El Salvador is not really mandatory, meaning they are still responsible for what kind of tender they would use to pay. If they are so worried about bitcoin's volatility which I totally understand, then they can just not apply for it. The volatility of cryptocurrency is indeed a big factor to consider, but I guess their officials have thought of that too already. It's a risky move, but it can benefit their economy after all.

[oHnK]

I consider that this rejection is due to the people's unpreparedness with the risks that will be accepted but they ignore the good potential that BTC has.  As in other countries that almost went bankrupt were saved by a number of cryptos.  Because if they understand financial management, they will be very happy and helped if the government supports them.  It's just a lack of literacy and socialization to the community about the potential that BTC has, resulting in rejection.

[romero121]

I consider that this rejection is due to the people's unpreparedness with the risks that will be accepted but they ignore the good potential that BTC has.  As in other countries that almost went bankrupt were saved by a number of cryptos.  Because if they understand financial management, they will be very happy and helped if the government supports them.  It's just a lack of literacy and socialization to the community about the potential that BTC has, resulting in rejection.

People aren't prepared which is a true fact. By the time what the citizens of El Salvador have in the mind also needs to be taken into consideration. People of El Salvador have clearly mentioned it has good potential to grow high, and it also could get dumped. This dump could crash the life of people, because some might be in a situation to use it at the loss.

Better is to give them the access to use it, and whether they use it or not is upto their mind. Lack of literacy can be found throughout the world. When a government plans something it needs to be for all.

Another important thing mentioned is the manipulative structure of Bitcoin. Even governments that are against El Salvador can make plans to manipulate the market. This could have drastic impact over the country. This is something like a digital war on a country. Maybe the people are fearing for all this and standing against it.

[fullhdpixel]

The opposition has always a say in everything most especially in a democratic country. They have all the right to voice their opinion anyways. However, I just don't understand the need to protest against the new policy since I think it is just optional for the El Salvadorians to use bitcoin as an alternative mode of payment. They can always use the other available modes of payment if they want to. Why bother to protest when you can opt to ignore the newly implemented law because you are not interested? I think the law about bitcoin adoption as legal tender in El Salvador is not really mandatory, meaning they are still responsible for what kind of tender they would use to pay. If they are so worried about bitcoin's volatility which I totally understand, then they can just not apply for it. The volatility of cryptocurrency is indeed a big factor to consider, but I guess their officials have thought of that too already. It's a risky move, but it can benefit their economy after all.

They could also use dollars as well, it is easy to turn bitcoin into dollars, it is not really a hard thing to do, so all those "volatility is an issue!! my salary could turn into 50$!!!" type of people are lying about their protests or they are idiots, if you are worried about volatility, just turn your bitcoins into dollars, I have done that every single time I got my salary, for the past nearly 5 years I got a salary and then I turned that salary into dollars right away, this caused me to lose sooooo much money because if I kept them in bitcoin I would have been a super wealthy person right now, but I still did it and they could do the same, so if anyone is saying they are worried about volatility is either a liar or an idiot.

There is nothing to actually protest about this, this is "addition", so if you do not want it, just ignore it and move on, they just wanted to protest the head of the country which is understandable because I hate every president in every nation, I just hate the "idea" of a president, but bitcoin is fine.

[arallmuus]

Meaning El Salvador does not create a Poll about accepting of bitcoin as legal tender ? and they have just forced this to happen for their own interest?(The government)

A country doesnt need to make a poll regarding this because this is pretty much decided by the government.

I am not happy with this turns out because while the crypto community is rejoicing for this event,the people on the country itself is not joining the fun and regretting this occasion

El Salvador was basically trying to get the whole world's attention to their country by accepting bitcoin as their legal tender. Their long term goal would be to attract investor by making their country into some sort of safe haven for crypto. Even if their citizen is not happy with it, that does not matter as long as there are investment pouring into their country after they made this announcement

[Rengga Jati]

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

I don't know if that 75% is the real representative of the citizens or not.
But, we should know that every law decision will always result in two: Agree and disagree, like and dislike.
So far, we have seen some protests about this.
Legalizing Bitcoin as one of the payment tenders in the country, does mean that every merchant or store must accept? I think that if people don't accept Bitcoin, they can still continue it.
But if it is a must in the country, it may make sense how the government offers that rewards for the registree to get BTC

[Hydrogen]

Do you remember the cell phone protests? All the drama about those towers giving you cancer and killing you in a year? The fear people have for everything new?

Some forms of ionising radiation emitted by airport scanners and cell phones are considered higher risk due to them penetrating the skin layer. Its basic science and medicine.

Al Gore said climate change would destroy the world in 10 years, in 2006. Is climate change fake due to it not happening? If you're going to make these arguments you need to be more specific and accurate on things.

And you expect people in one of the poorest countries in the world, out of which probably 95% never ever installed a wallet to simply accept it and cheer for it?

If you look at a map of el salvador, cuba and venezuela.

Those 3 nations aren't that far from each other. 2/3 of those countries are large supporters of crypto. It isn't beyond the realm of possibility that el salvadorans know something of bitcoin that is positive.

[btc78]

Meaning El Salvador does not create a Poll about accepting of bitcoin as legal tender ? and they have just forced this to happen for their own interest?(The government)

A country doesnt need to make a poll regarding this because this is pretty much decided by the government.

Wrong mate  because more than the Government it is the people who must decide for this so making a Poll is a Must if they wanted the best turn out because look what happened as they denied asking the people first?

I am not happy with this turns out because while the crypto community is rejoicing for this event,the people on the country itself is not joining the fun and regretting this occasion

El Salvador was basically trying to get the whole world's attention to their country by accepting bitcoin as their legal tender. Their long term goal would be to attract investor by making their country into some sort of safe haven for crypto. Even if their citizen is not happy with it, that does not matter as long as there are investment pouring into their country after they made this announcement

And that is what I'm pointing as they forced this event towards legality when the truth is their own people is not satisfy and favor of this? how BS government do El Salvador has when this is what they wanted?

[zanezane]

As I said, and it looks no one is thinking about it, bitcoin adoption should happen on a VOLUNTARY basis. I don't want to be forced to use or accept bitcoin I want to do that because I decide to do so.
The history of bitcoin shows that slowly and steadily adoption's inevitable. No law, no regulation can make that happen. If you and I accept bitcoin that's it, deal done.

They aren't forcing them though, the law stating that bitcoin becoming a legal tender isn't shoved in the face of the people, they even got to have some free bitcoin to try and use, I don't agree that they are forcing them, isn't that the support that we are looking for bitcoin.

[jaysabi]

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.

Lolol, Bitcoin is down 50ish% in a couple month and the dollar has lost maybe 1% in that time due to inflation?  In order to advance such an easily defeatable argument you have to completely ignore reality and resign yourself to sticking your head in the sand.  People who prefer the US dollar to bitcoin prefer the stability of knowing their assets aren't going to depreciate 10% overnight, because that happens with bitcoin all the time and it never happens with the USD.  You look like a clown trying to say bitcoin is more stable than the USD, and you know who doesn't have any margin or error for price fluctuations of their savings?  Poor people, probably like all the El Salvadorans protesting this law.  Thinking you know their economic circumstances better than them is the height of arrogance.  Listen to the people who are telling you why they're against it, they're the vast majority in this case (77% is an overwhelming majority).  This is not an outlier situation.

[Karartma1]

As I said, and it looks no one is thinking about it, bitcoin adoption should happen on a VOLUNTARY basis. I don't want to be forced to use or accept bitcoin I want to do that because I decide to do so.
The history of bitcoin shows that slowly and steadily adoption's inevitable. No law, no regulation can make that happen. If you and I accept bitcoin that's it, deal done.

They aren't forcing them though, the law stating that bitcoin becoming a legal tender isn't shoved in the face of the people, they even got to have some free bitcoin to try and use, I don't agree that they are forcing them, isn't that the support that we are looking for bitcoin.

Well that's just like your opinion man, like mine is too.
I want to stress again that Bitcoin needs no LAW, no REGULATION, nothing to be accepted. It's a decentralized network, a decentralized community, it started on a voluntary basis and started to be accepted for what it was rather than for what it brings.
Using bitcoin means trusting something, rather than someone. But when it comes to currency, trust is key.
And with bitcoin you shall trust nobody, not even your rotten country.

[tvplus006]

Such protests are organized by opponents of bitcoin, because ordinary people, due to their low awareness of BTC, cannot know about the advantages and disadvantages of cryptocurrency payments. I think that there is a large capital behind these protests, which is not yet technically ready to accept payments in bitcoins and does not want to incur additional costs.

[danherbias07]

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.

I had the same thought after reading it. How much were paid for this protest? Who is the benefactor? USA maybe?
Another crazy thought that I am having is they just don't know it yet. They are innocent about it. Or could it be that because of too much bad exposure of Bitcoin with scammers using it as means of payment.
I don't understand much because I am not from there but something fishy is behind all of this. Do people just meet in one place to fight against government plans about a thing they have not much idea yet?

[arallmuus]

-snip

Wrong mate  because more than the Government it is the people who must decide for this so making a Poll is a Must if they wanted the best turn out because look what happened as they denied asking the people first?

Im not sure which country you are from but you should probably check El Salvador's governmental system before you post this question. The president as well as the Legislative branch are the representative of the people so they get to decide whats the best for their country. Aside from that, a crucial issue like accepting another type of legal tender is something that is decided by the government and not the people of the country ( I think this applied to all countries )

I had the same thought after reading it. How much were paid for this protest? Who is the benefactor? USA maybe?

Probably none and If you actually read the OP, their protests actually make sense. If you received $100 in bitcoin today, that could be worth less the next 3 days or even the next day. For a business POV, that is not something that you would like to accept as a payment because it would hurt the sustainability of your business in the long term

[verita1]

I think that the people who protest to repeal the bitcoin Law of El Salvador is a minority.
The argument expressed by the organization that calls itself "Bloque de Resistencia y Rebeldia Popular". It is as follows:

For Protestants, the law wastes resources that could be used to alleviate poverty.
They claim that only a few businessmen in the government benefit from the law.

But we know that the Bitcoin Law of El Salvador can be effective for any country in the world. If we have already bought it individually.

I have also been able to notice on Twitter that the Protestants is an anti-Bukele group.
As is well known, however good the measure that President Bukele takes, those who are against his management will not see his achievements as positive.

[wxa7115]

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).

This is exactly what it means, basically if a person enters a store and they want to pay with bitcoin the business owner has to accept it and cannot refuse it, that is what it means to be a legal tender.

It is obvious those protesters are being paid or do not really understand what is happening, it is unlikely a business owner is going to want to pay them with bitcoin so they are not going to be affected by the volatility, the ones that are affected by this are business owners as they are the ones that will have to find a way to accept bitcoin if the client wants to pay with it.

[eaLiTy]

The crypto community, of course, is happy that countries such as El Salvador are already ready to accept bitcoin at the state level, as this contributes to even greater acceptance of bitcoin, its popularity, and, consequently, an increase in price in the future. For bitcoin investors, this is a happy event, but the residents of El Salvador do not really like it and they came out to protest against the new law.

If you enforce people to use anything you should expect a huge protest and that is what we are witnessing, i thought it was an alternative payment option for the citizen and here they are saying about enforcing the use of BTCitcoin and it is not going to work. Either they need to explain to the merchants that they can always convert their coins to the coin of their choice instantly if they do not want to hold them for long. I am also not a huge fan of enforcing these to everyone, just give them the option and everything would work well and no one would protest.

[stompix]

Those 3 nations aren't that far from each other. 2/3 of those countries are large supporters of crypto. It isn't beyond the realm of possibility that el salvadorans know something of bitcoin that is positive.

Again one of those claims that 106% of Venezuelans are using bitcoin, right?

Because every time we go over the numbers be it bitcoin nodes:
Cuba - 0, Venezueala 1, Salvador 0
We take ATMs:
Cuba - 0, Venezueala 1, Salvador 5
Let's look at  LN statistics:
Slovakia  Capacity 2.051476870 BTC (0.103%) $70,404.70 Node Count 18 (0.14%) Channel Count 172 (0.29%)
vs:
South America Capacity 4.19278091 BTC (0.211%) $143,996.62 Node Count 23 (0.174%)  Channel Count 281 (0.476%)

Pretty hard to believe that 2/3 of people are using BTC in those countries when a country with 1% of the population is beating the crap out of an entire continent in statistics.

Al Gore said climate change would destroy the world in 10 years, in 2006.

Really? When was that?

[sana54210]

I had the same thought after reading it. How much were paid for this protest? Who is the benefactor? USA maybe?
Another crazy thought that I am having is they just don't know it yet. They are innocent about it. Or could it be that because of too much bad exposure of Bitcoin with scammers using it as means of payment.
I don't understand much because I am not from there but something fishy is behind all of this. Do people just meet in one place to fight against government plans about a thing they have not much idea yet?

I didn't really consider that as an option really. Why would anyone pay so many people to protest? What would be the reason to protest El Salvador accepting bitcoin and while we are at it why would it be something to protest to begin with. I really can't make a decision based on what is going on with this, I mean sure it looks shady and a bit weird but even the protest itself is very weird, it is just an option and it is not the official money of that nation, it is an alternative that you can use if you want to or not use at all if you do not want to and that’s about it, there is really nothing that shocks me at this point because it is weird as a whole package.

Does this mean someone may have ended up paying all these people? Sure that is not like any weirder than people making a whole protest over something just an optional deal, so I guess even though it would make zero sense for anyone to do that, nothing here made sense to begin with anyway.