2021-08-30 Guardian - Scepticism grows in El Salvador over pioneering BTC gamble

[stompix]

Enforcing a specific payment method for fiat isn't the same as enforcing an actual currency though, and governments force merchants to accept *insert fiat of choice* all the time.

Care to name one government that has forced all merchants in the country to accept debit/credit cards?
Would love to hear some examples of some others about different methods that have become mandatory and every merchant in the country has to offer as an alternative and is forced to accept no matter the amount.

Merchants would be free to immediately convert their bitcoin to fiat, if that's what they choose to do. But if an individual wants to pay in bitcoin, then equally I think that they should be free to do so.

So merchants are free to....accept what others want, a rather twisted view of freedom of choice I would say.

[1715288281]

1715288281

[o_e_l_e_o]

Care to name one government that has forced all merchants in the country to accept debit/credit cards?

That's not what I said. I said governments enforce currencies, as opposed to specific methods of transacting that currency, all the time.

[malevolent]

The World Bank says Salvadorean companies experience on average 1.2 power outages per month. Sounds like it's enough to be an annoyance but would it really be a deal breaker towards BTC acceptance?

Presumably these are local power outages as well? Shouldn't really make a difference to people using apps on phones with mobile data? The merchant can always use their phone to create a back up QR code if their wall-powered terminal is offline.

Depends how large an area these power outages cover, i.e. are they big enough to affect base stations (not sure whether backup power for those is a frequent thing there).

Care to name one government that has forced all merchants in the country to accept debit/credit cards?

That's not what I said. I said governments enforce currencies, as opposed to specific methods of transacting that currency, all the time.

In some countries transactions over a certain amount (if the seller is a business) have to leave some sort of trail, which in practical terms, usually means being forced to use debit or credit cards for in-person purchases. In Greece, for example, the limit is set at 300 EUR.

[Kakmakr]

The thing is..... with all new technologies ...there are challenges that need to be addressed and nothing comes without any problems. The news articles are focusing on smaller issues and they are ignoring all the positive things that come out of this decision. The remittance is a LOT cheaper now and the Banking fees (Transaction fees) are much lower..for a country with a lot of poor people.

Do you think African countries had zero problems with MPesa when they introduced that? Now MPesa is being used all over some African countries with little or no resistance from their citizens.