44 countries will meet in El Salvador to discuss Bitcoin

[nullama]

Here's what the President of El Salvador recently said:

Tomorrow, 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities (44 countries) will meet in El Salvador to discuss financial inclusion, digital economy, banking the unbanked, the #Bitcoin rollout and its benefits in our country.

In follow up tweets, he also named some of the actual institutions:

Banco Central de São Tomé e Príncipe
Banco Central del Paraguay
Banco Nacional de Angola
Bank of Ghana
Bank of Namibia
Bank of Uganda
Banque Centrale de la République de Guinée
Banque Centrale de Madagascar
Banque de la République d'Haiti
Banque de la République du Burundi
Central Bank of Eswatini
Ministry of Finance of Eswatini
Central Bank of Jordan
Central Bank of The Gambia
Comisión Nacional de Bancos y Seguros de Honduras
Direction Générale du Trésor, Ministère des Finances et du Budget, Madagascar
Maldives Monetary Authority
National Bank of Rwanda
Nepal Rastra Bank
Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) Kenya
State Bank of Pakistan
Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras de Costa Rica
Superintendencia de la Economía Popular y Solidaria de Ecuador
Banco Central de El Salvador
Central Bank of Egypt
Central Bank of Jordan
Central Bank of Nigeria
Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et du Plan du Sénégal
Superintendencia de Bancos de la República Dominicana
Banque Centrale de Mauritanie
Banque Centrale du Congo
Central Bank of Armenia
Bangladesh Bank

It won't be a surprise if one or two of the countries of this list end up having Bitcoin as a legal tender in the near future.

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[DapanasFruit]

This is a very interesting development...if the President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele can be able to pool many countries to come to his country specifically to discuss on Bitcoin and its future then certainly this is something that we should be looking on as something so positive in the face of the big dip and the bearish mood of the crypto market right now. I am hoping that he can institutionalize the same event and make it an annual one...making his country one of the most important locations for Bitcoin. I am even joking to my friends that in Bukele we have the Bitcoin President.

[stompix]

The new Davos meetings /s
Reading those names, man, crème de la crème, I always say, better than nothing but seriously sometimes, it's a close call with this nothing.
Just some trivia, only three of those have a GDP per capita rank lower than 100, with Maldives managing to be the leading one with a rank of 65 in the world and with only 6 of them not in the UN food assistance program.

[nullama]

The new Davos meetings /s
Reading those names, man, crème de la crème, I always say, better than nothing but seriously sometimes, it's a close call with this nothing.
Just some trivia, only three of those have a GDP per capita rank lower than 100, with Maldives managing to be the leading one with a rank of 65 in the world and with only 6 of them not in the UN food assistance program.

Here are the countries with more than 1% IMF member quotas: https://www.imf.org/en/About/executive-board/members-quotas

United States: 17.43%
Japan: 6.47%
China: 6.40%
Germany: 5.59%
United Kingdom: 4.23%
France: 4.23%
Italy: 3.16%
India: 2.75%
Russian Federation: 2.71%
Brazil: 2.32%
Canada: 2.31%
Saudi Arabia: 2.10%
Spain: 2.00%
Mexico: 1.87%
Netherlands: 1.83%
Korea: 1.80%
Australia: 1.38%
Belgium: 1.35%
Switzerland: 1.21%

In total these 19 countries control 71.13% of the voting power and access to the newly generated SDRs by the IMF.



That huge increase in 2021 is explained because of this:

IMF Governors Approve a Historic US$650 Billion SDR Allocation of Special Drawing Rights

There's no chance for the smaller countries to advance economically with the current fiat system because they have to pay the IMF loans with interest instead. Those are the ones that are probably going to be most interested in looking at Bitcoin. You can see how there's no overlap between these 2 lists.

[P2PECS]

The new Davos meetings /s
Reading those names, man, crème de la crème, I always say, better than nothing but seriously sometimes, it's a close call with this nothing.
Just some trivia, only three of those have a GDP per capita rank lower than 100, with Maldives managing to be the leading one with a rank of 65 in the world and with only 6 of them not in the UN food assistance program.

I don't know if you were expecting the 44 richest countries in the world to meet to consider making BTC legal tender in their countries. It is obvious that those most interested are those who potentially have the most to gain in exchange for losing control with a decentralized currency.

[stompix]

There's no chance for the smaller countries to advance economically with the current fiat system because they have to pay the IMF loans with interest instead. Those are the ones that are probably going to be most interested in looking at Bitcoin. You can see how there's no overlap between these 2 lists.

The list you gave me is representative of nominal GDP per country, I was talking about GDP per capita.
For example, India has a 2.75%, Denmark 0.71% who cares about that, Denmark has a GDP per capita of 68k, India of 2,515. Nigeria has more voting rights than Portugal, I don't see that having an effect.

There's no chance for the smaller countries to advance economically with the current fiat system because they have to pay the IMF loans with interest instead.

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have the same voting power as Gabon and they did pretty well without the FMI.
Maybe the problem is somewhere else?

It is obvious that those most interested are those who potentially have the most to gain in exchange for losing control with a decentralized currency.

Please explain to me how is Bitcoin going to save Angola and what radical economical change it will bring.
Give me a few examples of this "most to gain" thing.

[mk4]

It is obvious that those most interested are those who potentially have the most to gain in exchange for losing control with a decentralized currency.

Please explain to me how is Bitcoin going to save Angola and what radical economical change it will bring.
Give me a few examples of this "most to gain" thing.

I'm guessing what P2PECS meant was something about these smaller countries having far less to lose, compared to let's say powerhouse countries. 3rd world countries would probably need to put more things at risk in the hopes of them being bigger in the future if successful. If.

[Pmalek]

All those are poor nations from Africa, Central, and South America. With or without Bitcoin, that won't change. The effects would be similar to when the Central African Republic adopted Bitcoin. It didn't do anything good. It is just a different payment method that people without electricity, internet, computers, and phones should now be using somehow. Nothing good can come out of forcing people to use Bitcoin. That transition should come natural and that's the only healthy way.

[cheezcarls]

If I were to be asked if this latest development is bullish or not, I can't say about it yet since they are only discussing about "Bitcoin" but never stated if it's going to be positive or not about it. But of course regardless of the outcome, Bitcoin will be "well-advertised and promoted" under any circumstances. Let's just see what happens after the meeting was finished whether if the price goes up, down or just simply treading water.

[P2PECS]

Please explain to me how is Bitcoin going to save Angola and what radical economical change it will bring.
Give me a few examples of this "most to gain" thing.

Great strawman. Neither have I said that it will "save" anything, nor have I spoken of radical economic change. And no, I don't feel like having a debate with you that doesn't look like it would be a calm one.

It is obvious that those most interested are those who potentially have the most to gain in exchange for losing control with a decentralized currency.

Please explain to me how is Bitcoin going to save Angola and what radical economical change it will bring.
Give me a few examples of this "most to gain" thing.

I'm guessing what P2PECS meant was something about these smaller countries having far less to lose, compared to let's say powerhouse countries. 3rd world countries would probably need to put more things at risk in the hopes of them being bigger in the future if successful. If.

Yes

[Lucius]

I honestly didn't even know there was a country called Eswatini, but while Bitcoin can't significantly affect the economies of these countries, it's positive that they're rallying around the idea no matter how insignificant it may seem to some. Big and powerful countries meet regularly to discuss how to improve the situation in their countries, while small and poor countries can only fall into debt bondage to the IMF and the World Bank.

Although Bitcoin is emphasized here as the main topic of the meeting, there are still many more topics to be discussed, and in any case it is good for people to talk, I do not see anything wrong with that. In addition, El Salvador, despite all the pessimists who insist that the Bitcoin project that failed in that country is still a pioneer who can help others with his experience.

[crwth]

This good news really. I have read multiple articles that making Bitcoin a legal tender in El Salvador, wasn't as expected or what the people wanted and wasn't utilized much. Maybe if they were to discuss this in the ways that would be in a fruitful discussion, why not? Maybe when all the countries represented there provide a great solution to what El Salvador have started and provide possible useful applications to Bitcoin use in their respective countries.

This is exciting to hear, maybe more and more people would be able to buy and get more of it continuously. 

[Upgrade00]

The agenda of the meeting is not centered around Bitcoin; Bitcoin appears to be an offshoot of financial inclusion and digital economy, which is a topic for many of the countries in the list posted by Bukele.

Access to financial services available globally is an important factor which supports economic growth of SMEs; Emerging fintech and digital enterprises and bridging the gap between countries and Bitcoin tends to play a part in this as it is neutral to a Nations economy or GDP growth, and creates a platform where they can transact directly.

[stompix]

Great strawman. Neither have I said that it will "save" anything, nor have I spoken of radical economic change.

Lol, do you even know what a strawman argument is?
I asked you one simple question, you made a statement, you said those countries have "most to gain" from this movie, and of course out of curiosity I asked you what they have to gain? Since when is a question a strawmen argument?

And no, I don't feel like having a debate with you that doesn't look like it would be a calm one.

Lame attempt to weasel your way out of this but I wasn't looking for a debate either, I was just asking a simple question, debates are made with people who can actually say something meaningful about something or post real data, not just two lines of this will be great cause decentralization.

All those are poor nations from Africa, Central, and South America. With or without Bitcoin, that won't change. The effects would be similar to when the Central African Republic adopted Bitcoin. It didn't do anything good. It is just a different payment method that people without electricity, internet, computers, and phones should now be using somehow. Nothing good can come out of forcing people to use Bitcoin. That transition should come natural and that's the only healthy way.

People are tending to forget that bitcoin's design is great for personal finances, the whole be your bank to the third party and other advantages are simply of no interest for a nation. What would all these poor counties have to gain from adopting, nothing on macro-level other than after a few years begging richer countries to buy their bitcoins at higher prices t make a profit. I find it amusing how the same enthusiasm happened when Salvador adopted it, now that we talk about Salvador facing a default later this year everyone says that Bitcoin or not Bitocin the country was anyhow doomed, then what will change with even poorer countries who's citizen can't afford even a 5sat/b transaction a day?

[Dunamisx]

All those are poor nations from Africa, Central, and South America. With or without Bitcoin, that won't change.

This is true, but what if anyone of the countries listed eventually got to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender this should at least make some difference in their economy by reducing poverty rate and unemployment, i think bitcoin adoption should still make some meaningful impact even on the developing countries.

The effects would be similar to when the Central African Republic adopted Bitcoin. It didn't do anything good.

I think what needed to be realised here is the need to have a backup plan for the adoption, Nayib did not just assume adopting bitcoin without working out some strategic areas of the economy out, this is not what should be done to please the world and make a record on the list of countries that have adopted bitcoin as a legal tender, but their must be plans in place to aid the adoption, Bukele make chivo wallet available for the citizens with a drop of about $30 worth of btc and likes, what has Central African Republic did or put in place to back their adoption by its citizens.

[TheNineClub]

Here's what the President of El Salvador recently said:

Tomorrow, 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities (44 countries) will meet in El Salvador to discuss financial inclusion, digital economy, banking the unbanked, the #Bitcoin rollout and its benefits in our country.

In follow up tweets, he also named some of the actual institutions:


It won't be a surprise if one or two of the countries of this list end up having Bitcoin as a legal tender in the near future.

I would rather they discuss the underlying economic issues that the country has than bitcoin. BTC adoption means very little if the country does not address its economic and social issues, and it seems like El Salvador is ignoring all of that and jumping to a ''quick fix''. I am glad people whose local currency is worth less than a carrot, but that doesn't solve the issues, it only masks them.

[arwin100]

For hearing this we can see that there are so many countries are very much interested with bitcoin and blockchain, so hopefully there discussion toward this will get positive result because if majority of the country will announce that they will also make bitcoin as their legal tender for sure we cannot see a huge manipulation on it and might we can see bitcoin grow more because of the adoption it gets.

[Pmalek]

This is true, but what if anyone of the countries listed eventually got to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender this should at least make some difference in their economy by reducing poverty rate and unemployment, i think bitcoin adoption should still make some meaningful impact even on the developing countries.

No, not really. Bitcoins don't grow on trees and they wont simply become available to the population the day after they adopt it as legal tender. Sure, you can make an airdrop similarly to what was done in El Salvador. But Bitcoin won't land you a job at that auto dealership across the road if there are no jobs available, or no auto dealership at all due to the overall state of the country.

One might argue that Bitcoin offers opportunities of remote work. Sure, that's true, but so does PayPal, WU, Skrill, freelancing sites, and many other ways to get paid in fiat. There is potential for Bitcoin in areas where people are unbanked, but not if they sleep in the dirt, use a rock for a pillow, and don't even have drinking water. Those poor souls have more important things to care about than a decentralized economy.

[masterrex]

I think this is a very interesting story, but let us not expect too much about the outcome of the said meet-up of 44 countries, because I'm sure it is not all about Bitcoin. But maybe one of the topics that they want to be discussed is the potential of cryptocurrencies including the digital economy which I think is very useful for developing countries. I have noticed also that most countries that have joined in the said meet-up are from Africa and Latin America, is it mean that Africa and Latin America were already embracing the idea?

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Yes, I saw this news all over Twitter and coinmarketcap yesterday, some community members on telegram are even going crazy over this and I think this is probably one of the reasons why BTCitcoin rose over $30,000 usd yesterday or so.
Personally, anything that brings more recognition to bitcoin and bring more acceptance to it is definitely a welcome development, but then also like the saying goes, "to whom much is given, much is expected", this recognition will sure bring more usage as well as drive the price of bitcoin higher, but on the other hand, we should expect more regulations which will likely take away the privacy we have enjoyed all this years.
But then, who cares?, we sacrifice something to get something.