Buying/Selling & Using Bitcoin in El Salvador.

[GreenInk]

I know about the news and it being made legal tender, but has anybody first hand experience of using btc in el salvador?

Can you simply go to a money counter, atm, restaurant, and buy/sell/use btc?

news & reality are mostly different things.

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[Clark Anderson]

Ofcourse there has been some rumors about Btc being used and accepted for day to day regular transactions in El salvador and Some persons have reportedly said to have successfully done buying and selling  transactions using Btc at the ATMs, boutiques, Bars, restaurants, shops name them...But we cannot ignore the fact that the implementation of Btc as means for daily transactions might not be seamless for everyone, like it can't be really accessible to everyone especially persons who have no idea how Btc works and how to manage a wallet and all other things about Bitcoin,this is one of the many factors that may influence the practicality of using Bitcoin in daily transactions....
While my opinion here is based on facts and research,It is advisable to gather recent informations yourself from reliable and direct sources especially individuals with real life experiences.

[pinggoki]

That question can only answered by the people of El Salvador, that's the only valid answer to this question anyway. Other people that's living outside the country like me isn't going to be able to answer that, maybe those that have visited the country might be able to tell you but others would either lie or speculate about the situation, it's going to be difficult to do so OP since there's not a lot of members here that are willing to reveal that they're from El Salvador or maybe there's no people in this forum that's from El Salvador, it's a small country after all.

[2Pizza410000BTC]

I know about the news and it being made legal tender, but has anybody first hand experience of using btc in el salvador?

Can you simply go to a money counter, atm, restaurant, and buy/sell/use btc?

news & reality are mostly different things.

I'm not a resident of El Salvador so I can't answer this properly but if there are users from El Salvador who answer this question, they can. I am a Bangladeshi resident Bitcoin is not valid in my country I have to proceed using Bitcoin secretly as Bitcoin is not valid from my country. I can't buy and sell bitcoins from restaurants, ATM, money counters etc. from my country because bitcoins are not legalized in my country which is why not all things are transacted in my country. Bitcoin can be bought and sold by countering ATM restaurant money from countries whose governments have accepted Bitcoin through legal tender.

[acroman08]

I don't know if we have an active member who is from El Salvador or visited El Salvador when they made Bitcoin a legal tender, perhaps try going through this tread El Salvador has become the first country to make #Bitcoin legal tender! 🇸🇻, you might find someone there talking about their experience using Bitcoin in El Salvador.

[Patikno]

It costs a lot of accommodation to go and experience it directly, instead of having to go there, I would rather use the money to accumulate more Bitcoins.

News and reality sometimes don't match, but in the case of El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender, that's not bullshit. I didn't experience it directly, but we can see it from video evidence from uploaders on YouTube.

- Trying to buy food with Bitcoin in El Salvador
- Using BITCOIN in EL SALVADOR | First Impressions
- The TRUTH about BITCOIN in EL SALVADOR (Bitcoin Beach Tour)

Even though the country has officially made Bitcoin legal tender, quite a few El Salvadorans are not happy and prefer not to implement Bitcoin in their businesses. You can see that from a short interview in The Infuriating Reality of Using Bitcoin in El Salvador by Bloomberg Quicktake.

[reagansimms]

This question can only be answered by the people of El Salvador, they can directly experience the sensation of making transactions using Bitcoin after it has been made a legal means of payment. Our space is still very limited because the country where I live has not yet recognized Bitcoin as legal tender.
However, Bitcoin is starting to be accepted only as a commodity asset, even though Bitcoin is not yet recognized as a legal means of payment, we can still use Bitcoin as a payment medium for buying and selling online transactions.

[Troytech]

That question can only answered by the people of El Salvador, that's the only valid answer to this question anyway. Other people that's living outside the country like me isn't going to be able to answer that, maybe those that have visited the country might be able to tell you but others would either lie or speculate about the situation, it's going to be difficult to do so OP since there's not a lot of members here that are willing to reveal that they're from El Salvador or maybe there's no people in this forum that's from El Salvador, it's a small country after all.

Yeah mate most replies would only be just mere facts or information read online or news from the TV, the only real way to know is eating of bears mouth 👄.

But I don't think el salvador has well reached that level of using bitcoin as a daily means of transaction, beign in el salvador doesn’t change the fact that gas fees are high and network congestion would affect everyone using the blockchain, so I don't think it has gotten to the point of :

I want to get a coffee  ☕ 😩
Send bitcoin to my wallet address🤑
Here is your coffee ☕
Hey the charge is too high 🤯
Not my fault its our president 🤷‍♂️
What?
He wants to accumulate as much UTXO as possible
😄😄😄

[hd49728]

I know about the news and it being made legal tender, but has anybody first hand experience of using btc in el salvador?

Can you simply go to a money counter, atm, restaurant, and buy/sell/use btc?

They made Bitcoin Legal Tender in the last bull run that is 3 years ago. It was Legal tender in that nation on June 9 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin_in_El_Salvador

In that nation, people can use Bitcoin on-chain and on Lightning Network too but local citizens in some interviews said that they were not happy to receive bitcoins as payment from customers for their business. Because they will lose extra money for on-chain transactions later to cash out and a bigger risk is losing their business budget in fiat value when Bitcoin drops more and more. It was serious problems for El Salvadorians in last bear market but perhaps now they are more happy if they held their bitcoins through 2 years of bear market and saw a new all time high days ago.

You can follow discussions about it there
El Salvador has become the first country to make #Bitcoin legal tender! 🇸🇻.

People in that thread will give you most updates about things happening in El Salvador.

[Popkon6]

We won’t sell’: Bitcoin holdings of El Salvador up 50%, president reveals

The president of El Salvador has said he has no plans to sell the country’s vast bitcoin holdings, despite seeing a profit of over 50 per cent.

The Central American country became the first in the world to adopt bitcoin as an official currency in 2021, while also investing state funds into the asset.

A crypto market downturn in 2022 saw El Salvador facing heavy losses, however a strong recovery means bitcoin is now approaching an all-time high.

The cryptocurrency reached above $65,000 (£51,000) on Monday, less than $4,000 away from its record price from November 2021.

Source link: https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/bitcoin-el-salvador-holdings-value-b2506424.html

[Husires]

The fact that bitcoin is Legal tender is forced all companies to accept them to settle payments, they may argue that they do not have devices to accept bitcoin, but in theory,there must be places that accepts bitcoin in any city you visit in El Salvador at the least hotels and destinations that tourists visit.

Hotels may sell bitcoin for dollars and rarely keep them.

[GreenInk]

I didnt expect everybody to use, but as its legal it at-least lets business owners accept payment, which is the beginning to implementation.

[btc78]

I’m not from El Salvador myself however I have seen some reviews from tourists aiming to see how bitcoin was like in the country.

Basically, there are still a lot of places that do not accept bitcoin but it already has more places that accept bitcoin than in any other countries. It also works properly and quickly at that which blows my mind. It seems to be a very convenient way to pay or send money in the country even with small stalls or stores.

I would love to travel and see it for myself as well or maybe even better, bitcoin gets adapted here in my country.

[DdmrDdmr]

Sometimes we take things for granted, and I recently encountered one of those situations whilst reading an article on El Salvador. I assumed, without giving it too much prior thought, that people in El Salvador could use bitcoin in a hassleless manner over there, until I read that their Legislative Assembly has just agreed to eliminate KYC for TXs that involve less than 25K $.

What I’d not considered before (and I presume most here didn’t know either), is that the current value for requiring KYC is set at 200 $, a relative low value despite the cost of living being way cheaper than in other richer countries (i.e good enough to buy weekly groceries, though perhaps not to buy a decent TV set).  Not sure how enforced it is, but that’s what the article states in terms of KYC threshold.

See (GT from Spanish):
https://es-beincrypto-com.translate.goog/salvador-acuerda-no-aplicar-kyc-transacciones-btc-menores-25000/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=es&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[sokani]

I know about the news and it being made legal tender, but has anybody first hand experience of using btc in el salvador?

Can you simply go to a money counter, atm, restaurant, and buy/sell/use btc?

Making Bitcoin a Legal tender in El Salvador means it's a recognized currency by law and you can get to spend it anywhere in the country.

There are about 215 Bitcoin ATM machines in El Salvador:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/decrypt.co/204933/lightning-network-hits-bitcoin-atms-in-el-salvador%3famp=1

news & reality are mostly different things.

I've come across some contradictory information about the acceptance of Bitcoin in the country. I'd have loved to get a first hand account from an El Salvadorian or someone who resides in the country but I'm yet to see anyone from there in the forum.

[Fiatless]

I didnt expect everybody to use, but as its legal it at-least lets business owners accept payment, which is beginning to implementation.

As a legal tender businesses and other institutions are mandated to accept Bitcoin as a means of payment. I am not from El Salvador but from what I read the use of Bitcoin in the nation was very high when it was first introduced because of the airdropped $30 in their wallets. However, the usage dropped significantly. However, the use has increased because the nation has become a tourist attraction for cryptocurrency users. There are no known statistics regarding the use of Bitcoin, however, businesses are mandated by law to accept it.

[aylabadia05]

Can you simply go to a money counter, atm, restaurant, and buy/sell/use btc?

news & reality are mostly different things.

I have no experience using Bitcoin there, but I always try to find information about Bitcoin there via the X platform and existing news media platforms.

Using Bitcoin in several places such as restaurants, ATMs and in shopping centers from news that I found can be done.
The truth can be answered by those who have traveled there.

[AbuBhakar]

I know about the news and it being made legal tender, but has anybody first hand experience of using btc in el salvador?

Can you simply go to a money counter, atm, restaurant, and buy/sell/use btc?

news & reality are mostly different things.

Bitcoin is already legal tender which means vendor should at least accept Bitcoin payment because that’s their law. This kind of verification is useless since it’s a law already and media won’t cover it on a daily basis.

But here you can see the post of a guy paying Bitcoin to MC Donalds in San Benito San Salvador. https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/14wsw6d/paying_with_bitcoin_in_el_salvador/

[Uhwuchukwu53]

I know about the news and it being made legal tender, but has anybody first hand experience of using btc in el salvador?

Can you simply go to a money counter, atm, restaurant, and buy/sell/use btc?

news & reality are mostly different things.

Well your news I think you should have added your news source for more clarity, I don't stay there but I don't think if it's functioning as fast as fiat over there but your news for me would have give more details of approval because some time can be verbal declaration of passing it through bill.

[Zanab247]

If the government of El Salvador can make BTC legal tender in their countries, show that people living in that particular country can buy goods and services and use BTC to buy without any argument of the payment because, their government have declared it in the public and it has attracted many foreigners into the country.

 I'm not from El Salvador country, but I know that they are the first country to make BTC legal tender to help their citizens to grow their businesses through involving BTC as a payment in their business which you can also confirm this legal tender from El Salvador bitcoiners in this forum.