Why we may continue to see a slow adoption of Bitcoin in developing countries.

[AsvXrin]

Your point hits the nail on the head. Many governments in developing countries resist full Bitcoin adoption because it ends their ability to print money and inflate away debt. With fiat currencies, they can create more cash to pay off loans in cheaper terms over time this is a common trick to avoid tough reforms like cutting spending or raising taxes.Bitcoin's fixed supply stops that completely. No printing, no manipulation by policy, no easy escape from honest budgeting. Governments lose this powerful tool, plus control over capital flows and the money supply itself.That's why we see bans, heavy taxes, or warnings from bodies like the IMF instead of following El Salvador's path. The resistance isn't about not understanding Bitcoin's benefits dear, it's about protecting their own power and shortcuts dear

I get what you're saying. Bitcoin does take away the "money printer" option, and that's a big reason some politicians don't like it. But I think it's not only about power. Some of the pushback is also because Bitcoin is volatile, scams are common, and people can lose funds if they don't know how wallets work. Governments worry about that, plus things like taxes and money moving out of the country too fast.

That's why many don't do a full ban. They just control the exchanges, add rules, and warn people. Even if they can't change Bitcoin itself, they can still make it harder or easier to use through the on/off ramps.

In my opinion, adoption will still grow where Bitcoin solves real problems, especially inflation and remittances.

[Cryptomultiplier]

Bitcoin makes it impossible for governments to inflate debt obligations. It forces a system where Fiscal policy in honest.

Hence a resistance to its increased adoption!

Since the development and launch of Bitcoin, many countries good against it and those that adopted it were seen as idiotic in their decision, but since we have known El Salvador adopted it, it has suited them well, hence why many other countries jump on the bandwagon and create policies and regulations to avoid least have some form of control over the users, but not the coin.

Developing countries are still to understand what the bitcoin technology is and it is also because they can't check and balance the system or manipulate it. Therefore, it is a life raft to the individual holders but a mirror that forces upon reflection of the lack of integrity in fiscal policies by the government of developing countries.

[serjent05]

I somewhat agree with OP, in developing countries, yes. For the best example is here in our country, the Philippines. The Philippines is a developing country, and right now it has a lot of issues, which for me is much priority to solve these issues especiall corruption, rather than doing things that will help the country to adopt more Bitcoin.

The government has different departments in tackling issues, they have their own functions, so I don't find the issue of corruption to be solved first as an excuse for other departments to function well.  There is a designated department for the corruption cases, let them work with it.  As for the Science and Technology, the same as the department that deals with finance and economic affairs, they can deal with their own responsibilities.

It is probably that these departments are not too keen on adopting the emerging technology, and is to lazy to implement development and changes since it is too much work for them.  The problem lies on the leader who should be dealing with the adoption of new technology, they are too lazy for this and just sit idle letting possible opportunities pass by, after all they get paid whether they work their ass out or not. 

But what El Salvador is a superb move as they became role model to other countries, like that move to start accepting Bitcoin as legal tender, it's just like movement where your country will be more known and a lot of people appreciate it but others not.

I think other country see not much improvement after the hassle of implementing regulations about making Bitcoin the country's legal tender, which is now cancelled due to the pressure of the IMF.

[Silikiem]

Bitcoin makes it impossible for governments to inflate debt obligations. It forces a system where Fiscal policy in honest.
Hence a resistance to its increased adoption!

Imagine if all countries used Bitcoin and then they needed fiat funds. Then if they all throw it into the market, what would happen? As a policymaker of your country, you have to think from every angle. Risk management is necessary because this concerns the lives of all its citizens. The value is unstable and its nature is still in the minority, which will make it difficult for countries to adopt it directly. There will be various problems they will face, unless indeed the whole world has agreed, in which case the risk will be smaller.

If a country adopts bitcoin as a legal tender it still doesn’t mean they have totally abandoned their use of local fiat, adoption of bitcoin is just a way of letting the citizens and public know that it is legal for them to use bitcoin in any form of transactions or exchanges in the country and not to totally do away with their local fiat. I think it’s crystal clear that the governments are the ones having issues with bitcoin adoptions due to one reason or the other because left for the citizens alone I don’t think anyone will have any issue  with bitcoin adoption as a legal tender.

[Bastketsrus]

I am from a developing country and trust me when I say that we are one of the biggest adopters of Bitcoin, almost everyone here is buying and selling Bitcoin, although I don't have proof that they are all long term holders but the simple truth is that developing countries need Bitcoin the most.

In a country where your struggles isn't getting nowhere because of the conditions of the country and it's economy crypto have been a way to escape poverty for many, there are high numbers of people who have turned around their lives because of Bitcoin and crypto, this is why I believe that developing countries need innovation like Bitcoin to survive.

So many of them are trading on centralised exchanges, some are through p2p trade just to make little amounts of money per day to survive, while others are in for the long term.

I wouldn't say it can save you from poverty.. You can't go into the crypto without funds or good income, and in countries like that that can be a big issue.. But if you are settled, you can try going into it to change the situation.

Yes, I think nobody says that Bitcoin can save us from poverty, nowhere in the Whitepaper that you can find it. Nevertheless, it's our option to get out and be financially independent if we really look closely as how it grows in the last couple of halvings and if someone just hold on it for 4 years or more, they could be rich if they are living in a developing country. So I guess it depends on the situation, of people who are living in such developing countries are smart enough, then maybe they could have adopted it. But in order to fully embrace by the nation, government is the first one that should push it to their population. Like what El Salvador lead, a President who understands Bitcoin until IMF wanted to stop them.

I agree that Bitcoin isn’t a magic way out of poverty, but it does give people another financial option. In many developing countries even small gains from holding BTC over time can make a difference. Most of the adoption is happening from individuals anyway, and you can even see it in services like bitcoinbetting where people prefer using BTC instead of traditional payments.

[ZAINmalik75]

Bitcoin makes it impossible for governments to inflate debt obligations. It forces a system where Fiscal policy in honest.

Hence a resistance to its increased adoption!

Your point is valid but only until a developing country that took a loan in its local currency, because there is no way it could benefit from increasing inflation if they have not taken a loan in local currency. The technique you mention of why they are not adopting is completely wrong in my opinion. Because my country is a developing one, it was not accepting crypto until 2025. 2026 is a good year for us, with a better legal framework.

But before, it was banned, they were not accepting it. If you say they were doing it to lower the debts they have taken by increasing the inflation, so that's why they don't want to fight inflation. There are two reasons of why I am saying this.
1. Our country in the first place has not paid the loan back so if the inflation was their concerns then why they have accepted and unban crypto now?
2. Our country took loan in USD, not in local currency so the technique you shared will totally backfires at us in this case.

[TokenTikas]

Hence a resistance to its increased adoption!

Developing countries often do not agree to adopt bitcoin and this is something that ordinary people like us clearly understand. When a country uses its own national currency, the government can do whatever it wants with it because the entire system remains under its control. In situations like large loan defaults or economic crises, governments can quickly print more money, which increases inflation. From that perspective, bitcoin does not give them the same level of control, so they cannot easily manage things the way they do with their national currency.

Because of this, the acceptance of bitcoin in many developing countries is very low, almost nonexistent. Since no one can truly take control of bitcoin, governments realize this very well and that is why they are not willing to adopt it.

[Die_empty]

Since the development and launch of Bitcoin, many countries good against it and those that adopted it were seen as idiotic in their decision, but since we have known El Salvador adopted it, it has suited them well, hence why many other countries jump on the bandwagon and create policies and regulations to avoid least have some form of control over the users, but not the coin.

Developing countries are still to understand what the bitcoin technology is and it is also because they can't check and balance the system or manipulate it. Therefore, it is a life raft to the individual holders but a mirror that forces upon reflection of the lack of integrity in fiscal policies by the government of developing countries.

Besides El Salvador and, later, the Central African Republic, no other country has made Bitcoin a legal tender. CAR had to repeal the law after a few months. Since the US enacted the GENUIS ACT, many other states and countries have made efforts to make Bitcoin a reserve currency, but none seem serious.

Bitcoin is not the solution to the economic woes of a developing nation. Generally, governments avoid Bitcoin because they don't want to lose control of their financial system. They want to still retain the right to freeze people's funds in banks.    

[Cryptic Vortex]

What I've learned from the past few days of surfing through the forum is that Bitcoin is at such level where it can not be subdued by the government and they have no other choice than adopting it whether it be slowly or it be fast. I think Bitcoin will continue to get bigger when people will get to know about it and it will get so big that they will have to adopt it at a faster rate than it is noe

[The Cryptovator]

But with Bitcoin, this would not be possible because;  Bitcoin has a fixed supply, it's impossible to inflate it to service a debt, is not dependent on a state's fiscal policy, and can't be manipulated by a government.

Bitcoin makes it impossible for governments to inflate debt obligations. It forces a system where Fiscal policy in honest.

Hence a resistance to its increased adoption!

This isn't the actual reason for slow adaptation. Besides, the government can't control Bitcoin. The most important reason for slow adoption is that developing countries aren't aware of Bitcoin's potential. I assume they aren't just afraid of not controlling; they don't want to learn about Bitcoin technology. They are behind the Bitcoin advanced technology, which means backdated.

My country is also a developing country; they stand with the excuse of banning Bitcoin because of money laundering. But the reality is even without Bitcoin there are a lot of sources of money laundering. They are stupid and not aware of Bitcoin's potential. That's why it's not only slow; they also banned it here. Hope they will understand once a day.

[rat03gopoh]

Is bitcoin adoption in Salvador even growing, meaning reaching the scale of daily retail transactions? Perhaps you should also consider whether bitcoin adoption in China (as a developed country) is growing rapidly or is it even non-existent?

The barriers to bitcoin adoption aren't just the country's economic status; regulation, volatility, and crime risk are more crucial factors.

[Faisal2202]

Haha, your justification is really bad and made me laugh anyway, bro. The real reason is not this, maybe out of many, it could be one, but not the main or only one. IMF and world banks are the ones that stops one country from adopting crypto. For example, one country has been taking loans for the last 20 years from IMF, they also try to get involve in the fisical policies of the country they give loan. So they could do better but in reality their policies are to monitor where the funds are going, which they definitely don't care about too, they just want to keep that country in a position they could not grow and walk out of this trap they have been setting that's the reality.

So they force the country to invest in bitcoin or do anything that could help them grow, so they forces them with justifaction like inflation, slow growth, high risk etc. They also did it with El Salvador when they were buying 1 btc a day, IMF stopped them to do it.

[DiMarxist]

Developing countries are doing very well when it comes to Bitcoin adoption, from my points of view citizens from these developing countries don't, necessarily have to wait for their governments to full adopt Bitcoin via formal legislation. Adoption of Bitcoin lies with the citizens who should be willing to take advantage of the benefits that Bitcoin offers. Adoption of Bitcoin should be viewed from a personal point of view on this basis, I think that Bitcoin adoption in developing countries has been fair because, some governments are anti crypto.

[iBaba]

If a country adopts bitcoin as a legal tender it still doesn’t mean they have totally abandoned their use of local fiat, adoption of bitcoin is just a way of letting the citizens and public know that it is legal for them to use bitcoin in any form of transactions or exchanges in the country and not to totally do away with their local fiat. I think it’s crystal clear that the governments are the ones having issues with bitcoin adoptions due to one reason or the other because left for the citizens alone I don’t think anyone will have any issue  with bitcoin adoption as a legal tender.

You are right. Bitcoin is just another means of transaction or investment or currency if you like, which gives you access to easily unlock and tap into international transactions and other blockchain technologies it comes with. Before we used to battle with slow cross border transactions and had only few options which were just the Moneygram and Western Union and before you can receive money in my country then, you will have to wait for days or weeks until your money is cleared by these physical exchanges before it, now it is the digital exchanges like Bybit etc.

[fuguebtc]

Since the development and launch of Bitcoin, many countries good against it and those that adopted it were seen as idiotic in their decision, but since we have known El Salvador adopted it, it has suited them well, hence why many other countries jump on the bandwagon and create policies and regulations to avoid least have some form of control over the users, but not the coin.

Developing countries are still to understand what the bitcoin technology is and it is also because they can't check and balance the system or manipulate it. Therefore, it is a life raft to the individual holders but a mirror that forces upon reflection of the lack of integrity in fiscal policies by the government of developing countries.

Besides El Salvador and, later, the Central African Republic, no other country has made Bitcoin a legal tender. CAR had to repeal the law after a few months. Since the US enacted the GENUIS ACT, many other states and countries have made efforts to make Bitcoin a reserve currency, but none seem serious.

Bitcoin is also no longer legal tender in El Salvador. They also repealed that bill in early 2025 after pressure from the IMF. Currently, no country recognizes Bitcoin as legal tender.

Furthermore, the GENIUS Act applies specifically to stablecoins, it has nothing to do with bitcoin and the crypto market in general.

Bitcoin is not the solution to the economic woes of a developing nation. Generally, governments avoid Bitcoin because they don't want to lose control of their financial system. They want to still retain the right to freeze people's funds in banks.    

That's right, Bitcoin is not a god and not a lifeline for struggling economies. To have a strong economy, it requires sound domestic and foreign policies, not just relying on a speculative asset like Bitcoin and believing it will save the national economy.

[Findingnemo]

Developing or developed country, they don't like bitcoin as currency, they keep bitcoin as asset for tax revenue not to give the option of paying with their own money instead of the state's. But bitcoin still remains that's important I guess and people who realize the importance of having will start accvumulating and at one point if bitcoin is widely accepted then you are going to rock the world.

[AprilioMP]

Another thing is that government failed to fully take control of bitcoin that's why other governments from different countries find a way to make use of it like regulations for example where a platforms are forced to follow to avoid making it illegal especially exchange platforms like implementing KYC which in the past didn't have. Before there's no exchange that requires KYC especially casinos and taxes from other platform that's why it exists so the government can earn money by doing that.

This is the first thing they do to make efforts to utilize Bitcoin from users.
We here have to use a KYC exchange so we can exchange Bitcoin into fiat and deposit fiat through an exchange to be able to buy KYC in general, the actions we take. We basically still think positively because they don't limit their citizens to Bitcoin because we can still do what we want to do except paying with Bitcoin like fiat currency.
With the Bitcoin system, government officials cannot carry out corrupt practices because Bitcoin is open and transparent in every transaction.

[Muba20]

Bitcoin adoption is somewhat difficult because the negative perception of the government about Bitcoin. Governments in the developed world consider Bitcoin positively, while governments in developing countries consider Bitcoin as a cause of fear. They prevent the general public from using Bitcoin by imposing various restrictions.

The positive side is that people have gradually gained great interest in Bitcoin. Despite the restrictions, people are giving importance to holding Bitcoin. When the general public is encouraged to avoid restrictions and invest in their own interests, governments are gradually expressing a positive attitude towards Bitcoin adoption.

[dezoel]

Adoption in any nation is the way to go for the future. Even governments are getting bitcoin and holding it, some are buying it and some are just seizing and not selling. So it's clear that the future has a lot more people involved in bitcoin without a doubt, and that should be the number one thing to handle.

I think that we are not going to see this change anytime soon, and there won't be any drop in adoption, we will continue to have more and more in the near future.

[abaeze]

The government does not only use inflation to reduce debt, but also to keep the economy running, increase employment, and increase business and investment during an economic downturn. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic a few years ago, many countries printed a huge amount of money to sustain their economies. So the government does not use inflation only to reduce debt, but also to prevent the economy from collapsing.

However, there are many reasons behind the government's reluctance to accept Bitcoin. For example, its supply is limited, so even if it wants to, it cannot create it as it pleases. Another main reason is its volatility, i.e. when the government gives BTC loans directly to the people, if its price suddenly loses 30% to 40% of its value due to volatility then the common people will suffer a lot and there is a possibility of people taking to the streets and protesting against the government. Therefore, developing countries are not accepting Bitcoin for also political reasons. If the government wants to accept Bitcoin as a state, it will have to ensure much more honesty and transparency, which is practically impossible to replace the government of a country in the economy as a state.