El Salvador's Bitcoin Journey Hits Rough Patch From The Crypto Meltdown
El Salvadors Bitcoin journey hits rough patch amid crytpo winter
El Salvador's unprecedented adoption of bitcoin seems to have hit a rough patch lately.
Bitcoin has fallen nearly 70% since reaching nearly $69,000 in November 2021. The global fall in bitcoin prices has hurt El Salvador, which is already struggling with a massive debt crisis.
The Central American nation has seen its investments worth $105 million for 2,301 bitcoins drop by over half in value to around $51 million.
However, President Nayib Bukele, a bitcoin enthusiast, remains optimistic. On Wednesday, Mr Bukele hinted that the country might buy more bitcoin.
El Salvador was one of the early bidders to became the first country to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender in September 2021.
You're telling me we should buy more #BTC? https://t.co/jwvn0A1kTb
“Governments invest knowing the risks involved in every asset class, keeping a long-time horizon in mind. El Salvador will continue investing in bitcoin with confidence,” believes Jin Gonzalez, Chief Architect at Oz Finance.
Despite Mr Bukele's optimism, the ground reality in El Salvador does not seem to favour bitcoin adoption.
A recent poll by an El Salvadorian University revealed that over 60 per cent of the citizens, who participated in the survey, still prefer to hold the dollar over bitcoin.
And only about one-fourth supported the El Salvador's move to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender.
A report by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggested that bitcoin usage is low and is mostly concentrated among the educated, banked and male population.
In fact, among the many reasons behind bitcoin adoption was to empower the large unbanked population – about 70 per cent of the population.
“The failure (in people
Read more on ndtv.com
