Over 70% of Surveyed El Salvador Citizens Say the Country’s Bitcoin Strategy Has ‘Failed’
Just above three-quarters of surveyed Salvadorians reportedly see the adoption of bitcoin (BTC) as a failure.
According to the poll by the University of Central America (UCA), as reported by Barron’s, 77% of respondents consider the BTC adoption as legal tender in 2021, alongside the dollar, "to have been a failure."
75.6% of respondents said they haven’t used crypto in 2022 at all.
The UCA rector Andreu Oliva, commenting on the results of the study, was quoted as saying that,
“Bitcoin is the government's most unpopular measure, the most criticized and the most frowned upon.”
The UCA study also found that 77% of Salvadorans think that President Nayib Bukele "should not continue to spend public money to buy Bitcoin."
In July this year, Bukele announced that the country had bought yet another “dip” – purchasing BTC 80 at a price of USD 19,000 per coin. It appears that Bukele has authorized the purchase of some BTC 2,381 to date, spending almost $105 million of public funds in the process.
Bitcoin was adopted as a legal tender in the country in September 2021. Bukele aimed to promote crypto transfers from about three million Salvadorans living overseas to their relatives in the country, hence also saving on bank charges, the Barron’s noted, stating that it was a strategic decision as remittances make up more than a quarter of El Salvador's gross domestic product.
Yet, as reported in August this year, a report cited data from the Central Reserve Bank that claimed that under 2% of remittances made to El Salvador make use of the state-operated Chivo bitcoin app and wallet. Furthermore, bitcoin ATM booths in the nation were “empty” less than a year after their launch. The government, however, claimed that the app is still popular among
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