Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: El Salvador: citizens will not be forced to use government-issued wallets
by
o_e_l_e_o
on 30/06/2021, 11:13:49 UTC
I guess when a government approves a decentralized currency as legal tender they then try to make it centralized.
Releasing their own wallet does not mean they are trying to make bitcoin centralized. Using a government wallet which requires KYC is a huge privacy risk, sure, but it doesn't change anything about bitcoin for any of the rest of us. The government I see trying to centralize bitcoin at the moment is right here in the US, saying they want to be able to link every address to a real person and have the power to reverse transaction.

There is no reason to force everyone to use their wallet. People in El Salvador should be given the option to choose their own wallet.
They aren't forcing anyone to use their wallet. They are simply releasing a wallet, and giving each user $30 in bitcoin for using it. There is nothing stopping someone from withdrawing that bitcoin to a different wallet, although I would do so via a mixer to break the link between this KYCed wallet and your own wallets. Releasing what will hopefully be an easy to use wallet is a smart idea, actually. They are trying to onboard ~6 million people, many of whom will not have a great deal of technical know how. Having a single app which they can provide straightforward support for is a good idea, while still allowing more advanced users to move to a better wallet.