El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele confirmed in a
tweet that the nation will be roll out about 200 ATMs and prepare 50 bank branches across the nation to allow residents to exchange crypto for fiat easily.
- With El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption bill coming into effect on Sept. 7, Bukele said those not interested in using BTC would be able to exchange the BTC they receive for cash at any of those locations. He also reiterated that the U.S. dollar will continue to be in circulation.
- El Salvador has also created Chivo, its own state-backed crypto wallet that would be compatible with the new ATMs and would be interoperable with any existing crypto wallet
- “What if someone doesn’t want to use Bitcoin?” Bukele said. “Don’t download [Chivo] and continue living your normal life. Nobody is going to take your dollars […] Someone can always queue up at Western Union and pay a commission.”
Bukele, also
said that adopting Bitcoin will save Salvadorans $400 million per year in fees for receiving remittances from abroad
What do you guys think about such a move by El Salvador?
Personally, I have mixed emotions when it comes to the part of a state-backed crypto wallet but a side from that, I think in general, it's a good thing for the citizens and Bitcoin adoption alike. This is a little a break from the news of other different nations banning trading and mining of cryptocurrencies and discouraging citizens from using them.
1.
https://www.ndtv.com/business/el-salvador-to-install-200-bitcoin-atms-as-part-of-the-governments-plan-to-make-the-token-legal-tender-25171582.
https://forkast.news/headlines/el-salvador-bitcoin-atms-nationwide/It is certainly a very curious experiment, but it could just as easily be some grand and possibly misguided attempt by a politician to gain votes. Instead of the government taking direct control of the remittances system and effectively pushing the cost down (which makes their supposed saving an illusion), they have decided to uproot a large part of the economy. If they really did want to be pioneers in the cryptocurrency space then it would have made sense to see beyond Bitcoin and look at building their own blockchain based currency which could give them increased control for the benefit of their system. Bitcoin became a speculative asset a while ago and this could actually hurt the average citizen later down the line.