I don't think the approach was the main reason, in fact as I said elsewhere analyzing things in El Salvador is a bit difficult because of their economy. In other words if we consider the adoption a failure (which I say that is also too soon to say) the problem was the terrible economy of El Salvador.
Another thing to consider is that during most of the time they adopted bitcoin as legal tender, bitcoin price hasn't been doing well. We already know that weird volatility or weird drops is always been a big discouraging factor for people to look towards bitcoin while more consistent market or a rising price has always done the opposite.
I am sure if we had a way to measure adoption of bitcoin elsewhere we would see pretty similar results to the adoption in El Salvador.
Another thing to consider is that during most of the time they adopted bitcoin as legal tender, bitcoin price hasn't been doing well. We already know that weird volatility or weird drops is always been a big discouraging factor for people to look towards bitcoin while more consistent market or a rising price has always done the opposite.
I am sure if we had a way to measure adoption of bitcoin elsewhere we would see pretty similar results to the adoption in El Salvador.
I think El Salvador went too soon by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender. The country didn't have the infrastructure to support digital payments at a mass scale. So adopting a digital currency when there's basically no infrastructure for it, makes people look elsewhere. Considering that most people in El Salvador are poor and have no access to the Internet (as far as I'm aware), Bitcoin adoption will be little to non-existent. It's only been a few years since the government passed the law to make Bitcoin legal tender, though.
We should give Bitcoin some time to see how it will mature within the El Salvador. The only way adoption will increase is if Bitcoin reaches a new All-time-high in price. As long as we're in a bear market, adoption of Bitcoin in El Salvador won't be going anywhere soon. Just my opinion
