A Bitcoin-accepting restaurant in Chiltiupan, El Salvador. Reuters provided this image.
According to a study, the majority of Salvadorians are skeptical about Bitcoin becoming legal tender.
According to the report, 65 percent of Salvadorans are unwilling to accept Bitcoin as payment.
El Salvador became the first government to accept Bitcoin as a parallel legal money after 62 out of 84 lawmakers voted in favor of President Nayib Bukele’s proposal. Despite the good reaction from crypto enthusiasts, a recent poll revealed that three-quarters of Salvadorans remain skeptical.
According to Pollster Disruptiva, a Francisco Gavidia University affiliate, 54 percent of respondents are adamantly opposed to the move, calling it “not at all correct.” Furthermore, 24% thought the Bitcoin adoption choice was “just a bit correct,” while nearly 20% said the Bitcoin acceptance rule was “perfect.”
Surprisingly, the poll revealed that many Salvadorians are unfamiliar with cryptocurrency. According to reports, 46 percent of Salvadorians are unaware about Bitcoin, and nearly 65 percent are unwilling to accept Bitcoin as payment.
Oscar Picardo, the head of Disruptiva’s institute of science, technology, and innovation, highlighted worries about the underlying ambition to turn the country into a Bitcoin hub and a prominent proponent of technological advancement when presenting the survey results.
This is a high-risk digital transformation investment.
The sample size for the poll was 1233 respondents in El Salvador, with a margin of error of roughly 2.8 percent.
Experts are concerned about El Salvador’s decision to accept Bitcoin.
El Salvador’s Finance Minister, Alejandro Zelaya, claimed shortly after the government embraced Bitcoin that the IMF backed their decision.
The IMF eventually discovered that the adoption had macroeconomic, legal, and financial problems. Zelaya also stated that they will seek technical assistance from the World Bank in order to use the digital asset as an official payment mechanism. The World Bank, on the other hand, has refused to fund the government due to environmental and transparency issues.
We are dedicated to assisting El Salvador in a variety of ways, including monetary transparency and regulatory processes. While the government has approached us for help with Bitcoin, the World Bank is unable to support it due to environmental and transparency concerns.
Bitcoin adoption was also deemed “unworkable” by other experts. The ruling, according to Alistair Milne, a financial economist at the School of Business and Economics at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, does not obligate anyone to accept Bitcoin as a medium of exchange and does not change the situation.
According to renowned economist Steve Hanke, El Salvador’s president is “dumb” for embracing Bitcoin as legal cash.
According to Milne, Bitcoin’s legal money status could lead to it being utilized for tax payments and court-ordered payments. However, because debts would almost certainly be in Salvadoran dollars, and the court will be required to disclose the correct exchange rate, there may be difficulties in drafting the legislation.
El Salvador has lately intimated that Bitcoin will be added to the central bank’s balance sheet or used as a treasury reserve asset.
Bitcoin El Salvador is a country in Central America./n
