It’s Bitcoin Day.
At least in El Salvador where today is the day that the cryptocurrrency becomes legal tender.
The government program, called Chivo or “cool,” is giving citizens a $30 “credit,” runs the app that was late to appear in the app stores and has introduced 200 Bitcoin ATMs and kiosks to get the decentralized assets into the hands of the public.
Critics say, per the Wall Street Journal, that the government doesn’t have the policy tools or financial firepower to withstand a speculative attack.
Many mom & pop businesses aren’t ready to accept or trade in Bitcoin.
The open question is adoption by the masses where 24% of the country’s GDP is based on remittances from abroad (mainly the US) and 70% of the population doesn’t have a bank account. The same percentage, per CNBC, disagreed with the government’s decision to adopt the highly volatile cryptocurrency.
The disagreement is so bad that it has created a coalition between the retired soldiers and former guerilla fighters from the country’s civil war to protest any decision to pay pensions in Bitcoin.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/7/22660457/el-salvador-bitcoin-legal-tender-currency-cryptocurrency-chivo-wallet