Around three-quarters of Salvadorans polled in a survey consider the Bitcoin (BTC) adoption policy a failure, according to a poll by theUniversity of Central America (UCA). The results of the survey reported by Barron’s indeed indicate that 77% of those who participated in it consider that the policy of adopting BTC as legal tender in 2021, alongside the dollar, has not produced the expected results.
In addition, 75.6% of respondents said they had not used cryptocurrencies at all in 2022.
The rector of the UCA, Andreu Olivacommenting on the results of the study, reportedly said that,
“Awarding legal tender status to bitcoin is the government’s most unpopular, contested and frowned upon measure.”
The UCA study also revealed that 77% of Salvadorans believe that the President Nayib Bukele “should stop spending public money to buy bitcoins.”
In July this year, Bukele announced that the country had benefited from a further fall in prices (buy the dip) – by buying BTC 80 at a price of 19,000 USD per token. It appears that Bukele has authorized the purchase of some 2,381 BTC so far, spending around $105 million of public funds in the process.
Bitcoin was adopted as legal tender in the country in September 2021. Bukele aimed to promote cryptocurrency transfers from the three million Salvadorans living abroad to their relatives in the country. It would also have resulted in substantial savings on bank charges, Barron’s noted, noting that it was a strategic decision because remittances account for more than a quarter of El Salvador’s gross domestic product.
Yet, as reported in August of this year, data from the Central Reserve Bank indicate that less than 2% of remittances to El Salvador use the Bitcoin app and wallet Chivo, run by the state. Also, most bitcoin ATMs in the country are said to be “empty” within a year of their launch. The government, however, claimed that the app was still popular with many citizens.
In April, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a survey showing that 20% of Salvadorans continue to use the Chivo wallet.
It is not the first time that the “Bitcoin experiment” has been considered a failure in the country. Many critics, media outlets and organizations have criticized the government for its lack of transparency when it comes to bitcoin purchases, and said that infrastructure spending for bitcoin foreigners hoping to settle in El Salvador were also causing financial hardship. You can read more about it here.
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