Documenting Bitcoin: To pay his bills in El Salvador, Milton Cabrera says he would have to “spend an hour on the bus, and another two hours waiting to make the payment” in line. He paid them instantly, from his home, with Bitcoin.
Community response: In Latin America, buses, lineups and death are a certainty. If you are in a very privileged class, you may get to avoid the first two. There’s endless lineups for everything at government offices, banks, utility companies, mobile phone, because you name it. And it’s just accepted. Strike.
Check out how many people in undeveloped countries, don’t have a bank account because they have “under the table” jobs, and you will understand why Bitcoin is needed. These are the kind of stories that financially privileged people don’t know about or ignore when they criticize Bitcoin. Love this.
One by one, the countries that have been oppressed by the US Dollar system for over 100 years will opt out. Open networks with viral adoption rates cannot be stopped. So El Salvador is pricing in BTC now?
We aren’t there yet. But even though they aren’t pricing in BTC, as the country begins to save in BTC, they become less vulnerable to reckless US monetary policy. Who can argue that that’s a bad thing?
The only thing BTC has made possible for in El Sal is cheap, speedy movement between the people. This could be done with any crypto or stable coin. It would be foolish to think they’re saving BTC that can halve in value in a few weeks. It will be a race against time to covert or spend BTC.
Disagree, it’s pseudonymous and the people are free to use any wallet they want. Your statement about people not saving in BTC is inaccurate. If 70% of the nation is unbanked, their BTC wallet becomes their savings account. Price is volatile, but over time, the price trends upwards.
I get your point. But there is no such thing as rushing into USD. When you don’t have a bank account to house those dollars to begin with, the value of having a way to store money for the first time is worth the volatility.
I’m talking conversion back to cash either via ATM or direct barter with a 3rd party money changer, which are bound to spring up there. All are going to cost. Alternatively they will look to spend the BTC for things needed or able to be exchanged. This may lead to inflation too!
