Has El Salvador’s bitcoin gamble paid off?
Coffee shop owner Gabe Gutierrez said bitcoin accounts for 5% to 10% of his sales.
coffee shop in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, customers come for freshly made coffee and packets of high-quality beans. And some pay in bitcoin.
The cryptocurrency has been legal tender in the Central American country for more than two years. Businesses are officially required to accept bitcoin, but patchy technology, limited internet access and a lack of enforcement means that only some do.
Coffee shop owner Gabe Gutierrez believes taking bitcoin payments has helped him attract customers.
“In a normal month, 5% to 10% of our sales are in bitcoin. The business impact has been very positive in that sense,” he said. “Obviously it’s bringing in revenue, but it’s not only that. It’s more convenient.“
President Nayib Bukele argued that adopting bitcoin would reduce dependence on the country’s other currency, the U.S. dollar, and make it cheaper to send and receive remittances — when migrants send home money to their family. source
Coffee shop owner Gabe Gutierrez said bitcoin accounts for 5% to 10% of his sales.
coffee shop in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, customers come for freshly made coffee and packets of high-quality beans. And some pay in bitcoin.
The cryptocurrency has been legal tender in the Central American country for more than two years. Businesses are officially required to accept bitcoin, but patchy technology, limited internet access and a lack of enforcement means that only some do.
Coffee shop owner Gabe Gutierrez believes taking bitcoin payments has helped him attract customers.
“In a normal month, 5% to 10% of our sales are in bitcoin. The business impact has been very positive in that sense,” he said. “Obviously it’s bringing in revenue, but it’s not only that. It’s more convenient.“
President Nayib Bukele argued that adopting bitcoin would reduce dependence on the country’s other currency, the U.S. dollar, and make it cheaper to send and receive remittances — when migrants send home money to their family. source
Even though it can be interesting to see what is being said about bitcoin and El Salvador from various sources (including but not limited to MarketPlace.org), yet I doubt that it is as helpful to merely cite some pieces that have ambiguous descriptions without making some of your own commentaries.
Sure, I might not even like the tone of the article, but I really don't like the title of the article ...
Sure, it may well seem like gambling when a country goes against the grain of other countries and the powers that be, but the way that El Salvador got into bitcoin seems to be way more like an investment kind of approach rather than a gamble.. even though Bukele did have a tendency to act flamboyant about his decision to push El Salvador into bitcoin in a variety of ways....
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