Laos has changed its policy since September 9 allowing six companies to mine and trade bitcoin on a trial run. This is really a wise move for Laos because its own place is definitely one of the most hydropower resource rich countries in Asia so its really ideal for a profitable and sustainable bitcoin mining.
Actually, it's not, globally it ranks 30th and only 8th in Asia.
Just for comparison, Laos produces 17Twh a year from hydropower while Japan 85, even Vietnam has 63Twh a year production.
They are seen as rich in hydropower because they also consume very little energy so they don't need additional sources of energy, the average consumption per capita is just 566, while in France is 6,702.
Big difference here is Laos is just legalizing Bitcoin, allowing its citizen to freely use Bitcoin, mine, trade, but not totally rely on Bitcoin just like what El Salvador did, making it their legal tender, which is not the case for Laos.
And it's better to experiment first and let people choose than force it down their throats and face repercussions.
Those who will want to use will do so, the ones who don't are free to ignore it, that should be the normal approach for every country, changing a bad system to a promising one using fast forward will not always guarantee success, and in this case, we're talking about implications on a nationals scale, not the finances of some people who have assumed their risk when buying and trading.