Topic: Two years ago today, El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender (Read 411 times)

or brave enough!

As we move ever closer to the possible pre-halving bullrun profits will be realised and
the post-halving bullrun will prove Bukele's decision to embrace Bitcoin was a brave
move and will prove beneficial to those we also believed in his move.

Thank you iBaba for reminding us.  No country has shown so much commitment like El Salvador and no president has ever believed in Bitcoin like Nayib Bukele. Central African Republic became the second country to adopt Bitcoin but the nation couldn't withstand the pressure from institutional anti-Bitcoin forces so they repelled the law that made it a legal tender. Selling it now is needless since it will lead to losses rather they should hodl and even add more now that the price is down. Many countries are becoming more Bitcoin-friendly and we can assume that through friendly policies we are seeing. But they are not bold enough like Nayib Bukele's El Salvador.

That's true, the tremendous success in El-Savador is enough to silent the criticism it had been receiving for years, had it been that bitcoin adoption in El-Savador wasn't successful, there wouldn't have been economy development and the people would have maintain argitation in kicking against it's adoption, but El-Savador is a bitcoin landmark reference that we all have and had set the pace for everyone interested in bitcoin adoption because they never regret making such a decision of bitcoin as a legal tender,  we still look forward to seeing more of these developments and a continuous one indeed with many more years to come, because bitcoin is what has come to stay and El-Savador has made a final, complete and perfect decision on bitcoin adoption while others keep joining after.

Bitcoin adoption from El Salvador have made big change in the way bitcoin is seen by the rest of the world countries. Today Taiwan authorities have discussed with El Salvador authorities on having virtual assets bureau to have things function properly without issues. Through this regulations money laundering, grey area, illegal operations and other frauds related with cryptocurrency can be reduced.

El Salvador have made a big move and the same is being watched by the world. Following the progress we can expect more countries follow it. However the credit mainly goes to President Nayib Bukele, he took a bold decision and worked on it and the same brought big growth in different sectors.

Nayib Bukele's decision to make Bitcoin a legal tender brought about worldwide criticism and backlash but he's beginning to silence his critics with some milestone achievement. The bitcoin city, geothermal bitcoin mining farm and bitcoin airport are remarkable projects that if completed will help to put the nation on the world map and also boost the economy. Startups and businesses are already trooping in their numbers to stake their place in the country, many jobs are been created for the citizens, crime rate is gradually reducing as many persons are taken off the street. More also, the tourism sector is feeling the impact as the nation is considered as a preferred tourist destination especially by bitcoinists. So, I think the pros out weights the cons.

I also know about El Salvador's tourism industry which has grown since they accepted bitcoin.  but a tourism industry cannot help them improve the whole country's economy and moreover, how does bitcoin prevent and reduce the crime rate in El Salvador?  what I want to say is, bitcoin is very useful and brings a lot of convenience to us, but let's not exaggerate it to an unnecessary level. 

Bitcoin is just a peer-to-peer currency and it gives us the freedom to not depend so much on the government.  bitcoin is not a panacea that can cure humanity's ills. that's what I'm talking about.

I completely agree with you, in-fact, it is exactly the same thing I was thinking about while reading the op, the bitcoins El Salvador bought and still holds might be seen by some people to be in a loss at the moment, but lets not forget that one bitcoin will always remain one bitcoin, it is only considered to be in loss at the moment because it seems to have been or become a norm amongst crypto users to value bitcoin(especially) in US dollars.

But anyways, speaking on the valuation of bitcoin in dollars, El Salvador might have indeed recorded some loss, but then, the potential to profit is very high, Bitcoin is still in its infancy and the best is yet to come, so for those who have the means, be it government or individuals, Buying bitcoin now and keeping for the long term is really something to consider, for the government of El Salvador, they have a good opportunity in their hands to buy even more bitcoin right now that bitcoins are a bit cheaper compared to the average price of bitcoins they bought previously, adding more to their stash right now will bring their average cost down significantly and also increase their profit when the much anticipated bull season arrives.

I'm happy that a fairly small and fairly poor country managed to withstand international pressure and follow through with Bitcoin adoption. 2 years isn't a lot of time, especially considering the bear market, so perhaps we'll see long-term effects of this adoption later, but is there any good review of how it's going so far? It seems their GDP growth has been very slow lately, and I couldn't find much information on whether Bitcoin adoption affected their economy. There's no negative effect, so that's good, but it seems there's no pronounced positive effect countrywide either.

Though it's true that "El Salvador" might have lost a lot of funds due to the drastic fall in the price of Bitcoin, but yet Bitcoin made the name "El Salvador" popular the way it is among other nations and the Bitcoin community at large, because thou it might not have helped eradicate poverty and employment totally, but it actually did in that certain ways, because due to the legalization of Bitcoin, it gave people the privilege to venture into Crypto & Blockchain related skills, which I'm sure by today, El Salvador should be having an institute that should be offering a handful of Blockchain related courses.

However, if you can take a look at the image below, you will notice that the revenue generated from "El Salvador" tourism sector started increasing in 2021, which is the same year it accepted Bitcoin as legal tender, as am sure many Bitcoin lovers must have gone there to see what it feels like living in a Bitcoin free & acceptable environment.

Are you from El Salvador?  on what basis do you say that bitcoin adoption has helped their country repel crime or improve their economy?  for the country's economy to improve, we need to increase the employment rate, increase people's income and sharply reduce the rate of social evils...Meanwhile bitcoin is accepted as legal tender in El Salvador, meaning bitcoin is used as currency.  how can it improve the nation's problems?  not only can bitcoin eradicate poverty and reduce unemployment, but it can now also reduce crime rates and social evils, lol.  so many crazy ideas about bitcoin.

Two years ago after El Savador accepting Bitcoin still not any countries following what did by El Savador legalize bitcoin as payment tender, actually as investor in Bitcoin so excited with El Savador make Bitcoin become legal tender transaction and there more popular using bitcoin as payment transaction not only by citizen but also all tourist interested for visiting El Savador to fell sensation when transaction using Bitcoin. First time make Bitcoin as legal payment transaction many against from their citizen and El Savador are giving with 30$ worth for their people installed and using bitcoin wallet application.

Slowly in my country Indonesia, have follow with El Savador to make bitcoin close forward with legal payment currency but until right now adopting only for investment and government have adopted with tax for all transaction with Bitcoin.

Two years ago today, Nayib Bukele first accepted Bitcoin as legal tender in his country. Yes you guessed right I am talking about El Salvador. We welcome him for such a great initiative. For him the matter was not at all that easy, in a country usually there are several other parties including the opposition party who always speak against the ruling party. Nayib Bukele was no exception, the opposition party was against the government party as well as the media of his country was against him, but despite all this, he only remained steadfast in his decision and he accepted Bitcoin as a legal document in his country. Initially people spread a lot of negative information about it but later when everyone realized that Nayib Bukele's decision was the right one, those who opposed him again applauded him. El Salvador marks two years since the country successfully adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.

As a bitcoin investor, I support El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin as legal tender, but I do not see the adoption of bitcoin as controlling criminal activities and reforming the national economy. Bitcoin is just currency, an investment just like President Nayib Bukele is investing in bitcoin. How can it reduce criminal activities?

What I see is that they benefit from the tourism industry since accepting bitcoin, which is more curious and attracts more tourists. Also, they are still educating people about bitcoin, which is what I know is happening in El Salvador.

Two years ago today in El Salvador, Bitcoin was officially adopted by the country's government. But then the people of the country were against it all, went against the government to officially legalize Bitcoin. But when Bitcoin became legal in El Salvador, people thought there would be more corruption and more murders. El Salvador has always had people involved in criminal activities, from juvenile gangs to criminal activities. But since legalizing Bitcoin, El Salvador's government has clamped down on them and completely revamped the country. After Bitcoin was officially legalized, their country has gradually improved, and now they have advanced economically. There everything is possible with Bitcoin and everything is accepted as payment through Bitcoin and the country has progressed so much that the education rate is highest.

Countries are very eager to adopt bitcoin, but no government have got the ability to do it legally. What El Salvador President Nayib Bukele did is really great thing and the same is being watched by people around the world as well as the governments functioning around the world. Amidst lot of opposition from the people as well as financial organization President Nayib Bukele executed it. Even now there is opposition, but through different schemes people were well taught about the goodness and the need of bitcoin. Hope the success will happen at the earliest and more countries will follow it.

El Salvador is a pioneer in Bitcoin adoption that actually uses Bitcoin as legal tender.
But at the beginning of the adoption there were pros and cons of using Bitcoin as payment and that seems to be normal because the people are not familiar with Bitcoin.

El Salvador is not only doing adoption, but they are a country that does Bitcoin mining by utilizing natural power Volcanic mountain activity, so it does not use energy used for community needs.

In addition, El Salvador also created a Bitcoin island that was completely built with the Bitcoin ecosystem and now El Salvador is implementing a Bitcoin curriculum in their education system and this is their new program to spread knowledge about bitcoin.

Congratulations to El-Savador but we don't want it to appear that only them together with Central African Republic will be the countries that adopted bitcoin as a legal tender, we are expecting more adoption from as many as possible to turn up to this digital currency era and change the entire approach on how they see and make use of fiat currency, El-Savador had alot to write on since their bitcoin adoption till now and the progress are still counting.

Claiming what they did was a mistake and they learned a lesson is claiming that one could have predicted the market and this very new trend that has never happened in bitcoin history when after the bull run starts and goes to a new ATH ($60k+) it comes back down to reach the previous bull run's ATH ($20k). Literally nobody could have foreseen this, nor the global recession starting in 2022.

president bukele's approach to bitcoin is very different, we don't know if other countries will do it too. it is a tough choice with many factors to think about.
but one thing we're sure of is that cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, are here to stay. they are getting more important in how the world does business, and they are going to keep growing and changing in the future.

Both Michael Saylor and Nayib Bukele did learned precious lessons from this bull and bear market. They would be smarter in 2024 and 2025 bull run as well as two or three bear years after that. Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy are Bitcoin whales and if we ignore capital source of Nayib Bukele is from his national treasury, we can consider him as a Bitcoin whale too.

They started as newbie whales but like us, they can improve their investment and DCA strategy in a next market cycle. Fortunately for both MicroStrategy, Saylor and El Salvador, Bukele that they almost survived through hardest time of this bear market. They can counting down last months before enjoying 2024 and 2025 bull run.

Meanwhile, they must be careful in next months which are last ones of this bear market, to avoid liquidations.

His mistake was similar to Saylors. He should of bought earlier or bought more earlier instead of later. After musk announced his purchase that is when both of them have been buying bitcoin aggressively. And they bought way too much above the $50K range. And it ended up giving them a horrible average.

Saylors average is maybe $30K or $31k or so and he is barely above it and the presidents is even worse. Both should of bought more when Ftx collapsed and prices were less than $20K but both didn’t do much buys in that area, they instead bought a lot in the $40-60K range. Can’t blame them I guess.

I don't think Nayib Bukele is going to be able to meet his target of 100,000 BTC in 2024, judging by the 2381 BTC El Salvador currently have. Doing a little maths, El Salvador has 2.4% of the targeted amount of Bitcoin in their possession, I wonder how he's going to get the remaining 97.6% in 16 months. Even the volcano powered Bitcoin mining farm cannot make this happen within this time frame. I expect the president to maximize the bull season and sell some of the nation's stash and reinvest during the bear season.

El Salvador is not going to benefit from their Bitcoin holding until they sell their coins. So if during the next bull run they will at some point have two times higher value but fail to take the profit, it will all mean nothing. But if Bukele will do it, it will be a very bad look for him - it would look like he doesn't believe in Bitcoin.

Also, a far more interesting statistic is the number of Bitcoin payments per day in El Salvador, or amount held by individuals. Because that's what adoption is about.

Appreciated with El Savador president brave for adopting Bitcoin as legal tender and today we are celebrating two years after bitcoin becoming legal currency transaction there. Actually many people disappointed when first time Bitcoin as legal tender transaction there, Bitcoin price around $43k and ever up to all time high price around $64k before going drop drastically under $16k.
For El Savador citizen, they are most happiness with Bitcoin become legal tender transaction due good progress with tourist coming there and they earn much profitable trough tourism sector. Its not problem have to face Bitcoin in lower price right now because Nayib Bukele success make interested with many tourist going there and increasing up years by years for giving positive impact with El Savador citizen.

he wasn't interested in selling it because from the start he invested using his country's money not his personal money, so the pressure on him wasn't too great. and he also believes that bitcoin is a potential asset and holding it in the long term can give him high profits in the future.

his reason for holding bitcoin was very correct because with the investment and implementation of bitcoin in his country it became a special attraction for el savador and that made his country a destination for bitcoin activists and various companies to invest in this country and that made el savador become special country and known globally.

The actions of President Nayib Bukele are laudable and audacious. Heavy bitcoin investment and tenacity despite market turbulence send a strong message. Its unclear if the danger justifies the benefit. The advantage is great, but such a plan has huge economic repercussions.

If more countries follow El Salvador, they must assess the merits and cons. More than profits, a nation's economy needs stability and long-term health. My opinion is that Bukele's ambitious strategy should be a case study rather than a model. His optimism may encourage more countries to examine crypto, albeit cautiously.

The approach to which bitcoin is being adopted by the Government should be commended, I can say the President is a man with foresight. Government of some countries are busy putting restrictions here and there on bitcoin, but here is a man that is very optimistic about the future of his country and has decided to invest such huge amount on Bitcoin and is even ready to do more.
This singler act will encourage citizens education and adoption of bitcoin significantly in the country.

Wow it's already two years, but to be honest it seems the El Salvadorian aren't interested to use Bitcoin as a currency. We always hear Nayib Bukele is keep buying Bitcoin and hold, he also not use Bitcoin as a currency. I'm not saying it's wrong or the Bitcoin acceptance as legal tender was a mistake, but this reality might be same to other countries. So as long as Bitcoin is accepted as a commodity or asset, it's already enough.

I don't think other countries leaders can follow his steps in this aspect because, they will be afraid if they leave the government office tomorrow what will happen to the BTC he or she helped the government to purchased, and it will be the reason many presidents will not hold BTC for long before they will release them for sale to get their capital back and use the income to establish their personal company. If the El Salvador president is waiting for the price of BTC to reach$100k before he can sell their BTC, it will make him not to benefit much from the investment because, it will take like 10 or 11 years before the price of BTC will cross above $100k based on the current price of BTC. I love what the president is doing to improve the resources of the country, and many foreigners are coming into the country to established many companies because of the standard environment El Salvador president has created for investors to live and to achieve their goal in the country. Well, there are many leaders who can do what he is doing but to allow such people to become a president that is where the issue lie Because, wealthy politicians need to back you up with finance for your campaign and influence others people to support before you can become a president and you must pay back with huge amount of money they have spend on your campaign, which it will make some Presidents not to hold BTC long before they can sell.

Is what you say true? I often hear news about El Salvador, but I don't know anything about news about the Central African Republic. This is sad because both were the first countries to adopt bitcoin as legal tender but had mixed results. Although, El Salvador does not have many outstanding achievements because we are going through a difficult bear season and the world economy is in crisis. But they are fine with their choice. Meanwhile, the Central African Republic has failed. What a pity for them.

I would love for countries to adopt bitcoin as a legal currency and to strive for that, but relying on bitcoin as a reserve is a mistake, especially if we talk about a rate of more than 10%, as betting that the price will go to 100 thousand is a bet on a high-risk investment and may pose a problem in the state budget.Bitcoin is still an evolving experience, and countries betting in this way may lead to a bad appearance of Bitcoin, just as the dates of El Salvador's purchase of Bitcoin were mostly wrong or rushed.

Interesting information that I did not mind to notice if you don't share it.

From El Salvador's Bitcoin legal tender two years ago, price of Bitcoin over last two years and the negative net profit of El Salvador, let's think. Is Bitcoin legal tender a game-changing factor for Bitcoin adoption and its price ?

If we look at El Salvador, it is not a game-changing factor. The Bitcoin adoption depends on many factors, not only Legal tender.

Balance Sheet History of El Salvador investment in Bitcoin

It’s difficult to predict for certain but it’s derinitely plausible that other countries may adopt Bitcoin as a form of currency in the future. El Salvador's move to make it legal tender sparked big interest & may inspire other nations to explore similar possibilities. Each country has unique circumstances & factors like regulatory frameworks, economic stability, public acceptance & government attitudes will play a significant role in determining whether they embrace Bitcoin or not.

Nayib Bukele have taken the whole world by a surprise after he invested so much in bitcoin and made it legal in his country. He has not been moved to sell any of them even when the price went down by millions of dollars of what he bought most of them. This is the type of mindset every bitcoin enthusiast is suppose to have after investing so much in bitcoin. Very soon, he will see the result of his patient and the bold step he took in investing so much in bitcoin. Good things takes time before the results can be seen.

About other countries not following in his path, might be because they don’t have that much confidence to invest so much in bitcoin or prepared mind to bare with the volatility of the market. This is not a competition, it doesn’t mean they should invest so much in it but adopting and legalising the use in the country will help in bitcoin adoption.

He is just calm and never sells any because people are expecting too much from his decision about adoption. If ever he showed worries and sold them, he faced several issues and criticism which is why he preferred to hold and it was good. In fact, it was just 2 years since accumulation and he still needs to wait for another 2 years in order to see profit from it.
I'm not going to wonder why people only see the negative about having Bitcoin rather than seeing the positive one. If Bitcoin becomes bullish, will the people of El Salvador become happy? Hmm, will see their actions 2 years from now when the price of Bitcoin is already $60k above.

I am not sure if Nayib Bukele is scared of Bitcoin. Otherwise, he should have invested more when Bitcoin had been playing the $16K zone. So his Bitcoin average price would be reasonable right now. As per your calculation, his portfolio was dumped due to Bitcoin investment and it's been a long time since he made legal tender. So basically it's a negative impact on those who were wondering to legalise Bitcoin. If a few countries follow El Salvador they might be scared and probably that's the reason we haven't seen any country that makes legal tender after El Salvador.

Even though he's still not in profit right now I respect the government for not selling when the Bitcoin price fell and for still holding. I believe that sooner or later they'll make a huge profit in the next bull run. The only thing they need right now is patience.

In addition to that, they could potentially increase their investment by buying more now as Bitcoin's price is almost half of what it was when they initially invested.

It is too soon for countries to accept bitcoin as legal tender, regardless of their size. But it is not soon for buying it as a reserve currency and slowly building up their bitcoin wealth. In this case bigger countries with bigger economies can do it a lot better than El Salvador with its small economy can.

It seems that some trackers have lost track (pun intended) of the total number of bitcoins bought by El Salvador’s government. The article in the OP references 2.381 BTCs, which is the figure provided by buybitcoinworldwide as of 21/07/2022 (same figure as show on this other site).

Bukele claimed on the 17/11/2022 that they’d be buying 1 BTC per day from the following day onwards. Were that to be so, the figure nowadays would be set to 2.675 BTCs (2.381 + 294 BTCs purchased at a rate of one per day since the 18/11/2022). Of course, nobody can contrast whether they are still being faithful to this daily purchase, and by the looks of it, bitcoin treasury trackers are giving it a pass and seem to have stopped time on November 2022. No sales mentioned, but also no transparency to allow anyone to follow the government’s stock of bitcoins.

I don’t know where the article referenced in the OP draws the idea that the government there has "set a target of owning 100.000 BTC by 2024"(100K BTCs). I haven’t managed to find any references to it to contrast the figure, and it does seem pretty far-fetched coming from the potential of 2.675 BTCs it has/may have/who knows now. He did mention BTC to have a price target of 100K $ for 2022 (obviously not met), which makes me wonder if the author of the article referenced in the OP has not muddled-up.

Note: '.' taken in my post is a thousands separator. It does sometimes get messy reading '.' or ',' to that effect depending on where we reside or who wrote this or that.

Take note that BTC is no longer a legal tender in Central African republic, their BTC plans failed and the decision of leger tender status was revoked, the country is one of the poorest in the world and they lack basic things like electricity and even internet connection, it was surely going to be difficult to use BTC in that country.
I don't think so, other countries will have to decide for themselves, but i don't think developed countries will be interested in doing this right now. El Salvador is doing well to promote BTC, but many people in the country still need to learn how to use BTC in a totally decentralized and self custodial way, many of their initiatives are focused on centralized solutions, but it is understandable as it is a centralized government behind it all.

Sincerely, it is a nice feat for El Salvador and many countries are still observing their performance since the adoption of BTC as a legal tender.

One reason El Salvador has done well since the adoption of BTC is that it mines BTC and they spend not so much on energy demand for the mining machines because it is powered from an active or once active volcano.

President Bukele is courageous to have put his fate and that of an entire nation in the promise of a better economy with crypto/BTC adoption and use as legal tender for transaction and trades.

You can always posted this on the El-Savador's mega thread bitcoin adoption here https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/el-salvador-has-become-the-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender-5342087 there have been alot already being seen with how bitcoin adoption had made the entire story of El-Savador change around in many ways, you don't have to go there yet before you can have the idea of the kind development going on with bitcoin adoption in El-Savador, Central African Republic was the second country to make bitcoin a legal tender after El-Savador and we look forward to seeing more countries with bitcoin adoption as legal tender.

If only he wanted to sell bitcoins! Almost double loss. If he did this, the presidential chair would immediately find a new owner.
 
But it is curious to know how the whole country stores bitcoin. It would not happen that when Nayib Bukele wants to sell bitcoin, there will be no access to the wallet with BTC.

I am not sure that El Salvador is a role model for other countries and their presidents, because El Salvador took this step with the purchase of bitcoin not from a good life.

Good things take time! The president of El-Salvador knows that and that's why he is not worried about this previous purchases. Bitcoin has a lot of potential left and we are still standing at a very nascent stage of adoption. As the adoption continues to grow, the more bitcoins are mined, the price will go on higher.

But what El-Salvador can do, bigger countries can't do that easily. El-Salvador has a very limited population and it's easy to manage. So it's easier said that done.

The bitcoin was in the middle of a bull market, which lasted two and a half more months, and from there, downwards. I look forward to seeing what happens with the next bull market not only in general, but also how it affects El Salvador. It seems that people on the street don't use it much but companies and bitcoiners have gone there, the most famous being I think Max Keiser.

With the volatility it has, I doubt people are going to prefer it to the dollar as a currency but I hope the next bull run will encourage more Salvadorans to save in bitcoin.

I believe they would if they see El Salvador is sitting on top of a Bitcoin treasury large enough in value to not take any added loans from the Cabal behind the IMF and the World Bank. It starts there, and there could also be the possbility that El Salvador would encourage and provide Bitcoin loans to their South American neighbors and discourage them from taking loans from the IMF and the World Bank. Breaking down political strongholds.

There were pros and cons to his decision to legalize Bitcoin as legal tender in this central American country, but I really sympathize and want to say, Congratulations to El Salvador and salute Nayib Bukele as a young president who has a strong commitment to advancing the economy through Bitcoins.
Bukele continues to take steps in terms of Bitcoin, including initially not forcing citizens to use Bitcoin. For his courage to see the future with Bitcoin deserves appreciation.

According to Google the El Salvador GDP past two years were $28.74 and $31.6 billion, and government revenues in 2021+2022 was $12.6 billion with no budget deficit. This means investing $101 million or 0.16% of GDP or 1/5 of the left over budget of 2022 into bitcoin is nothing and there is no need to sell it off!

Instead bitcoin is acting as the reserve currency of the country in the long run. In fact I believe they should dump more of their left over budget into bitcoin now that there is a much bigger discount and bitcoin is undervalued.

These things take years to come to fruition if not decades. They are sitting on a high avg but now and in the short future they can blend it down if they have the cash. BTC exist there alongside the US dollar so I think they will be okay. Countries (the people)  with out of control inflation stand to gain the most. The thing to watch is how evil entities like the IMF treat them.

Today makes it two years since El Salvador made bitcoin a legal tender in the country. Since the adoption of bitcoin in that country. The president of the country Nayib Bukele has accumulated about 2381BTC which he has spent $101 million for the purchase with an average purchase price of $43,357. The price is down by 40% which the BTC price now worths $61 million today.

Even as this is happening, the president is not compelled or pressured to sell them off, but still optimistic about the future of bitcoin and will likely love to add more to the bitcoin savings until a target 100,000 BTC by 2024 is met. Will this approach, confidence and doggedness by the president of El Salvador make other countries to follow his footsteps. No one has loved and gave much confidence in bitcoin as a government like him, and I admire and respect him for that a lot. We hope other countries leaders will follow and trail on his path.

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https://bitkan.com/learn/how-much-bitcoin-does-el-salvador-own-in-2023-the-risks-16511