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El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

ticotimes.net

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Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#31

Post by cwillu »

Mengkudulangsat wrote: post #2

> The government, she assured, will continue buying bitcoin and having reserves in this cryptocurrency Sounds like the term "Failed Experiment" is the writer's assertion and not the government official position.

“Another change makes using bitcoin entirely voluntary. (Previously, the law mandated that businesses accept bitcoin for any goods or services they provided.) Additionally, bitcoin can no longer be used to pay taxes or settle government debts.”

--https://reason.com/2025/02/03/el-salvador-walks-back-its-bit...

Sounds pretty failed to me.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#32

Post by epolanski »

dmix wrote: post #21
epolanski wrote: post #11

Nobody wants to spend it anyway, just hoard or sell it to the next sucker willing to shell more $. Among all the crypto shills I know I'm probably the only one who has used it for trade (0.25ish Bitcoins for a computer on caseking.de in late 2017 and few goodies on local bitcoin in the same year).

Mostly because transferring BTC is very expensive. Every time I’ve done it I’m shocked at the fees that sites like Bitbuy requires. So if you’re going to do it then it has to be for a good reason.

I still remember getting mocked because "lighting network is coming"...8 years ago. Still doesn't work.

It's not just expensive, it's difficult, slow, error-prone and offers 0 convenience over standard means of payments.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#34

Post by xp84 »

sarcasmatwork wrote: post #15

Misleading. Under the new rules, bitcoin is no longer considered "currency," though it remains "legal tender." https://reason.com/2025/02/03/el-salvador-walks-back-its-bit...

this article, though appearing pretty machine translated, points out that the law removes the obligation for anyone to accept Bitcoin as payment of a debt, while not (for some reason) removing the "legal tender" language -- which is a complete contradiction.

This makes as much sense as saying that Walmart has no obligation to accept Visa cards anymore, but that they're still a "valid method of payment at Walmart" -- except of course that "Legal Tender" has an explicit legal definition (apparently even in El Salvador).

This sounds like a really badly written piece of legislation. Perhaps there are shady dealings going on where someone powerful stands to lose a lot of money (or BTC) triggered by "if it ceases to be Legal Tender", but also apparently pressure was too great to abolish that legal tender status in practice, so this ridiculously-written law was passed to attempt to have it both ways.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#35

Post by est31 »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #20

In the 15 years since Bitcoin went viral, has someone proposed a reasonable social, legal and financial protocol for how a society can adopt a novel cryptocurrency without getting stuck in the phase where the cryptocurrency becomes a speculative asset rather than a common medium of exchange? By novel, I mean not using an existing cryptocurrency that is already stuck in the speculative asset phase. Surely, if a govern…

Customers use currencies if it lets them buy stuff. Shops accept currencies if people come and want to buy stuff with that currency. In touristy places, it's common to see people list their prices using currencies from common originating countries, regardless of the legal currency in that country.

Any new thing needs to be better than the current thing at least in one domain, if it wants to grow users. Fiat currencies work so well, that the only niches cryptocurrencies can find is crimes really, avoiding financial sanctions, etc.

Like China for example bans their citizens to trade the chinese currency for foreign currency (above small limits). Then buying bitcoin domestically makes sense if they don't trust the chinese government to keep their own currency valuable.

Of course, all the exchanges operating in countries where there is reasonable laws require KYC to be in place. Cryptocurrencies are also in many ways more trackable than non-crypto currencies. So for crime it makes no real sense to use most crypto currencies.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#36

Post by desumeku »

cwillu wrote: post #31
Mengkudulangsat wrote: post #2

> The government, she assured, will continue buying bitcoin and having reserves in this cryptocurrency Sounds like the term "Failed Experiment" is the writer's assertion and not the government official position.

“Another change makes using bitcoin entirely voluntary. (Previously, the law mandated that businesses accept bitcoin for any goods or services they provided.) Additionally, bitcoin can no longer be used to pay taxes or settle government debts.” -- https://reason.com/2025/02/03/el-salvador-walks-back-its-bit... Sounds pretty failed to me.

They did this to receive a loan from the IMF. The IMF was withholding the loan because of BTC and would not disburse it until they got rid of its status as legal tender.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#38

Post by sitkack »

desumeku wrote: post #36
cwillu wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Another change makes using bitcoin entirely voluntary. (Previously, the law mandated that businesses accept bitcoin for any goods or services they provided.) Additionally, bitcoin can no longer be used to pay taxes or settle government debts.” -- https://reason.com/2025/02/03/el-salvador-walks-back-its-bit... Sounds pretty failed to me.

They did this to receive a loan from the IMF. The IMF was withholding the loan because of BTC and would not disburse it until they got rid of its status as legal tender.

[flagged]

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#39

Post by [deleted] »

epolanski wrote: post #32
dmix wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly because transferring BTC is very expensive. Every time I’ve done it I’m shocked at the fees that sites like Bitbuy requires. So if you’re going to do it then it has to be for a good reason.

I still remember getting mocked because "lighting network is coming"...8 years ago. Still doesn't work. It's not just expensive, it's difficult, slow, error-prone and offers 0 convenience over standard means of payments.

[deleted]

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#40

Post by mikeyouse »

k__ wrote: post #14

"if someone owes you money and wants to pay you in bitcoin, you can refuse to be paid in bitcoin, but you cannot refuse if it’s legal tender" Wat

Under the former law where bitcoin was legal tender, if someone owed you money, they could insist that you accept bitcoin to settle the debt. Most people wanted nothing to do with bitcoin so they removed the legal tender designation.
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