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El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

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Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#51

Post by p_j_w »

ptero wrote: post #17

That's heavy editorializing: El Salvador keeps buying the Bitcoin for its strategic reserve. Businesses and citizens can keep using it. But for getting an IMF loan, IMF (which, to put it mildly, doesn't like Bitcoin) required the end to Bitcoin legal tender status. Now the businesses are free to accept it or not instead of being required to accept it. That's all. The government plans to keep buying and using it.

>Now the businesses are free to accept it or not instead of being required to accept it. That's all.

Right, so it's no longer legal tender.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#52

Post by block_dagger »

desumeku wrote: post #48
ks2048 wrote: post #33

Do pro-bitcoin people still talk about goals of bitcoin being a currency that people use daily? I don't follow it closely, but that idea seems to have faded and now it's just an asset to buy and hold while it magically goes up forever.

For daily usage, Bitcoin is simply inferior to Ethereum and other blockchains.

That opinion is not shared by those who think Proof of Stake and no ceiling to supply are bugs vs features.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#53

Post by RabbiNoseberg »

sitkack wrote: post #38
desumeku wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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]

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Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#54

Post by ddtaylor »

As a cryptocurreny enthusiast I think the execution here and it's goals weren't aligned to begin with. It was nothing more than a custodial wallet and it was not implemented or deployed in any meaningful way. You can't write any useful smart contract to "do" anything and without any of that it doesn't compete for shit against centralized digital payment systems in terms of efficiency or simplicity.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#56

Post by RabbiNoseberg »

twothreeone wrote: post #45

I don't particularly like BTC (as it senselessly burns huge amounts of energy, thereby actively contributing to the destruction of our biosphere), but this news post is intentionally misleading. As reported by many other outlets (e.g. [1,2]), El Salvador abandons BTC to qualify for an IMF loan - so the IMF is pressuring them towards this move (presumably for political reasons). [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/el-s…

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Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#57

Post by desumeku »

block_dagger wrote: post #52
desumeku wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For daily usage, Bitcoin is simply inferior to Ethereum and other blockchains.

That opinion is not shared by those who think Proof of Stake and no ceiling to supply are bugs vs features.

Those issues are not really relevant when it comes to factors like transaction speeds and the diversity of assets available to transact with, such as stablecoins, as well as DeFi platforms to actually use those assets on.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#58

Post by sporkydistance »

ks2048 wrote: post #33

Do pro-bitcoin people still talk about goals of bitcoin being a currency that people use daily? I don't follow it closely, but that idea seems to have faded and now it's just an asset to buy and hold while it magically goes up forever.

Why would anyone spend a single BTC/sat. if they know it could be worth 10x more in a few weeks/years?

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#59

Post by ptero »

ks2048 wrote: post #33

Do pro-bitcoin people still talk about goals of bitcoin being a currency that people use daily? I don't follow it closely, but that idea seems to have faded and now it's just an asset to buy and hold while it magically goes up forever.

It is not an asset that goes up forever.

It is permissionless, very liquid asset that the governments cannot dilute. For many people this is a very big deal. A significant part of the world population lives under regimes where the governments control the money flow, heavily dilute savings in the single local fiat currency and can confiscate savings under a guise of money reform.

While not nearly as bad, most democratic, developed countries dilute their fiat to the tune of 5-7% a year. Would I buy bitcoin if I have an easy access to a convenient currency with no (or at least significantly under the average GDP growth) debasement? Hell no! Otherwise, I will (together with gold, income-generating stocks, real estate, etc.) as an insurance against government spending run amok. My 2c.

Re: El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

#60

Post by lern_too_spel »

wyck wrote: post #8

They have made just over 300 Million off the initial BTC purchase, and as of 15 minutes ago, continue to buy BTC everyday. They even have their own tracker, https://bitcoin.gob.sv/

I'd be surprised if DPRK doesn't already have access to the wallet and is just waiting to get the most out of it.
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