According to a recent poll, more than three-quarters of Salvadorans are skeptical of the maverick leader’s push to adopt the leading cryptocurrency bitcoin as parallel legal tender, Reuters reported. Earlier, El Salvador President Bukele’s allies in Congress approved legislation giving bitcoin an official currency status in the small Central American nation, becoming the first country to do so. However, the use of bitcoin is only optional.
Most people are skeptical of bitcoin being an official currency.
A survey conducted by Disruptiva, which is affiliated with Francisco Gavidia University, showed that about 54% of people viewed the bitcoin adoption as “not at all correct” while another 24% described it as “only a little correct.” Not quite 20% approved of the cryptocurrency plan. The poll surveyed 1,233 people across El Salvador between July 1-4. It features a margin of error of 2.8%. Oscar Picardo, head of Disruptiva’s science, technology, and innovation institute, thinks this is a risky bet on digital transformation.
El Salvador faces criticism from global regulators.
The survey also showed that 46% of respondents knew “nothing” about bitcoin, while nearly 65% said they would not be open to being paid in cryptocurrency. However, President Bukele has touted bitcoin adoption as a way to facilitate remittance payments from citizens living overseas and lessen reliance on the U.S. dollar which has been the national currency since 2001. Earlier, El Salvador had urged the World Bank to help them in the transitioning to bitcoin, but the institution denied helping the Central American country. Several other institutions have also criticized the country’s move into BTC. Nonetheless, the crypto community celebrated El Salvador’s decision and praised the country for making a progressive that will set an example for other nations.
