A change is not always welcome when it comes to crypto
We live in a world where crypto is not always accepted or welcomed with open arms.
This is even more true when it comes to governments and centralized banks.
Yet El Salvador did the unthinkable !
Roll back the clock to November of 2021. A time when a large part of the world depending where you live was experiencing the winter season.
however not the crypto universe. It has hot and getting hotter.
Bitcoin was been mentioned everywhere.
It was hot property and so was other crypto.
The price of each Bitcoin was above USD 60000 per piece and was the toast of the town.
source: coinmarketcap.com
It was then that Nayib Bukele the president of El Salvador opened the doors of his country to Bitcoin.
source
While other govt.s were grappling with the idea of Bitcoin and crypto regulation.
He went down in history as the person who declared Bitcoin as a legal tender.
What that meant for El Salvador
Well to start it it meant you could use Bitcoin as real money. From paying for food to buying medicines or anyplace that accepted money should be accepting Bitcoin.
Well at least that was the idea.
Could this happen overnight ?
All changes take time to permeate and the same is the case with Bitcoin and crypto.
To help the citizens embrace Bitcoins the citizens were encouraged to download the Chivo Wallet.
A $ 30 BTC get started reward
Freebies and free money is a great people magnet.
So people were given the incentive of $ 30 in Bitcoin money to download and start using the app.
$ 30 is a lot of money for sure as a result people started downloading the free wallet app.
The result was over 4 million downloads and new users of Bitcoin added to the crypto world.
The good
One could buy things and pay with Bitcoin any where it was accepted.
Just like the people even businesses were encouraged to accept crypto.
While the world was experiencing a record surge in network prices which also translated in substantial network fees to transfer crypto while they made a purchase.
New reports showed the ease with which people made purchases and paid as little as $1 or $ 3 using the Chivos wallet app.
It all looked like a crypto dream unfolding that appeared so perfect and beautiful.
All was not well
Bitcoin at the end of the day was ad still is digital money that you need a digital wallet to hold.
It is not like paper money that you can fold and keep under your pillow in a physical form.
The challenges
The use of Bitcoin was not easy for many. for one it meant you ha to have a smart phone to download and install the app.
It was a new technology which few understood or knew ho to use.
There was lack of knowledge as to whom to contact for help
This lead to scams and phishing attacks resulting in loss of trust due to frauds and money vanishing from wallets because the users got tricked by dubious sites and phony support sites.
The Bitter sweet Bitcoin ride
A lot has happened in El Salvador and the crypto world since the initial launch.
It has been a learning experience for sure. Eight months from the launch of this experiment a lot has changed BTC has corrected and its price has dropped significantly.
So has the use base of Bitcoins in El Salvador. the reasons for this are many from running out of free money to losing trust in digital gold it has been a mixed ride.
How things unfold from here ?
It is true that every nation is watching the fate of El Salvador's crypto experiment and there are a lot of lessons to be learnt in the process.
Perhaps time would tell so keep watching the crypto space Bitcoiners!
However for the sake of crypto and the lovers of Bitcoin, El Salvador please do not fail the Bitcoin experiment and do not break our Bitcoin dreams because if you can so can so many others!