Protests in El Salvador Intensify After Bitcoin Law Passes

El Salvador made history on Tuesday with the entry into force of the Bitcoin law, sanctioning the main cryptocurrency as legal tender in the South American country.

However, since President Bukele first introduced the bill, rumblings of discontent among Salvadorans have increased.

Following the adoption of the law on Tuesday, this discontent increased significantly, both in the number of demonstrators and in their protest actions.

With that in mind, is it time to admit that the world at large is still not ready for Bitcoin?

Cracks appear in President Bukele’s plans

President Bukele shocked the world at the Bitcoin conference in Miami in June by announcing his intention to make El Salvador the first sovereign country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal lender.

During his video message, President Bukele spoke of helping the unbanked, who make up 70% of the population. In addition to facilitating the remittances of Salvadorians abroad who send money home.

Over the next three months, after being passed by Congress, President Bukele’s plans came under heavy criticism, leading to a split in public opinion.

At first, the protests consisted of a small number of (apparently older) protesters expressing concerns that Bitcoin is not for regular minimum wage folks.

In particular, they spoke about their unease with price volatility and how it exposes people to losses as a result.

“For people earning minimum wage, you can have $ 300 in Bitcoin at one point and the next day the $ 300 can become $ 50. Today we saw how the price of cryptocurrency is going down.

Bitcoin is not taxed on anyone

Without releasing the force of feelings, the protests gradually grew in size and intensity.

As reported by Al Jazeera, Salvadorans marched through the capital, San Salvador, on the day the Bitcoin law was passed. Protesters burned tires and set off fireworks outside government buildings.

Such was the scale of the protests that heavily armed riot police were deployed, suggesting a threatening factor that was not present in previous protests.

One protester echoed previous concerns that Bitcoin was not for ordinary people, saying:

“It is an ideal currency for large investors who want to speculate with their economic resources.”

Jack Maller, CEO of Strike, the company behind El Salvador’s wallet infrastructure, has made it clear that the law doesn’t force Bitcoin on anyone.

Instead, Maller said El Salvador uses a dual currency system with people having the ability to switch between dollars and Bitcoin, and vice versa, in the Chivo wallet. This leaves people with the flexibility to treat as they wish.

“We allow dollars, like a traditional US bank account, to be interoperable with this open monetary network. So you can send and make Bitcoin payments in dollars and receive Bitcoin payments in dollars.

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