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Residents of El Salvador took to the streets on September 15, the country’s independence day, to demonstration Nayib Bukele’s presidency – including his administration’s decision to make bitcoin legal tender. Thousands of people attended the protests, according to several media, including the BBC.
Video sequences tweeted by La Prensa Gráfica newspaper shows a burning structure in central San Salvador that is believed to have housed a Chivo bitcoin ATM, raise questions on who set the fire. The protests took place on the 200th anniversary of the day El Salvador and several other Central American countries declared independence from Spain.
But María Ramírez, a resident of San Salvador who attended the protest, told The Block that the general atmosphere in the city center was peaceful. According to Ramirez, people from all walks of life and from all walks of life attended the protests, including many young people.
The protest follows small demonstrations against Salvadoran new bitcoin law, which went into effect on September 7 and makes cryptocurrency legal tender in the country alongside the US dollar. According to an article by The country, Bukele accused the “international community” of being behind the latest protests.
Not just on Bitcoin
But while El Salvador’s new Bitcoin law has dominated international media coverage of the small Central American country, that’s not the only reason people have protested against Bukele.
While Bukele, 40, is unquestionably a popular president, his opponents accused him of authoritarianism. They worry about a lack of transparency about his administration’s plans to increase army size and overhaul the constitution. These concerns have only intensified following the dismissal of several top judges in favor of the new ones who have decided that presidents can now serve two terms in a row.
According to Ramírez, the protests were also linked to people being unhappy with the focus on adopting bitcoin instead of other issues such as education and health.
Even though the government has repeatedly said that individuals do not need to use bitcoin if they do not want to, some view the law making it legal tender as a tax. Some citizens are also worried about the possibility of corruption and money laundering, Ramírez said, because El Salvador was the first in the world to make bitcoin legal tender.
Although Bukele has said that individuals are not required to use Bitcoin, companies with access to the appropriate technology must accept it as a method of payment. Businesses should be able to automatically liquidate funds using the government’s Chivo wallet, but some business owners are still worried about the possibility of losing money on bitcoin payments due to currency volatility.
Since Bukele announced the Bitcoin plan at a conference in Miami just over three months ago, many Salvadorans still have unanswered questions about what Bitcoin is and how to use it. These doubts were only exacerbated by the technical problems associated with the launch of the Chivo portfolio.
“Nothing is clear about bitcoin,” Ramírez said.
© 2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All rights reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.
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