BitMEX CEO predicts Bitcoin will be legal tender in five countries by 2022



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Countries in the developing world will soon follow in El Salvador’s footsteps and make Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender, BitMEX CEO Alexander Höptner recently predicted.

In a blog post published Wednesday, Höptner expressed support for El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in September, predicting that developing countries would “lead the way” in adopting Bitcoin:

“My prediction is that by the end of next year we will have at least five countries that will accept Bitcoin as legal tender. All will be developing countries.

According to Höptner, developing countries will adopt Bitcoin faster due to three major factors: the growing need for cheaper and faster international transfers, massive inflation and political problems.

Unlike consumers in more developed countries, people in developing economies are more affected by issues related to cross-border payments and inflation, Höptner said.

The CEO noted that remittances accounted for 23% of El Salvador’s gross domestic product in 2020, while the World Bank estimated that low- and middle-income countries receive around 75% of total global remittances. He added that people around the world are increasingly seeing Bitcoin as a solution to deal with massive inflation, citing the rapid adoption of crypto in Turkey amid a 19.2% inflation rate. .

Höptner went on to say that El Salvador’s Bitcoin movement will make it easier for other countries to consider similar moves. “But while it is true that politics will play an important role in the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, it is also true that any failure of these leaders in the implementation phase can hamper the wider adoption of the cryptocurrencies in general, ”he added.

Related: 70% of Salvadorans oppose Bitcoin law as September 7 implementation approaches

Former CEO of German stock exchange Boerse Stuttgart, Höptner took over as CEO of BitMEX in December 2020, replacing Arthur Hayes.

Höptner isn’t the only one who believes more countries will follow El Salvador’s lead by adopting Bitcoin. Last month, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson predicted that many more countries would embrace cryptocurrencies. World renowned computer programmer Edward Snowden also believe that “latecomers may regret having hesitated”.

Some major figures in the cryptocurrency space have hesitated to praise the adoption of crypto in El Salvador sparked by President Nayib Bukele. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Friday criticized Bukele’s approach to adopting Bitcoin, saying that forcing companies to accept a specific cryptocurrency is “contrary to the ideals of freedom that are said to be so important to it. crypto space “.