Adoption of Bitcoin in El Salvador: Majority of people don’t want cryptocurrency, poll finds

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Most Salvadorans disagree with the government’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, many do not know how to use digital currency and are suspicious of the project, a survey from the University of Central America (UCA ).

At least 67.9% of 1,281 respondents said they disagree or strongly disagree with the use of Bitcoin as legal tender, according to the survey by UCA, a Jesuit university based in El Salvador. Just over 32 percent of people said they agreed on some level.

The study was published days before the government formalized cryptocurrency as legal tender in El Salvador on September 7, a plan announced by President Nayib Bukele in June.

The UCA survey, conducted in August, also showed that 9 in 10 people did not have a clear understanding of Bitcoin, and 8 in 10 said they had little or no confidence in its use. The price of Bitcoin in India stood at Rs. 37.8 lakhs at 1:00 p.m. IST on September 3.

Most people, 7 in 10, think lawmakers should repeal the law that gives legal tender status.

“What we can see in this survey, in addition to this broad rejection of the implementation of Bitcoin as legal tender, is that for the first time we found a significant disagreement between the population and the decisions made by the ‘Legislative Assembly and the President, “said the dean of the UCA Andreu Oliva.

The government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the poll. Bukele and his government have touted the measure as a way to boost employment and economic development by making El Salvador less dependent on the US dollar, the current legal tender.

The survey also showed that most Salvadorans believe that the main beneficiaries will be wealthy foreign investors, the government and business leaders.

“There are a lot of concerns about the possible negative effects of using Bitcoin,” Oliva said.

Thomson Reuters 2021

Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting Founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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