San Salvador (AFP)
El Salvador becomes the first country in the world on Tuesday to allow bitcoin as legal tender, alongside the US dollar, despite strong reluctance among the population and criticism from economists and international financial organizations.
"Tomorrow (Tuesday), for the first time in history, all eyes will be on El Salvador," President Nayib Bukele trumpeted in a tweet on Monday, announcing in the wake that the country had bought its first 200 bitcoins .
For the head of state and his government, bitcoin will allow Salvadorans to save $ 400 million in bank charges when sending money by the diaspora, particularly in the United States, which represents 22% of the country's GDP. country.
However, more than two-thirds of the 6.5 million Salvadorans oppose for the first time a decision by the very popular President Bukele and say in two separate polls that they want to continue to use exclusively the US dollar, the legal tender of El Salvador since. 20 years.
Demonstrators opposed to the authorization of bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador, September 1, 2021 in San Salvador MARVIN RECINOS AFP / Archives
"This bitcoin is a currency that does not exist, it is a currency that will not benefit the poorest, but the richest. Who, being poor, can invest when he barely has enough eat? ”, ignites José Santos Melara, a veteran of the civil war that tore El Salvador from 1980 to 1992, and who demonstrated Friday against the crytomonnnaie.
- "Without consultation" -
"These are decisions (taken) without consultation by this government and parliamentarians (...) people do not see how they will have a positive impact to significantly change their living conditions", judges the director of the polls of the Central American University (UCA) Laura Andrade.
According to the UCA, 65.2% of the population is not interested in downloading the electronic wallet "Chivo" ("Super", in colloquial language) needed to perform everyday bitcoin transactions, despite the $ 30 welcome offered by the government.
Bitcoin, instructions for use John SAEKI AFP
A week before the entry into force, several hundred people demonstrated in the capital to ask Parliament to renounce bitcoin.
But cryptocurrency also has its supporters: Jorge Garcia, a 34-year-old hairdresser has been using bitcoin for three years now.
He believes that it is a currency "of the future" and hopes that "its value will rise".
The Salvadoran parliament, overwhelmingly dominated by supporters of President Bukele since the last legislative elections, passed the law in June that will make bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador and require "accepting bitcoin as a means of payment" .
The value of bitcoin "will be set freely by the market," the law states.
Continuing the implementation of the reform, the deputies approved Tuesday, at the request of President Bukele, the creation of a fund of 150 million dollars to guarantee the automatic convertibility of bitcoin into US dollars.
A woman uses the Bitcoin application in a store in El Zonte (Salvador) on September 4, 2021 MARVIN RECINOS AFP
In addition, 200 ATMs for exchanging bitcoins are being installed.
Some kept by the military to prevent their degradation by opponents.
- Volatility -
Economists, but also the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have expressed their skepticism.
This measure will have "a negative impact" on the living conditions of Salvadorans due to the "high volatility of the exchange rate" of bitcoin, and will have an impact "on the prices of goods and services", according to the economist of the 'University of Salvador Oscar Cabrera.
Bitcoin is the promise of a "Titanic that no one rules", worries Oscar Cabrera, also former president of the Central Bank of El Salvador.
The fact that the value of cryptocurrency is determined "exclusively by the market" makes it a "highly volatile" currency, insists the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (Fusades).
She also considers "unconstitutional" to impose "the mandatory acceptance of bitcoin as a means of payment".
Popular President Bukele, criticized for his authoritarianism and his contempt for the separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers, accused the opposition of wanting to "scare" the population by denigrating bitcoin.
Fearing money laundering by criminal networks, in particular drug trafficking networks, the United States called on El Salvador to "protect itself from malicious actors" by using "regulated", "transparent" and responsible "bitcoin.
© 2021 AFP