The people of El Salvador do not use Bitcoin beyond the 30 dollars that they were given for opening a wallet
After the enormous follow-up that a country has made a cryptocurrency official as legal tender in the territory, such as El Salvador adopting Bitcoin, at the same time it is being seen that perhaps it has not been such a groundbreaking idea as they expected. According to a new report, Bitcoin is having difficulties in El Salvador, at least past the initial honeymoon stage.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, a US-based nonprofit research organization, most people in El Salvador have not fully embraced cryptocurrency payments. Although there is optimism among companies, who expect Bitcoin to gain traction as a major currency over time.
Bitcoin is not used as much in El Salvador as expected
Researchers Fernando E. Alvarez, David Argente, and Diana Van Patten say they spoke to 1.800 households in El Salvador face-to-face about their Bitcoin habits. Their report, “Are cryptocurrencies currencies? Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador"He says that Bitcoin usage for everyday transactions is low. Its use is concentrated in the banked, educated, young and male population.
This report states that only 20% of respondents used the state-sponsored wallet, Chivo, after having downloaded it. Among those who use it, only 10 percent started spending less cash, and 11 percent used fewer debit or credit cards. This is, no matter how you look at it, a practically tangential use, knowing that it was intended to be the main form of payment for Salvadorans.
The report also notes that it has found no evidence that the Chivo wallet is used to pay taxes or send money abroad. These were one of the main reasons the Bitcoin law was passed in the first place.
Last year, citizens of El Salvador were encouraged to download Chivo and they were given a $30 gift in Bitcoin as a reward for registration. The report notes that of those surveyed, the majority simply spent Bitcoin and stopped using the wallet. It is not something strange, because many who have a tangential knowledge of the world of cryptocurrencies have registered in wallets for airdrops and token promotions to convert them and then not use the wallet anymore except for an occasion that requires payment in cryptocurrencies.
On average, only 4,9 percent of all sales are paid in Bitcoin, and 88 percent of businesses convert money from Bitcoin sales into dollars. They do not save your sales and income like Bitcoin in Chivo Wallet. Only 20 percent of the businesses surveyed stated that they accept Bitcoin as payment. Despite this initial suspicion, the government of El Salvador trusts that little by little, the use of Bitcoin will be established in the country by businesses and Salvadorans.
