El Salvador isn't exactly a friendly neighborhood to visit at the moment, but, it sets a precedent and that is important for the Bitcoin and wider crypto community.
The main issue, is lack of education of the public in how to use crypto and the government wallet, which is against the spirit of uncensorable crypto transactions.
The current monetary system is also not sound, just look at what is happening in the world with the current system, rampant inflation, money printing out of thin air based on nothing as gold has been removed as a backing.....it's a complete disaster.
The current system also promises salvation, except the difference is that Bitcoin at least is a limited resource, there will only ever be 21 million BTC minted whereas the Fed can print unlimited dollars and devalue the currency, which is what has been happening.
Promises of salvation is all that humanity has to give it hope of a better future.
When BTC was essentially worth less than $1 nobody could ever have imagined that the price would go as high as $59k within 11 years. Who knows what will happen in another 11 years, but i would like to think, that a finite asset such as BTC will be worth more, not less, and show the finance and banking cartels that we don't need them.
>Who do you think controls BTC?
Nobody control Bitcoin. Fact. Some people own more than others, but that doesn't mean they control the Bitcoin blockchain or the minting of BTC. Owning 1 thousand Bitcoin makes you wealthy, but that is all. Miners also don't control Bitcoin. Even large mining pools don't control Bitcoin.
Every person that keeps their Bitcoin in a wallet where they have the private keys, owns their Bitcoin.
>What do you think crypto exchanges are?
Crypto exchanges are platforms where you can buy or sell your crypto, either for fiat or for other crypto. Seems pretty simple. Some exchanges are large, like Binance, but it is wrong to think that they are like banks. Most people understand that the exchange is only used for buying or selling, and then once that activity is done, you transfer your crypto to a wallet where you control the keys.
People don't keep all their crypto holdings on the exchange (well some might) but the majority only use exchanges for buying/selling. With a bank, we keep all our money with the bank in an account/s. Some people keep cash in other places, but to think that exchanges are like banks is incorrect. So it is not the new boss. IF there were no option to withdraw crypto from exchanges into private wallets, then yes, that analogy would be correct. But it isn't/
The whole point of crypto is to become sovereign, and have your finances not able to be controlled by the state.
The state is not your friend....unless you are a communist, and like to lose all your assets and become poor.
How are those returns since 2017 peak? 5 years later and it’s lower than where it started. The easy money is gone, you have to come to terms with it. Btc was funded by speculative fervor from excess quantitative easing. With quantitative tightening in play I expect a sub 10k bitcoin soon. There is no inherent value and there will never be a large enough group of fools to make it an official currency. It acts nothing like a currency. It is owned by a more concentrated cartel of gamblers than the US dollar will ever reach and that’s sad to see
“The Bitcoin experiment promoted by the Bukele administration has significantly raised the market’s risk perception of the country,” said Fabiano Borsato, Chief Operating Officer of Torino Capital LLC.
Revolutionary in the sense that this monetary policy is something completely new and never before tried. It isn't a cultural revolution like what is happening in the USA with the LGBTQxyz crowd forcing their views on the entire society, something that could divide the populace enough and which could actually lead to civil war.
It is a revolution that has a thousand similar revolutions that are all backed by seemingly nothing. There are plenty of coins that offer everything bitcoin does and they are worth dirt. First mover advantage will not last forever
You don't think a bunch of techno-libertarians trying to force their ideology on the entire society has any similarities?
I, and many leftists (actual leftists, not the US sense of the term where it's about bullshit identity politics instead of economic systems), would disagree.
Plenty of civil wars have been fought over what amounts to momentary policy, hell, that's what the Cold War was about too.
>techno-libertarians trying to force their ideology on the entire society has any similarities?
of course there are similarities, but, the biggest difference in El Salvador is that nobody is forced to use it, it is a choice. Those people that don't use the Chivo wallet and bitcoin for transactions can still use USD to pay in cash as they have before.
The experiment is voluntary.
Now for example in Sweden, where the government has been pushing a cashless society bereft of anonymity, that is not voluntary. If you go to Sweden today and try to pay for something with anonymous cash, it is essentially impossible. That is also an example of forcing an ideology onto the people against their will.
This is an example of how the current El Salvador's government writes something in the law, and then changes the meaning (sometimes to the opposite interpretation) by means of a tweet, an interview or pushing a narrative through its propaganda machine, without actually changing the original law.
Bitcoin law states is compulsory, the first government communication was that it was "compulsory", but then the official narrative changed to voluntary as the price decreased.
Quoting Bitcoin Law:
Article 7. Every economic agent MUST accept bitcoin as a payment method if offered by the acquirer of a good or service.
I remember reading something similar in a quite famous book:
“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”
The main issue, is lack of education of the public in how to use crypto and the government wallet, which is against the spirit of uncensorable crypto transactions.