Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin says the crypto community should examine the merits of El Salvador’s new Bitcoin policy.
Last month, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender despite widespread protests and surveys showing much of the population wasn’t on board. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele spearheaded the move.
Buterin took to Reddit on Friday to agree with a user who says Bukele shouldn’t be praised for his actions.
Explains the Ethereum creator,
“Making it mandatory for businesses to accept a specific cryptocurrency is contrary to the ideals of freedom that are supposed to be so important to the crypto space. Additionally, this tactic of pushing BTC to millions of people in El Salvador at the same time with almost no attempt at prior education is reckless and risks a large number of innocent people getting hacked or scammed.
Buterin says Bitcoin enthusiasts should keep their passion for the top cryptocurrency in check and focus on maintaining a critical look at what’s happening in the space.
Shame on everyone (ok, fine, I’ll call out the main people responsible: shame on Bitcoin maximalists) who are uncritically praising [Bukele].”
The Bitcoin roll out in El Salvador has reportedly been far from perfect.
Reuters says it spoke to dozens of users in the country had at least one issue with the country’s Bitcoin wallet, named Chivo. One user says the app took his money but never gave him BTC in return.
The report cites data from the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development that shows 12% of shoppers in the country have used BTC for purchases.
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