The founder of Ether, the 2nd cryptocurrency in the world, denounces the way in which El Salvador has made its forced transition to bitcoin. According to Vitalik Buterin, many people run the risk of getting scammed because they haven’t been educated enough about cryptocurrency.
It’s not just traditional financial bodies that are critical of El Salvador’s new bitcoin law. In a post on Reddit on October 8, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin strongly denounced the manner in which El Salvador has made bitcoin legal tender in the country. It may not seem like much fair play on behalf of Vitalik Buterin to choke a project which is based on a cryptocurrency directly competing with his. But his criticisms are not without merit.
” Forcing companies to accept a specific cryptocurrency is contrary to the ideals of freedom that are said to be so important in the crypto sphere. “, Points out Vitalik Buterin. The point is, while Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has made a lot of reminders that citizens have the right to use bitcoin or not, corporations do not. ” Any economic agent must accept bitcoin when it is offered as a method of payment, by anyone who buys a good or a service “, precise bitcoin law approved by El Salvador.
A setting that does not offer enough freedom
Exceptions are, for the moment, foreseen for the companies which ” obviously, do not have access to technologies that would allow them to accept bitcoin transactions “. In some areas of the country, Reuters notes, internet coverage is very uncertain, for example. However, the Salvadoran authorities have clearly shown their desire that eventually, bitcoin will be accepted everywhere. ” The State will provide the necessary training and mechanisms for the population to access bitcoin », Specifies the text of the bitcoin law.
The other point denounced by Vitalik Buterin is the lack of pedagogy shown by El Salvador during its bitcoin transition. ” Pushing the use of bitcoin to millions of people in El Salvador simultaneously, without trying to educate them about it is unwise. This puts a lot of people at risk of being hacked or scammed. “Vitalik Buterin warns.
Salvadorians have not been trained in bitcoin
The creator of Ethereum makes a point, again: the way in which the bitcoin transition was made by Nayib Bukele, in El Salvador, is rushed to say the least. Barely three months passed between the passage of the law and its entry into force in September. As a result, in a poll carried out this summer, 45% of Salvadorians questioned said “ know nothing To bitcoin and how it works.
The President of El Salvador hopes that bitcoin will attract investment, participate in a better inclusion of the population in the economic system (70% of residents do not have a bank account) and help reduce the costs of money transfers. from abroad. We must hope so, but the bet is nonetheless very risky. People or companies who have staked a lot on bitcoin could thus find themselves in difficult situations, if the volatile price of this cryptocurrency plunges.
As we explained to you recently, bitcoin will also affect the economy of the country as a whole. Even citizens who decide not to use it would therefore be indirectly affected and affected by the bitcoin law that their country has passed.
