“We are tired of an authoritarian and undemocratic government. Their indefensible steps, such as the introduction of bitocin payments, are severely damaging to the economy. They will bring us into the abyss, “the AFP agency quoted Ricardo Navarro, one of the organizers of the demonstrations.
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“We don’t want to pay with bitcoin! Bukele is a dictator! ”Dissatisfied people chanted in the streets. On T-shirts and banners, they had the bitcoin logo covered with a prohibition symbol. The slogans of arrogance and authoritarianism were heard. Protesters argued that bitcoin could cause financial instability and lead to illegal transactions.
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People took to the streets because they didn’t want to pay with bitcoin.
Photo: Jose Cabezas, Reuters
Protesters in San Salvador.
Photo: Jose Cabezas, Reuters
Bukele is a supporter of cryptocurrencies
Bukele is a big fan of cryptocurrencies. Demonstrations are directed against him, because it was he who came up with the idea of introducing bitcoin as official currency.
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During previous demonstrations, a crowd of people in San Salvador damaged several ATMs that were installed precisely because of bitcoin transactions. Sunday’s protests went unnoticed.
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Here’s a look
Photo: Jose Cabezas, Reuters
The government is defending its decision to introduce bitcoin as official currency by “reducing the cost of sending and receiving money sent home by three million Salvadorans working abroad.” However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have previously warned of this move.
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At the turn of September and October, Bukele stated that 500,000 more people had downloaded Chivo’s wallet in the first month than expected. At present, 2.1 million people out of a total of 6.5 million have a cryptocurrency wallet. However, only 12 percent of consumers actively use it, Reuters quoted the El Salvador Foundation for Economic and Social Development as quoting.
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Protests in El Salvador.
Photo: Jose Cabezas, Reuters
Protesters in San Salvador.
Photo: Jose Cabezas, Reuters
Problems persist
However, the introduction of bitcoin as the official currency alongside the US dollar was already accompanied by a number of technical problems in September. The servers were unavailable for several hours because they faced great interest from users – the government underestimated people’s interest in registering.
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At the same time, even before the official launch, it was clear that people would take the new Chivo virtual wallets by storm. In order for the country to really entice people to use bitcoin, it will distribute this cryptocurrency of approximately $ 30 (CZK 660) to all users of the application when it is first activated.
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The problems persist for more than a month after the launch of bitcoin payments, Reuters reported. For example, she described the story of Adalbert Galvez, a 32-year-old construction worker, who tried to withdraw money from Chivo’s wallet.
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According to his own words, he lost $ 220 (CZK 4,840) due to an application error. “It took the money from my account, but it didn’t return anything,” Galvez said. He is one of the supporters of cryptocurrencies and paid for bitcoins even before the government introduced them as official currency.
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Dozens of other people complain about similar problems with their wallet, ie about money lost during transactions. And the government is not responding to their complaints. The vision that they could get their money back is not very real.
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