Bitcoin Adoption in El Salvador is far Below Expectations, Says Report

When El Salvador made Bitcoin a legal tender within its jurisdiction last year, many analysts in the crypto industry predicted that the move was going to massively drive the adoption of the digital asset within the country to new heights.

However, a new survey carried out by El Salvador’s chamber of commerce has revealed that the majority of the companies in the country do not use Bitcoin for their businesses —this is a startling find considering the fact that the country and its president has made various moves to incentivize Bitcoin adoption.

According to the survey, only 14% of the respondents had made transactions in Bitcoin since September, when it became a legal tender in the country. It continued that most respondents have also not seen any impact of the adoption on their sales. 

91.7% of the participants said that the implementation of bitcoin has been indifferent to their business.

While the majority of the companies in the survey pool were small businesses as they account for 71% of the respondents, 16% of them were large companies and 13% were medium scale businesses.

What this survey shows is that despite the litany of moves the government has made to drive its people towards Bitcoin, the level of adoption is still considerably low.

Despite the low adoption rate, President Nayib Bukele remains bullish on the flagship digital asset, and the country currently holds around 1,800 units of the coin.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bond plan hits a snag

El Salvador’s plan to build a Bitcoin city financed by a $1 billion Bitcoin bonds appears to have hit a snag as the country’s finance minister, Alejandro Zelaya, in a recent interview with a local TV station hinted that the ongoing war in Ukraine could impact the implementation of the bond.

The bond was first announced in November 2021, and it was revealed that half of the money generated from the bond sales would be spent on building infrastructure and geothermal energy-powered Bitcoin mining. The other half would be used to purchase Bitcoin for the country.

While there are no details yet on when the Bitcoin Bonds will be issued, we reported that the state-owned thermal energy company La Geo will issue the bond. The bonds will be available on Bitfinex, making it impossible for Americans to buy them, as the exchange isn’t available in the U.S.

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