This is a tweet published on May 16, 2022, which the President of El Salvador announced the meeting between 44 developing countries (32 central banks and 12 financial authorities) to discuss the future of cryptocurrencies and to talk in particular the future of bitcoin.
The start of a bitcoin revolution?
In this spring of 2022, the world of cryptocurrencies is going through a complicated period. In late summer 2021, El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin an official currency. The law adopted in June in parliament entered into force on Tuesday 7 September. Concretely, since that date, Salvadorans can pay their tax contributions in bitcoin and merchants can display the cryptocurrency alongside the US dollar. With this measure, the government hopes to promote the financial inclusion of Salvadorans. The aim is also to facilitate the transfer of money from abroad. A few months later, the Central African Republic took the same path as El Salvador.
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With this great mass around bitcoin, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele certainly hopes encourage other developing countries to take the plunge. On Twitter, he explained that “Representatives from 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities will meet in El Salvador to discuss financial inclusion, the digital economy and the possibility of opening bank accounts for those excluded from the banking system. We will also talk about the deployment of bitcoin and these benefits for our country”. A nice program and maybe the beginning of a bitcoin revolution. In any case, this is what the followers of crypto-assets hope for.
Tomorrow, 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities (44 countries) will meet in El Salvador to discuss financial inclusion, digital economy, banking the unbanked, the #Bitcoin rollout and its benefits in our country.
—Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 16, 2022
Fed up with the international financial system
Among the countries present, we find in particular Paraguay, Angola, Ghana, Namibia, Uganda, Jordan, Gambia, Honduras, Kenya, Nepal, Pakistan, or even Costa Rica. Surprisingly, the representatives of the Central African Republic did not make the trip. This gathering will take place at Bitcoin Beach, one of the flagship villages of cryptocurrency adoption in El Salvador. The IMF does not see this dynamic around bitcoin very favorably. Indeed, the financial institution has openly criticized El Salvador’s policy on bitcoin, believing that the country is “gone too far”. The 44 developing countries are tired of the international financial system.
This great mass could encourage more than one to leave this system, to rally to bitcoin. In any case, this is what the President of El Salvador hopes. Many countries present at this gathering are on the list compiled by KPMG among the nations that could legalize bitcoin and recognize it as legal tender. However, in fact, several studies show that locals don’t fully trust bitcoin. In El Salvador, only 20% of the population uses cryptocurrency. In the Central African Republic, only 11.4% of inhabitants have access to the Internet, although it is a prerequisite for making payments in cryptocurrencies.