El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption is “Overplayed,” says Fidelity Investment Analyst

El Salvador created history earlier this month as Bitcoin became a legal tender in the country. Many crypto proponents called it historic and believe it would create a domino effect on other small financially challenged nations to adopt Bitcoin. However, Jurrien Timmer, a Fidelity Investment analyst believes the significance of El Salvador’s adoption is overplayed.

Timmer’s comment came during his interview with CNBC where he said that it’s definitely an interesting development but not as significant as many would like to believe. He explained that El Salvador continues to use US Dollars and BTC works on the side. He asserted that if El Salvador has dropped US Dollar for Bitcoin, then it would have been a significant event. He explained,

” The development is definitely interesting but I think its significance is a little bit overplayed….its not like they have dropped US Dollar. All the trades are still settled in USD and people can decide between the two, but it is the first real test for Bitcoin as value of exchange.”

The small Central American nation has faced a lot of flak from global monetary bodies such as IMF and World Bank and even credit rating companies have downgraded its financial outlook in the wake of BTC adoption, however, President Bukele led government is confident about Bitcoin adoption.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption on the Rise

The mainstream media continues to offer a grim picture from El Salvador post its Bitcoin adoption claiming most of the people are unhappy with the decision. But, looking at the number of downloads on the official Bitcoin wallet Chivo, it seems BTC adoption is on the rise in the small nation.

President Bukele has maintained from the start that the decision was based on banking the unbank as 70% of the country’s population lack banking facilities. El Salvador’s BTC adoption has also pushed the likes of Argentina, Paraguay, and few other nations to look at Bitcoin as a bail-out option.

About Author

An engineering graduate, Prashant focuses on UK and Indian markets. As a crypto-journalist, his interests lie in blockchain technology adoption across emerging economies.