Cryptocurrency is seen by some as the “money of the future”. El Salvador is the first country to adopt Bitcoin as part of their economy. This means that since 2021 businesses in El Salvador must accept Bitcoin alongside their local currency. El Salvador is still the only country where they accept Bitcoin throughout the whole country, will this happen across the whole world?
Let me first talk about why people think this will happen. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, so it is not controlled by governments and banks. Looking at the increase over the last few years of people not trusting the government, it makes sense that cryptocurrencies will be the more favorable among people. Crypto also has the benefits of being quicker and it doesn’t deal with borders, in the sense that they don’t relay on banks or intermediaries. Supporters will also say that the limited supply of 21 million Bitcoins will protect the currency against inflation. The government is not able to print more of it.
On the opposite side the volatility is a big thing, the price of a Bitcoin changes too much for daily use. Also governments who decides whether they want to implement Bitcoin, don’t want to lose control over monetary systems. Also it is still not as simple and straightforward as paying with card right now. However are these main problems, that opposites come with, not just outcomes of the Cryptocurrency not being implemented and accepted yet?
I think what is going to happen that Crypto would be coexisting with today’s money, It would not fully replace it. I am also quite skeptical about the whole concept of the Digital Coins in general, because it is already a hype for such a long time and so many resources are put into it, but still it haven’t shown me real life changing advantages that will overthrow today’s money. But I am curious about the results over time of El Salvador and even hoping that in the future they will take a new step into exclusively having crypto as a payment method. In conclusion, I think it will act more like Digital Gold than an everyday payment method.
