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71% of Salvadorans Did Not Benefit From the Bitcoin Law, Survey Says

Felix Mollen Jun 7, 2022 01:15
Only 6,1% of those living in El Salvador felt that the Bitcoin Law was beneficial. 71% didn't feel any benefit whatsoever

A large part of Salvadorans said that the Bitcoin Law promoted by their president Nayib Bukele did not help them “at all” despite being approved less than a year ago.

A survey conducted by the Institute of Public Opinion of the Central American University “José Simeón Cañas” found that 71% of 1270 Salvadorans interviewed said that the Bitcoin Law did not bring any financial benefit to them.

Furthermore, according to the survey, 12.8% of Salvadorans said that the Bitcoin Law had brought few economic benefits to their families, in contrast to what people speculate on social media.

Only 6.1% reported having obtained significant benefits thanks to Bitcoin.

Table 113 of the Survey. Source: Public Opinion of the Central American University “José Simeón Cañas”

Table 113 of the survey conducted by Universidad José Simeón Cañas.

Is The Bitcoin Law a Failure?

According to this recent survey, more than half of Salvadorans consider that President Nayid Bukele has not had any major failures during this third governmental year; however, 3.9% of those surveyed see the Bitcoin Law and its investments as one of the Government’s biggest failures.

Source: Public Opinion of the Central American University “José Simeón Cañas”

This dissatisfaction might have to do with the slump experienced by the crypto market, precisely in the months following the president’s use of public money to invest in Bitcoin, spending millions of dollars in crypto instead of focusing on other investments considered a priority given the country’s economic situation.

On top of that, the Government continues to buy Bitcoin and going into more debt, despite the currency being on a downward trend since November last year, causing discontent among those who see cryptocurrencies as a tool for scams or money laundering.

El Salvador’s Efforts to Increase BTC Adoption Have Failed

20% of those surveyed said that their economic situation has improved because of the Government’s financial aid, taking into account the $30 given in Bitcoin as an incentive to those who installed the Chivo wallet on their cell phones.

As reported by Cryptopotato, another survey conducted in February by The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) revealed that only 20% of those who spent the $30 bonus continued to use the Chivo Wallet despite the incentives offered by the Government, such as the reduction in the payments for gasoline.

“While most citizens in El Salvador have a cell phone with internet, less than 60% of them downloaded Chivo Wallet, and 20% continued to use the app after spending their $30 sign-up bonus. Further, 5% of citizens have paid taxes with bitcoin, and despite its legal tender status, only 20% of firms-mostly large ones-accept bitcoin.”

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Felix Mollen

Felix got into Bitcoin back in 2014, but his interest quickly expanded to everything blockchain-related. He's particularly excited about real-world applications of blockchain technology. Having worked as a professional content writer for three years before that, Felix transitioned to working on blockchain-centered projects and hasn't looked back ever since.