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El Salvador shook the world a few months ago when it announced that it will adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. After months of criticism and the World Bank’s open refusal to assist, the small country found alternative ways to make Bitcoin adoption happen.
However, a new problem emerged as the day of the adoption of bill enforcement approaches, as the country’s retirees started protesting against it. Of course, El Salvador never intended to replace its official currency with Bitcoin (BTC/USD) — it simply wanted to add Bitcoin as an additional currency that can be used for payments across the nation.
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But, the anti-Bitcoiners have expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s recent moves, and hundreds of protesters have marched down the country’s capital of San Salvador last Friday. Apart from the retirees, the protesters also included disability pensioners, veterans, and even workers, all of whom seem to be extremely concerned about Bitcoin’s price volatility.
Specifically, all of these people were concerned that the government will start using BTC instead of USD to pay them their pensions.
El Salvador’s people worry about volatility and the lack of knowledge
Stanley Quinteros, the Supreme Court of Justice’s workers’ union member, said that the citizens are aware of the coin’s drastic fluctuations, which cannot be controlled by anyone. However, this is only one of the problems that the country’s people seem to have with Bitcoin.
NACIONALES | Veteranos de guerra han llegado a @HaciendaSV, donde han sido recibidos por delegados de la institución, para exigir $333 millones 960 mil dólares para el instituto del veterano. Asimismo expresan un rechazo a la implementación del bitcóin como moneda de curso legal. pic.twitter.com/93Aw63Om9z
— Red Informativa (@RedInfoSol) August 27, 2021
Many are concerned over the simple lack of knowledge about this technology, or understanding of how it works, how it can be used, and how to safely store it and protect it. Their response was to show up and march throughout the city with signs saying “No to corrupt money laundering” and “We don’t want Bitcoin.”
LA GENTE MAS HUMILDE NO QUIERE #BITCOIN, TODOS #NoQueremosBitcoin, solo los #BUKELES quieren el #Bitcoin . pic.twitter.com/YeAafHGCqS
— Blanca Huezo (@blanca_huezo) August 26, 2021
It is worth mentioning that the anti-Bitcoin protests are only the latest installment in a wider and older opposition campaign led by the local veterans. The veterans were apparently satisfied with their pensions, claiming that they are too low, and demanding that it gets increased from $100 to $300.
Once again, the citizens of El Salvador seem to have missed the fact that they aren’t obligated to switch to Bitcoin, and anyone who wishes to continue using the US dollar can simply continue to do so. All it takes it to not download the Chivo app, and they will be able to continue their lives as usual, which the country’s president stressed several times already.