Almost 80% of Salvadorans say that the Bitcoin Law has not changed their family economy. Half of the population says they have downloaded Chivo Wallet, and 25% say they actively use it.
The University Institute of Public Opinion (Iudop) of the José Simeón Cañas Central American University (UCA) revealed on January 14 a report with the results of a survey on what citizens in El Salvador think about bitcoin (BTC).
Four months after declaring bitcoin as the official currency of El Salvador, the institute identified that Salvadorans have conflicting opinions about cryptocurrency. While 14.1% have absolute confidence in BTC, 34.8% do not trust anything, and the rest are in the middle. On the other hand, he estimated that 22% of the country’s population does not even know about Bitcoin.
60% Believe that the Economy of El Salvador will Improve or Remain the Same as Bitcoin in 2022
The study revealed that most of those surveyed believe that the Bitcoin Law benefits the wealthy, the government, foreign investors, and entrepreneurs more than the people. Precisely, almost 80% of Salvadorans maintain that their family economy has not changed since the approval of bitcoin as legal tender.
Likewise, almost 60% believe that the initiative has not had enough impact on the country’s economic situation either.
The expectations are higher for the future. Those who think it will continue the same in 2022 are only 24.3%. The rest gets matched between those who believe in improvement, opposed to those who think the opposite.
44% of Those who Have Chivo Actively use the Wallet Every Month
The research estimated that only a quarter of the population of El Salvador used bitcoin to buy or pay for something since it got implemented as legal currency in the country. However, a little more than half have downloaded Chivo Wallet, the platform created by the government to exchange cryptocurrency.
Of those with the Chivo Wallet app, nearly half argued that they actively use it, even once a month. Those who use it many times a week are 1 in 10 people.
Half of the Salvadorans are in favor of the creation of Bitcoin City, and the other half are against the project By a resounding majority, 97.5% of respondents said that using bitcoin in the country should be voluntary, not mandatory. This result also came out in a survey last June.
Likewise, almost half believe that the deputies of the Legislative Assembly should repeal, that is, annul the Bitcoin Law, while the other half think that it has to continue in force. This situation shows that there has been an increase in acceptance since at least 65% were against it in September.
These same data got replicated in the opinion on the construction of Bitcoin City. While 47.5% of Salvadorans do not support it, 47% do.
On this same topic, 6 out of 10 inhabitants disagree or strongly disagree that the government has spent more than USD 70 million of public money to buy bitcoin or promote its use in the country.
By: Jenson Nuñez
