Protests in El Salvador Request the Invalidation of the Bitcoin Law
For demonstrators, the law is a waste of resources that could serve to alleviate poverty. The demonstrators claim that only a few businessmen in the government will take advantage of the law.
A group of protesters stood against the Bitcoin Law in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. They even revealed a proposal to repeal the regulations approved in June and proposed to invest the money in solving various problems of poverty and marginalization of 40% of the country’s population.
The demonstration appeared in Diario El Mundo of El Salvador, and it shows numerous groups of people marching through the streets with a flag that reads “No to Bitcoin.” Once they walked and stood right in front of the headquarters of the Legislative Assembly, they were received by deputies Dina Argueta and Anabel Belloso.
The group that created, and led the whole protest was the Bloque de Resistencia y Rebeldía Popular, which is considered a left-wing movement in the Salvadoran political environment. In a document presented to the deputies, this organization describes the Bitcoin Law as nefarious, deceitful, and unconsulted, and they demand its immediate repeal.
According to the demonstrators, President Nayib Bukele approved it without consulting the people and also improvised the measure without enough technical studies. It caused an outburst of protests in the Latin American country.
This section also mentions that, according to opinion polls, the people and many owners reject it because it will bring negative consequences on prices and income and because it is only beneficial for a few people. The last one, according to the Protestants, is closely related to the government and has the sole purpose of laundering money.
Likewise, the stability of bitcoin (BTC), a cryptocurrency that goes through high volatility, is also a matter of criticism. Whoever transforms 100 dollars into bitcoin, the next day can have half. The opponents demonstrated that these conversions work like a lottery except that this is a mandatory act.
Ultimately, the demonstrators alleged tax exemptions for entrepreneurs who put their capital in bitcoin are also suspicious due to the public spending for the implementation of the law. Regarding the latter topic, they explained the 150 million dollars would serve as an investment to create a convertibility box from bitcoin to dollars.
According to representatives of the Popular Resistance and Rebellion Bloc who issued the statement, all this money could serve to solve the situation of poverty experienced by 40% of the country’s population. In addition, they also discuss that bitcoin would make it easier for illegal activities such as public corruption, drug, arms, and people trafficking, and tax evasion. Finally, the cryptocurrency would generate new financial chaos, hitting people’s salaries, pensions, and savings, affecting peasant families, and hitting the middle classes.
Questioning the protests
The demonstrations also received criticism from certain members of the crypto community. For example, users on Twitter claimed that bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that, according to their vision, promotes individual freedoms and represents an alternative asset that could run in parallel with the dollar, which is the other official currency of El Salvador.
By: Jenson Nuñez
