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

Fidelity wants sovereign states and central banks to acquire Bitcoin, citing very high-stakes game theory.

Fidelity needs sovereign nation-states or even central banks to acquire Bitcoin this year. The firm explained that high-stakes game theory is at play, according to which if Bitcoin adoption increases, countries that secure some Bitcoin today will be better competitive than their peers.

Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments, released a report on cryptocurrency trends and their possible future impact earlier this month. Among the trends discussed is the adoption of cryptocurrencies by sovereign nations.

Fidelity explained that some vital moves by the governments regarding digital assets worldwide took effect in the past year. The report looks at countries like China that banned cryptocurrencies and El Salvador, which took the opposite approach and made BTC legal tender.

The authors opined in his report that they believe that the two developments have seen this year could not be more opposite. According to the author, time will tell which path is more successful. However, Fidelity noted that an outright ban will be hard to achieve at best and, if successful, will lead to significant loss of wealth and opportunity.

The authors kept saying that there is a high-stakes game theory at play. Countries with some Bitcoin would spot a better competitive position than their peers.

Therefore, even if other countries do not believe in the investment or adoption thesis of Bitcoin, they will be forced to acquire some as a form of insurance.

Fidelity clarified that users may pay a small cost today for coverage compared to a potentially much higher price in the future. They concluded by saying that they would not be surprised to see other sovereign nation-states acquire Bitcoin in 2022 and perhaps even see a central bank make an acquisition.

Fidelity Will Operate as Bitcoin Custodian in Canada

This information got indicated by many reports, highlighting that the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) officially approved Fidelity in the country to launch a new platform for Bitcoin trading and custody.

This new platform will also provide services to entities such as pension funds, wallet managers, mutual funds, and ETFs that want greater exposure to digital currency.

In this regard, the president of Fidelity Clearing Canada, Scott Mackenzie, commented that demand for investment in digital assets is growing sharply, and institutional investors have been looking for a regulated dealer platform to access this type of assets.

More Canada Picks

The announcement is especially beneficial for the Bitcoin ecosystem in Canada since most of the local companies that operate with digital currency find it necessary to work with custodians based in the United States.

Fidelity offerings and services in the area would help companies based in the country to operate within the said country. These offerings are also paving the way for more institutional investors to approach the cryptocurrency market.

By: Jenson Nuñez

The company managed to freeze funds of an address with a million dollars in USDT in December. The reasons for the latest lockdowns remain unknown.

The issuing company of the USDT stable coin, Tether, has blocked three new addresses holding more than $150 million in funds. News outlet CoinDesk reported, citing data provided by Etherscan and Bloxy.

According to the report, Tether added three Ethereum addresses to its list this week. The feature, called Added Blacklist, allows the company to freeze USDT funds deposited at addresses, disabling its users from moving the money.

One of these addresses holds $100,000,080 in USDT, another holds around $59.9 million in the stablecoin, and a third holds just under $10,000 in the same stable coin. In total, the three Tether-locked addresses have close to $160 million in USDT.

The news comes a few days after the company froze funds from another Ethereum address. Tether added a profile with over a million dollars in various cryptocurrencies to its list. The action froze nearly $1 million in USDT deposited at that address.

More than 500 Addresses Blocked Since 2017

Tether has not indicated the reasons to carry out the account blocking. It is also unknown the identity of the users or entities that own these profiles, and the origins of said millionaire funds.

The news outlet The Block contacted the company to know more about blocking the profile with funds in USDT. A Tether spokesperson responded at the time that the firm regularly works with regulators and law enforcement agencies around the world, including on any cases related to hacking and scams.

The director of Arcane Asset, Eric Wall, had already pointed out in 2020 that some reasons for the inclusion of addresses in the list and freezing of funds by Tether could get carried out as measures for possible associations with crimes or scams.

Being a centralized signature, Tether can block funds from addresses that could have a role in criminal activities like money laundering. During 2021 alone, the company added more than 300 addresses to its list. At least seven blocks got carried out in December so, the amount increased at least 563 blocked Ethereum addresses since 2017.

While other stable coin issuers, such as Circle’s USDC, also can block funds involved in suspicious activity, this ability of some companies to control private addresses has caused concern in the past. Some argue that this feature undermines the decentralized nature of crypto.

If anything, these concerns may be working as a driver for decentralized stable coins like DAI and TerraUSD (UST). In recent weeks, the Terra algorithmic stable coin has become the largest decentralized asset of its kind, reaching a capitalization of at least $28 billion.

 Although, despite this push, centralized stablecoins continue to dominate the market. USDT has a capitalization of more than $78 billion at press time.

By: Jenson Nuñez

In at least 4 days, the 933 NFT launched by Ghozali were exhausted, with which he raised USD 1 million. Ghozali revealed that he would be launching a selfie that could be valued higher than others.

A 22-year-old man in Indonesia became a trend this week after generating a wave of people interested in buying his selfies in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFT). Ghozali Ghozalu is his name, who, in addition to selling his entire photo collection, managed to capture the attention of the media and influencers such as the YouTuber Luisito Comunica and some others even created a song about him.

Ghozali, a computer science college student from Indonesia, took a selfie every day from 18 to his current 22 years. The goal of this personal project was to make a video that grouped together all the photos to remember his growth.

However, he never thought his simple NFT selfies would sell like hotcakes. The launch got made on January 9, and since then, the demand has risen. This situation means an increase from USD 3 to USD 2,500.

As the selfies were getting sold, Ghozali declared on Twitter that he does not even understand why they want to acquire NFTs of his photos, but he thanked them for at least five years of worthwhile effort. The great interest generated by his selfies allowed him to sell out the entire collection in just four days, which had a total of 933 NFT.

The sale allowed Ghozali to collect a total of 314 ETH, which equals to more than $1 million. He intends to continue taking selfies for another five years to sell on NFTs. He expressed via Twitter that it would be a nice trip.

In addition, he revealed that he already has one in mind that could get valued more than others. It is his college graduation photo as he expects to finish his studies within the next five years.

Ghozali Reaches the Ears of the Tax Directorate, Luisito Comunica, and Even a Singer

The fortune he made with his NFTs became so popular in the media and social networks that it reached the ears of the Indonesian Directorate General of Taxation (DJP). The government entity tweeted to the new young millionaire that he must register his income to pay income taxes, and they wished him the best of luck for the future. To that, Ghozali replied: “Of course, I will pay for this because I am a good Indonesian citizen. This payment will be the first tax payment in my life”.

His story also got the singer Jonathan Mann to make him a personal song, honoring his project and that of different people who have taken photos of their faces to see their growth. Ghozali thanked him via Twitter and confessed that it would be the song he listens to before bed to have sweet dreams.

By: Jenson Nuñez