El Salvador perseveres with Mi Primer Bitcoin to promote dialogue on the crypto matter
07 June, 2024El Salvador has become renowned in the media for the past years for making Bitcoin legal tender. It was the first country to approach this financial path. The government passed the legislation in 2021 with the intent to promote financial inclusion and attract investors. The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, referred to himself as “the coolest dictator” for introducing the cryptocurrency.
Two years after the regulation, lawmakers also created a legal framework that approved cryptocurrency transfers between private and public entities. Other crypto-oriented laws include eliminating income tax for international investments and fully committing to Bitcoin investments. However, the country is open to investors of numerous cryptocurrencies, so you can check the BNB price prediction if you want to buy it in El Salvador and diversify your portfolio.
Besides pushing the legal framework forward, the country also mitigates spreading knowledge in the sector and teaching communities how to leverage Bitcoin, which is why it upgraded the Mi Primer Bitcoin program. Here’s what it’s about.
What is Mi Primer Bitcoin?
Mi Primer Bitcoin, or My First Bitcoin project, aims to teach educators about Bitcoin in order to foster a developed economy in which future generations will put the base of a significant cryptocurrency hub in the country. Since its creation, numerous students have learned about cryptocurrency, and some even received diplomas.
Mi Primer Bitcoin focuses on the following goals:
- Empowering people by educating them;
- Creating tools available at a global scale;
- Developing a standard community-led education;
The platform has expanded globally, taking advantage of the Light Node Education Network in 22 countries. Hence, countries like India, Zambia, and the United Kingdom became nodes and transmitters of Bitcoin knowledge.
The latest version has just been released
In an attempt to continuously improve the project’s impact, Mi Primer Bitcoin has provided the latest and most developed edition, approached a more open-source path, and enhanced the Bitcoin Diploma system. With the help of worldwide educators, the Student Workbook, which addresses Bitcoin’s history and technical aspects, is available worldwide freely on the GitHub platform.
The project’s founder sees this development as an essential step towards educating people on financial literacy and offering them more options to diversify their income. That’s why this year marks a notable improvement of 26 transactions for the diploma compared to only nine languages in the past available. The Mi Primer Bitcoin is also planned to be introduced in the public school curriculum.
What should people expect after Bukele’s victory?
It’s no wonder that the Bitcoin saga continued and flourished in this manner since the president who made Bitcoin legal tender won its second term early this year, with an impressive voting percentage of more than 85%. The Bukele became renowned for producing the controversial choice of introducing Bitcoin as a viable payment option for citizens, despite skepticism from the International Monetary Fund and numerous other financial institutions.
Since Bitcoin’s launch, the country has received more than international attention, with investors becoming interested in its potential as Bitcoin became a promising source of the country’s economic boost. The president made significant efforts to make Bitcoin more approachable, such as developing the Chivo wallet, introducing several Bitcoin ATMs around the country, and establishing a clear plan for leveraging the mining energy from the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin City might be one of Bukele’s most awaited projects since it will use geothermal energy for Bitcoin mining, solving the sustainability issue by using renewable resources.
However, the Bitcoin agenda needs some improvement
While adopting Bitcoin and pushing educational matters forward is laudable, the project is far from perfect. Citizens protested against the project some time ago as they feared Bitcoin would only attract inflation and more financial instability, as the country would already experience monetary hardships.
The program has also faced several challenges, as technological adoption wasn’t easy, and numerous citizens didn’t even own a smartphone or had a bank account―understanding this emerging technology was indeed difficult.
At the same time, the security issue was recently brought to light when a hacker group leaked the database from the Chive wallet provided to Salvadoreans, exposing sensitive information about users. The digital wallet was already having technical difficulties, such as bugs and glitches reported by users. Still, this time, the hacking group took advantage of vulnerabilities as the government didn’t address the situation.
El Salvador isn’t the only one using cryptocurrencies
While El Salvador started the trend with Bitcoin’s adoption as a legal tender, other Latin American countries approached the issue, and it seems like El Salvador is behind other places. For example, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia are the leading countries in terms of crypto activity, as they’re also receiving considerable assets in stablecoins, altcoins, Bitcoin, and Ethereum.
Compared to El Salvador, users from Argentina or Venezuela leverage cryptocurrency against government corruption and authoritarianism, as people can preserve their savings in a valuable currency, whereas the bolivar and peso are slowly losing value due to hyperinflation.
On the other hand, the IMF discussed how Latin American countries became interested in CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) to enhance financial inclusion. However, this inclusion requires regulation, which usually comes too slow compared to the fast-changing financial trends.
Countries like Costa Rica, Chile, and Paraguay have a progressive approach to cryptocurrencies, but others are not so sure about their potential. Argentina and Guatemala are still cautious with these digital currencies, while Bolivia and Ecuador are still restrictive. Therefore, there’s a lot of work to do in order for the entire Latin America to make use of cryptocurrencies, but only after problems like inflation, corruption, and inequality are solved.
What do you think about El Salvador’s Bitcoin approach?
After making Bitcoin legal tender, El Salvador created Mi Primer Bitcoin, a project that aims to spread knowledge about the cryptocurrency and make it more accessible to the public. The project has expanded considerably, and now, people across the world can access the material provided by the government and receive a diploma that attests to their acquired skills.
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