As a condition of the new IMF loan package, El Salvador’s President Bukele was forced to waive three aspects of the Bitcoin law passed in 2021:
- A legal tender mandate that requires companies to accept Bitcoin
- Shut down Chivo, state-run wallet and on/off service
- Tax payments in Bitcoin are no longer accepted
Ultimately, everything except the last is a positive change. Legal bidding laws are ultimately coercive, and in my opinion should not exist. Chivo was a buggy mess, and alternatives like Blink exist. The only downside (arguably) is that the country no longer accepts Bitcoin for paying taxes.
People are losing their minds on Twitter over these changes, portraying things as selling out Bukele, making it appear that he’s not a Bitcoin user, etc. There are many people who display an attitude that shows they feel misled or betrayed.
Well, this is a wake-up call. Bukele has never been a champion of Bitcoin first and foremost. He is the leader of a nation with a population of about six million people. Which She was always going to be his first priority. If he wasn’t, he would be a terrible leader.
El Salvador is a country plagued by poverty, and previously had violent organized crime. It was the murder capital of the world. The infrastructure was dilapidated and dysfunctional, and people could not participate in the economy without paying protection money to violent gangs like MS-13. Huge populations have moved abroad to escape these things.
Bitcoin is just one of many tools Bukele uses to deal with these issues. This is all that should be for the leader of the nation. The reason Bukele is in power is not to pump our bags, or advance the Bitcoin cause, it is to help Salvadoran people.
When Bitcoin isn’t the best way to do it, he has to admit it. When deprioritizing Bitcoin is in the best interest of his people, he should do it. Regardless of how you feel about governments or nation-states, that is the job of a leader. To be concerned for the interests of his people.
This is what he is doing here, and anyone who expects him to do otherwise is delusional and narcissistic. Bukele is not the president of Bitcoin, he is the president of El Salvador. The Salvadoran people are accountable to them, not a bunch of internet clowns.
This article is a takes. The opinions expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.