Skip to main content

Working Study Says Despite Legal Tender Status, Bitcoin Is Not a Widely Accepted Medium of Exchange in El Salvador

Working Study Says Despite Legal Tender Status, Bitcoin Is Not a Widely Accepted Medium of Exchange in El Salvador

According to a working study published by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), most Salvadorans stopped using the Chivo wallet after getting their $30 bitcoin bonus. The report shows that the median Chivo wallet user made no deposits or withdrawals in a given month.

NBER Study: Only 4 out of 10 Salvadorans Use Chivo Wallet After Government’s Bitcoin Bonus

An April 2022 working study published by the NBER, asks if cryptocurrencies are indeed currencies after researching bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in El Salvador. NBER conducted a face-to-face survey with 1,800 Salvadoran households during the month of February 2022. The study shows that Salvadorans are not using the Chivo wallet that much and in February, El Salvador’s central bank noted that only 1.6% of remittances were sent via digital wallets.

“Most users who used Chivo after spending the $30 bonus do not engage with the app intensively,” the report highlights. In fact, the NBER researchers found that the fixed cost to adopt the Chivo wallet was very large. Moreover, if it wasn’t for the $30 bitcoin bonus, the study estimates that 75% of the Salvadorans surveyed would have never used it. NBER researchers note that only four out of ten people who downloaded Chivo wallet are actually using the application.

88% of Bitcoin Accepting Businesses Convert Back to Dollars, Study Concludes by Noting Bitcoin Is Not a Widely Accepted Currency in El Salvador

“The elasticity of substitution between Chivo Wallet and other methods of payment seems to be large,” the study adds. “On net, among Chivo Wallet users, 10% report spending less in cash, and 11% report reducing their use of debit or credit cards since they downloaded Chivo.”

Unfortunately, despite all the reporting that says otherwise, NBER’s study claims only 20% of Salvadoran businesses reported on accepting bitcoin as a medium of exchange. 90% of those businesses were enterprises and “88% of businesses transform money from sales in bitcoin into dollars.” NBER’s findings further note that roughly 5% of Salvadorans paid their tax obligations via bitcoin (BTC).

“Overall, despite the legal tender status of bitcoin and the large incentives implemented by the government, the cryptocurrency is largely not an accepted medium of exchange in El Salvador,” the NBER research paper concludes.

What do you think about the NBER’s study and findings among the 1,800 Salvadoran households? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/vCpwd1V
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Deep Web Roundup: Dream Adds Monero and Bitcoin Tumbler “Chip Mixer” Launches

The darknet has been quiet of late, which is the way it’s meant to be. No news means no mega busts, honeypots, or mass market shutdowns. Even when it’s out of the spotlight though, the deep web is quietly making news, whether trialling the latest privacy coins or the newest coin mixers that promise to restore a little of the privacy that’s being stripped away from bitcoin users on a daily basis. Also read: U.S. Agency ICE Conducts Investigations That Exploit Blockchain Activity The Battle for Privacy Heats Up Privacy is all relative, but of late there’s been relatively little privacy to be enjoyed by bitcoin users. Blockchain monitoring software is becoming more sophisticated and more common, with U.S. law enforcement agencies using it to profile and hunt down deep web users. Chip Mixer is a relatively new bitcoin tumbler that’s designed to restore some of that privacy. Available on both the clearnet and darknet, the service uses a variety of techniques to obfuscate blockchain m...
10 comments
Read more

Ombudsman Receives Complaints About Crypto Investments in Spain

The Spanish ombudsman has been receiving complaints about cryptocurrency and how some Spanish citizens investing in these vehicles have lost everything. In his annual report, Angel Gabilondo recognized the rise of cryptocurrencies as a new problem due to the little or no regulation crypto sees in the country. In the same way, the EU has also warned about these assets recently. Spanish Ombudsman Gives His Take on Crypto Angel Gabilondo, the Spanish ombudsman, has given his take regarding cryptocurrencies and the effects they have on citizens investing in some of these projects. Gabilondo said in his yearly report that cryptocurrencies have become “a new problem” during the year examined, with many people having lost all of their funds invested. The report states : Cryptocurrency exchange companies or platforms are not regulated in the legal system, are not subject to any public supervision system, nor do they benefit from deposit guarantee systems. The affected users that sought...
Post a Comment
Read more

2021 Bitcoin Price Predictions: Analysts Forecast BTC Values Will Range Between Zero to $600K

As bitcoin has touched new price highs on Thursday nearing the $50k handle, people have been curious as to where the price will go in the future. Meanwhile, despite the gains so far, a number of luminaries, analysts, executives, and proponents from the crypto space believe the leading crypto asset will reach between $60k to six-digits this year. Mike Novogratz Predicts $100K Bitcoin: ‘Other CFOs and CEOs Are Saying, What Should We Be Doing?’ Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention has gained mass appeal in recent times as the leading digital asset bitcoin ( BTC ) has reached its highest value ever in 2021. On Thursday morning (EST), BTC spiked to an all-time high (ATH) at $48,697 per unit. Earlier in the morning at around 2 a.m., bitcoin was exchanging hands for $44,485 and saw an 8.98% increase since then. At the time of publication, at 6:30 p.m. (EST) on February 11, 2021, bitcoin (BTC) is swapping for $47,821 per coin. With BTC so close to the $50k mark, people have been forecasting ...
Post a Comment
Read more