September 7th, 2021 will go down in history as the first day in history when a station nation adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. As Bitcoin has been covering over the past week, El Salvador rollout its BTC Law.
The measure has seen a lot of criticism, and opposition from other countries, financial institutions, and a portion of the population. Some claimed that its approval and implementation occurred too fast.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Adoption In El Salvador Is The “Start Of A New World,” deVere CEO
Therefore, people and businesses in the country will lack the proper tools to accept it as a medium of exchange. Others argued that in Latin America things must be done quickly or they risk not being done at all.
At the moment, events seem to favor those who think the latter as Bitcoin users from around the world have gone to verify the implementation of this historic law in the Central American country. Journalist Aaron Van Wirdum reported that he was able to make a successful purchase using the Lightning Network.
Van Wirdum paid with Bitcoin in a McDonald’s in El Salvador. The reporter expected that the infrastructure wouldn’t be ready from day 1 but was positively surprised to witness that he was mistaken.
Just walked into a McDonald's in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin, tbh fully expecting to be told no.
But low and behold, they printed a ticket with QR that took me to a webpage with Lightning invoice, and now I'm enjoying my desayuno traditional! pic.twitter.com/NYCkMNbv7U
— Aaron van Wirdum (@AaronvanW) September 7, 2021
The president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele became a reporter himself. As people in the country started activating their BTC wallets, called “Chivo”, Bukele informed the population on issues, and about the big companies that also integrated Bitcoin into their payment platforms.
Related Reading | El Salvador Buys 200 BTC, Vows To Buy More As Bitcoin Becomes Law
In addition to McDonald’s, Bukele invited his citizens to Pizza Hut, the popular Pizza restaurant. At the same time, the President shared a tutorial on how to use the Chivo wallet and announced when the country bought more BTC.
¿Quién quiere Pizza Hut?#BitcoinDay #BTC🇸🇻 pic.twitter.com/jidMQHVQyB
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) September 7, 2021
Similar reports have come from users in Starbuck where BTC payments take only a few seconds and other major foods chains in the country.
https://twitter.com/maguiluz301/status/1435267945412890631
El Salvador, The Start Of A New Era For Bitcoin Adoption?
Many have dismissed the recent events in El Salvador because the country’s economy is small. However, the fact that so many retail and big companies have to accept Bitcoin payments via Lightning Network could trigger a chain reaction.
Related Reading | Salvadorans Don’t Want Bitcoin? Controversial Survey Says So
Once these actors see the benefits for transacting in LN versus traditional payments rials, there seem to be more incentives to take the same model and apply it in other parts of the world. BTC users Joshua Schultz commented the following on these possibilities:
What no one’s talking about in #ElSalvador is the fact that when I pay #bitcoin at Starbucks for a cup of coffee The retailer gets the full amount not what’s left after Visa MasterCard takes their cut. This is going to be huge for the retailers.
As of now, Bukele has reported several major companies within Latin America and abroad that have started to take BTC. Besides the aforementioned companies, the President reported that Movistar Claro, two major phone companies, adopted BTC.
¡Descubre una nueva forma de pago en Movistar! ₿ pic.twitter.com/R41DoFEwgi
— Movistar El Salvador (@movistar_sv) September 7, 2021
At Bitcoinist we want to hear from you, do you think El Salvador will fail in its endeavor, is Bitcoin on its way to becoming the currency of the world? Let us know in the survey down below.
With #Bitcoin becoming legal tender in #ElSalvador, how long until it becomes the global reserve currency? @nayibbukele
— Bitcoinist.com (@bitcoinist) September 7, 2021
