The roll-out of Bitcoin as a legal tender was a move that has been notably objected to by prominent global financial watchdogs including the World Bank and the IMF.
The Governor of the Bank of England (BoE), Andrew Bailey has expressed dismay at the rationale that birthed the legalization of Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender in the Central American nation of El Salvador. Bailey made this revelation at a Cambridge University student union appearance in which he said the volatility of the digital currency will always work against consumers and businesses.
“It concerns me that a country would choose it as its national currency,” Bailey said in response to a question raised by one of the students present at the event on Thursday. “What would worry me most of all is, do the citizens of El Salvador understand the nature and volatility of the currency they have.”
The position that the majority of these El Salvador’s citizens may not be in the full knowledge of the nature of the digital assets they hold is not far-fetched. Though Bitcoin is over a decade old, the entire digital assets industry is still relatively new to many people who may not have operated or transacted in digital currencies for once.
The roll-out of Bitcoin as a legal tender was a move that has been notably objected to by prominent global financial watchdogs including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Both organizations were notably against the country’s Bitcoin agenda, citing various reasons ranging from economic instability to environmental considerations as BTC is deemed an energy-intensive, Proof-of-Work (PoW) cryptocurrency.
The BoE boss affirmed that the United Kingdom is looking into the proposition to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency dubbed the Digital Pound. He noted that “there is a strong case for digital currencies, but in our view, it has to be stable, particularly if it’s being used for payments,” adding that the attainment of stability at this time “is not true for crypto assets.”
BoE Governor Bitcoin Volatility Warning: El Salvador Begs to Differ
Despite the severity and the persistence of the warnings being issued to El Salvador per its adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender, the country’s President, Nayib Bukele has remained more ambitious in his pursuits to establish the country as the goto crypto hub in the world.
As reported by Coinspeaker, El Salvador unveiled its plans to build a Bitcoin City using proceeds from $1 billion in bonds issuance. This remains one of the most daring approaches to institutionalize the Satoshi Nakamoto-created digital currency in the country.
The Bukele approach has not really been peacefully adopted by the country’s citizens as the rollout has sparked a number of protests and uproar as many believe the digital currency agenda is an avenue for the president to continually enforce his interests on the masses. From the controversies surrounding who manages the Bitcoin keys stored on the Chivo wallet to the oppression of opposition voices, many believe the El Salvador Bitcoin agenda is largely against the core tenets of the cryptocurrency being promoted.
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