So first of all, let me say that I was debating with myself whether to post this. I*m not sure whether this is actually my opinion and I might change it if somebody convinces me. But hear me out first:
I really think Nayib Bukele is doing something pretty problematic with El Salvador.
- The Chivo App is basically a banking app by the government.
- There id no proof that the dollars in the app are actually backed by dollars. We know how much Bitcoin they hold. We don't know how many dollars are in all apps combined.
- It could be very thinly stretched classical fractional banking. How can we as Bitcoiners just ignore that?
- It could be even worse turning a whole country in a Ponzi Sheme and the Bitcoin just a pr-stunt. The actual way to do this would be in the Bitcoin spirit with KYC Bitcoin ATMs - whicht might even have been the easier infrastructure to set up.
- If this bold move fails it might even be worse for Bitcoin than the adoption was good for it. Slow and steady adoption might have been the safer way.
On the other hand:
- Bitcoin adoption is just a net good
- Even if it was a dollar based Ponzi ... it might actually work out? They could just print dollars which might catapult the economy out of being 3rd world without the actual inflation when people think they are 1:1 dollars. And ElSalvador is irrelevant in the overall money of the US. Very difficult to pull off without a collapse in the end and I don't think there is a reasonable exit strategy.
And all of this is besides Nayib Bukele being a brutal military dictator.