Vitalik Buterin rejects the adoption of bitcoin and does not accept that bitcoiners are applauding Bukele’s measures, without criticizing them. The Russian-Canadian programmer believes that adoption without education is dangerous.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Vitalik Buterin, known primarily for being the co-founder of the Ethereum network, disagreed with how the Government of El Salvador is pushing the adoption of bitcoin (BTC).
The Russian-Canadian programmer also criticizes the maximalists of the first of the cryptocurrencies, who applaud every move of President Nayib Bukele since he announced his plan for the cryptocurrency to become legal tender.
Buterin, who is one of the most prominent people in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, went to Reddit to refer to the Bitcoin Law of El Salvador for the first time. According to him, forcing merchants to accept cryptocurrency is a measure that goes against the ideals of freedom that he believes should be defended by the community.
According to article 7 of the regulations, “every economic agent must accept bitcoin as a form of payment when it is offered to him by whoever acquires a good and a service.”
The only exception will be those who “by the fact” do not have access to the technologies that allow executing transactions in BTC.
Bukele has insisted on pointing out that the use of the leading cryptocurrency is optional; however, this is not the case for merchants, who are required to accept payments in bitcoin, as reported by media in El Salvador. However, once the payment is received in BTC, merchants can change them to dollars instantly, without commission cost, through the government purse Chivo Wallet.
That companies have to compulsorily accept a specific cryptocurrency is contrary to the ideals of freedom that are supposed to be important to the crypto space. Furthermore, this tactic of bringing BTC to millions of people in El Salvador at the same time with almost no prior education attempts is reckless and runs the risk of a large number of innocent people being hacked or scammed. An embarrassment to the bitcoin maximalists who praise it uncritically.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum.
The renowned programmer uses the term “bitcoin maximalists” to refer to the bitcoiners who have been supporting Bukele’s plans and points to them as jointly responsible for things that could go wrong.
For Buterin, a hasty adoption without any education exposes people who contact BTC for the first time to risks of being hacked or scammed.
Bitcoin advances in El Salvador
Why is there no hassle when governments impose the use of fiat?
Hundreds of Reddit and Twitter users reacted to Vitalik Buterin’s comments. Among them, some wondered, “why is no one flinching when governments force citizens to use fiat money like the dollar?”
On Twitter, Marty Bent defended Bukele’s move, who, from his perspective, is pushing companies to “to accept the best free-market money ever to exist.”
Other users share the same point of view, such as NefariusNa, who on Reddit points out in defense of Bukele that countries impose the use of “their national currency for all commercial transactions.” “I’m not sure why this is negative,” he adds.
As for being hacked or scammed, the user said the bitcoin of El Salvador was saved in a wallet kept by the Government.
Therefore, he believes that “the risks of piracy and fraud are the same as sending money to people to their bank accounts,” he said in response to Buterin’s comment.
On the other hand, some agree with Buterin that it was necessary to educate people before implementing the Bitcoin Law because “ordinary people would have saved a lot of trouble, they would have learned what should and should not be done and the risks associated with this, such as staying protected from scams.”
El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. After one month of the entry into force of the law that establishes it, the population tries to discover the benefits and dangers of adopting cryptocurrency as an active ingredient for regular use.
Regarding the concerns raised by Buterin, in effect, Salvadorans are being victims of fraud associated with the Chivo Wallet, which is the wallet created by the Government of Nayib Bukele to spread the use of bitcoin in the Central American country.
Salvadorans began to denounce through social networks that third parties used their data to access the wallet and withdraw funds.
