In El Salvador, Bitcoin’s liberalism meets authoritarian regimes

In early June, A pre-recorded video informs the citizens of El Salvador that they are about to participate in a grand experiment. The speaker is the country’s 40-year-old President Nayib Bukele (Nayib Bukele), who declared that he has a plan for a better future: Bitcoin. This Cryptocurrency Will become the country’s legal tender, he said-this is the first in the world to raise it to the same legal status as the U.S. dollar, which has been the national currency of El Salvador since 2001. This will help the unemployed, he added, as well as those left behind by the bank. But they are clearly absent from a plan to help troubled Salvadorans. Booker doesn’t even speak Spanish. Instead, the message was broadcast to cheering international Bitcoin enthusiasts at a conference in Miami.

In the capital of San Salvador, Mario Gomez, a charming 36-year-old software developer and founder of a “hacking space” for other programmers, is skeptical. “I don’t fully believe in everything these people sell,” he later explained. As a fan of open source technology, he does not consider himself an enemy of Bitcoin, but he is troubled by the way the government seems to impose Bitcoin on the people. So he went on Twitter. In the next few weeks, he became more and more critical of the plan, as did his followers.

On August 31, Gomez tweeted several leaked application slides called Chivo, as well as the government’s upcoming Bitcoin wallet. The next morning, he drove his mother to work as usual, but was stopped by the national police. The police officer told him that there was a problem with his car, but they would not tell him what the problem was. Gomez recalled that he felt more confused than scared. Before the police confiscated his phone, he quickly entered a message to approximately 8,000 Twitter followers. His mother took a photo of him being loaded on a police lathe. The police car took him to a nearby station and then to another station, where he said he was refused to see a lawyer. At the same time, protests for his release also appeared on Twitter. After six hours, the authorities told him to leave.

The Salvadoran police later stated that Gomez was undergoing an unspecified financial crime investigation, but had not yet filed any charges. Gomez and the lawyers of the human rights organization Cristosal who represented him argued that his detention was related to the information he shared about Chivo and was a form of public intimidation. His phone has never been returned, but he has since returned to Twitter, insisting that he is still just a person who expresses work-related opinions. He thought it was ironic. For a long time, Bitcoin has been regarded as a beacon of freedom for banks and governments. However, somehow, by opposing his country’s acceptance of Bitcoin, Gomez has become a reluctant political dissident. The National Police did not respond to a request for comment.

Strongman appears

When Bukele announced Bitcoin in June, he also strengthened his control over power. The first sign of a budding strongman came a year ago when he entered the country’s legislative assembly accompanied by armed police and soldiers after losing the legislative vote. Booker sat on the chair reserved for the president of the legislature and prayed to God. He later said that God told him to be patient. He doesn’t need to wait too long. In May, after obtaining an absolute majority in the legislature, Booker’s coalition voted to remove the attorney general and all five members of the country’s constitutional court and replace them with allegiance. Soon after, Booker devised an extension of the presidency beyond the usual limits.

The autocratic shift in El Salvador has aroused warnings from the United States. The United States sanctioned Buckler’s close allies on the grounds of corruption and said it would transfer aid from the government to civil society groups. But in El Salvador, Booker is still very popular, and opinion polls show that his approval rate exceeds 80%.For a while, he changed his Twitter resume to “the coolest dictator in the world.” (Now read as “CEO of El Salvador.”) American warlord In the past,” said Eduardo Gamarra, a political scientist at Florida International University.

Bukele sees Bitcoin as an opportunity for Salvadorans, especially as a way to circumvent the high fees charged by people who receive U.S. dollars from abroad, which accounts for nearly a quarter of the Salvadoran economy. He confidently predicted that the value of Bitcoin would soar and bring wealth to the country. But despite Bukele’s popularity, ordinary Salvadorans seem unsure who will benefit from it. A poll in September found that More than two-thirds Of Salvadorans do not approve of the “Bitcoin Law” and protests against the use of taxation to purchase volatile cryptocurrencies have attracted thousands. Activists such as Gomez said the government was acting too fast, and the struggling people that Buckler claimed he wanted to help were most likely to suffer losses. In public opinion surveys, the biggest concern of respondents about Bitcoin is its volatility and their ignorance of how to use it.

But in recent months, Bitcoin’s efforts have only grown in scale and hype-most of which are driven by Bukele’s personal Twitter account. The government is pushing for measures to attract foreign investors, including $1 billion in Bitcoin-backed bonds, economic zones with loose regulation, tax breaks, and permanent residency for high-priced investors. According to those involved in the discussion, these policies were mainly formulated by a small group of presidential advisers, many of whom were foreigners.