Key facts:
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For Protestants, the legislation wastes resources that could be used to alleviate poverty.
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They claim that only a few businessmen to the government benefit from the law.
A group of protesters rallied on public roads against the Bitcoin Law in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. They even presented a proposal to repeal the regulations passed in June and, instead, invest the money in ” solving the problems of poverty and marginalization of 40% of the country’s population.”
The demonstration was described by Diario El Mundo from El Salvador, and in it you can see a group of people marching through the streets with a flag that says “No to Bitcoin”. Once they arrived at the seat of the Legislative Assembly, they were received by deputies Dina Argueta and Anabel Belloso.
The group that organized the protest was the Bloc of Resistance and Popular Rebellion, considered a leftist movement in the Salvadoran political spectrum. In the brief presented to the deputies, this organization describes the Bitcoin Law as “nefarious, deceitful and unconstitutional” and “demands its repeal”.
Among the reasons for arguing this opposition to the legislative measure, the first cited is that ” it was imposed by President Nayib Bukele without consulting the people, in an improvised manner and without technical studies.” In this section, it is also argued that, according to opinion polls, the people and the majority of businessmen reject it because it will have negative consequences about prices and income and because it is only beneficial for a few people. The latter, the Protestants claim, are close to the government and have the purpose of “laundering ill-gotten money”.
It also questions the stability of bitcoin (BTC), a cryptocurrency that is alleged to be “highly volatile and therefore speculative.” “Whoever converts 100 dollars into bitcoin, the next day can have half,” express the opponents who demonstrated. “It’s like playing the lottery,” they argue, except that this is ” mandatory, not a voluntary act.”
Ultimately, the alleged tax exemptions for entrepreneurs are also questioned put their capital in bitcoin and criticize public spending for the implementation of the law. With regard to this, they detail the 150 million dollars that will be invested in creating a bitcoin-to-dollar convertibility box, the 30 dollars per person that will be given to those who download the State wallet (which add up to a total of 75 million dollars, according to the statement) and infrastructure costs. This includes ATMs and connectivity investments.
For the representatives of the Bloc of Resistance and Popular Rebellion who issue the statement, all this money could be used to alleviate the situation of poverty “that 40% of the country’s population lives”. In addition, they also argue that bitcoin would facilitate illegal activities such as public corruption, trafficking in drugs, weapons and people, and tax evasion. Finally, cryptocurrency ” would cause monetary chaos, hit people’s wages, pensions and savings and ruin many MSMEs, affect peasant families and hit the middle strata,” they conclude.
Questioning the protests
The demonstrations also had their criticisms among certain members of the crypto community. For example, twitter users they expressed the “unheard of” of seeing people demonstrate against bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that, in their view, fosters individual freedoms and represents an alternative to the dollar, El Salvador’s other official currency.
Other twitterers, while, echoed images that would demonstrate a call for very few people to speak out against the Bitcoin Law. It should be clarified that, beyond the photos posted on the social network, it is not known at what time they were taken or if that was indeed the number of people who attended the mobilization.
Legislative support for bitcoin opponents in El Salvador
AnalÃa Belloso, one of the deputies who supported the movement against the adoption of cryptocurrency in the Central American country, said at a press conference that “nobody wants bitcoin” and that the majority of the population is against the law passed in June by the Assembly.
Belloso also expressed his concern about the leak of meetings between the president’s brothers and foreign businessmen for the creation of a digital colón. As Crypto News reported, this project was dropped. Meanwhile, a number of non-governmental organizations have asked for explanations in recent days, particularly in connection with the involvement of Bukele & apos; s relatives in presidential matters.