The official rollout of bitcoin in El Salvador began last week. Ukraine then joined the bitcoin train. Laos has announced plans to allow bitcoin mining in Laos, just months after China cracked down on crypto.
It seems as though every week, a new country joins the bitcoin bandwagon. Billionaires keep hoisting the bitcoin bullhorn while the rest of us pile sats. This is bitcoin’s week:
Bullish News
The week began on a positive note when Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s president announced that the country would exempt foreigners from paying taxes on any bitcoin they earn.
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor announced Monday that MicroStrategy had purchased an additional 5,050 BTC. This brings the total of the company’s holdings to 114.042 BTC, which was bought at an average price $27,713.
On Monday, also, Professor Mthuli Ncube (Minister of Finance in Zimbabwe) stated that the country would look into bitcoin adoption to reduce remittance costs, stabilize the economy, which has been decimated over the past two decades. Brevan Howard, a $11.4 million hedge fund, was the latest financial institution to create a bitcoin division . This signals more bullishness than traditional finance.
Nayib Bukuele announced Tuesday that El Salvador’s Chivo Bitcoin wallet received 500,000 registrations during its first week. This adds hundreds of thousands more bitcoin users to the ecosystem. El Salvador installed 50 bitcoin ATMs across the U.S., in addition to the existing infrastructure. This makes it easier for citizens of the country to send money back.
Howard Marks, Oaktree Capital’s Chairman and Billionaire Investor, stated that Bitcoin has more advantages than gold. This is in sharp contrast to his 2017 opinion about bitcoin. Marks was a guest on the podcast “We Study Billionaires” and had a lot to say about bitcoin.
Fidelity, a $4.2 trillion investment company, met with the SEC to discuss its proposed bitcoin ETF . Fidelity presented a presentation that showed ‘increased investor desire’ for bitcoin, the existence similar funds in other nations and the growth of bitcoin holders.
On Thursday, it was reported that Laos would allow bitcoin mining and trading. It’s true, another week, another nation. Laos has recently welcomed bitcoin. Legislators are currently working to create regulations that will allow for bitcoin trading. Six companies have been granted permission to mine and trade Bitcoin in the country.
Revolut, a $33 billion UK-based financial service firm, also announced Thursday that they would finance office space in Dallas for 300 employees using bitcoin. WeWork manages the office space and Revolut mentioned that they were saving money on international remittance fees as one reason for the move.
Last Thursday’s one, not market-related, was the introduction by Hungary of the first statue in the world to honor Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin creator. Yes, Satoshi Nakamoto will be a tourist attraction for maxis around the globe.
Finally, PayPal’s Bitcoin buying service in the UK went live on Friday. This allows users to buy bitcoin directly from the platform. Namecheap, the domain registrar, announced that they would now accept bitcoin payments.
Bearish News
Despite the bear market being relatively benign, Ray Dalio, a billionaire, decided that he had to keep the market relevant by adding some FUD. Dalio stated that he disagrees with Cathie Wood’s prediction that bitcoin would grow 10-fold. He also said that governments would not allow bitcoin to succeed and would be able ‘to kill it’.
Dalio’s sentiments shout ‘I need Bitcoin to dip, so that I can purchase more’. This clearly shows his ignorance of Bitcoin’s workings, decentralized finance, and blockchain technology. If it is in the hands and control of the majority, no government can ‘kill it.
Apart from Dalio’s, El Salvador’s Bitcoin rollout has not been all roses and sunshine. The Central American country has seen an increase in its anti-bitcoin brigade, despite the fact that bitcoin is still struggling to recover from the plunge it experienced last week.
protestors set one of 200 bitcoin ATMs in the country on fire to protest the government’s bitcoin adoption and slow rollout. Protestors have a number of concerns. Some of these may be valid: bitcoin’s volatility and the lack of education about bitcoin in the country. Also, there is the west’s FUD campaign.
Verdict
Bitcoin is approaching its 12th anniversary. Bitcoin has grown from a niche internet currency to be almost worthless to a digital currency with five figures (and counting) that has been adopted both by billionaires and aging financial institutions. It is poised to be the global reserve currency and kick financial tyrants out of the way, making it easy to make affordable payments around the world.
It’s becoming clear that El Salvador is leading the charge in promoting bitcoin adoption. These nations are interested in bitcoin regardless of whether they legalize it and regulate it, use it as legal tender, or invest in it.
Bitcoin is slowly becoming a global currency. Every week, another billionaire or trillion dollar investment fund opens their arms to bitcoin. Every week, a politician shows interest in exploring bitcoin in their nation. Bitcoin is taking over.
We’ve seen El Salvador adopt bitcoin. We have seen Laos and Ukraine push a bitcoin-friendly agenda. We have also seen politicians from Zimbabwe, Ghana, Paraguay and Honduras express interest in bitcoin.
It is no longer about whether or not another country will adopt Bitcoin in its full form. But it is more about when. Bitcoin is slowly but surely uniting the world. It looks like bitcoin will soon be the global cryptocurrency.