The world's largest bitcoin experiment: President leads the public to speculate in the country, almost defeated the country

Jimu Journalist Song Qingying

Intern Yang Xingnan

Bitcoin prices have recently reached a new low in the past 18 months. The plunge has affected investors around the world. The worst part of this wave is Salvador, a small country in northern Central America.

About one -fifth of Salvador's living expenses per day is less than $ 5.50, but under the leadership of President Bakl, 6.5 million people are involved in a world's largest "Bitcoin Experiment". In Salvador, from a corn cake to a house, you can buy it with Bitcoin. The president even spent about $ 100 million in public funds and personally stir -fry coins.

Many foreign media reports have learned that with the decline in this wave, one of the worst countries in the world's poverty and gang violence is facing serious debt crisis.

Salvador Street (Picture Source: Reuters)

The firing coin plummeted and the treasury evaporated by US $ 40 million, which led to the debt crisis

In June last year, Salvador passed the Bitcoin Law, which became the first country in the world to use Bitcoin as a legal currency.

Since Bitcoin has become a legal currency, Salvador President Bakl has also been deeply incorporated into the "currency circle".

Salvador President Bakl (Picture Source: Agence France -Presse)

According to the tracking website "NAYIBTRCKER.com" data, starting from September last year, Bakl purchased 2301 bitcoin with an average of nearly $ 46,000 per unit price. So far, it has spent about 105 million US dollar government public funds.

Bakl has been boasting that he "bought dips", but since he bought it, he has witnessed the plunge of Bitcoin.

In May this year, his Bitcoin shrinks nearly $ 40 million. However, this did not stop Bakl's enthusiasm. According to Bloomberg, he purchased another 500 bitcoin in May.

After the media reported that Salvado had lost $ 40 million in coins, Bakl still wrote on Twitter: "Patience is the key."

Salvador's Minister of Finance Alexandro Sellaa also insisted that the decline in Bitcoin is not important for Salvador, "this is not even 0.5%of our budget."

But at the same time, Salvador's economic growth has declined sharply, and the deficit is high. Salvador has a total of $ 7.7 billion in debt, and it will only be as paid next year as high as US $ 1 billion.

This wave of Bitcoin's decline was the first to scare away the bond buyers of the country. The worse thing was that it also scared away the International Monetary Fund. Salvador immediately lost a cooperation project with the organization.

The International Monetary Fund urges Bakl to give up Bitcoin as a legal currency, but this proposal was rejected by Bakl in January this year.

Bitcoin experiments are conducted nationwide, and protests broke out in various places

What is more exciting than the president's own speculation is that since last year, Salvado has performed a "Bitcoin Experiment" of the country, which spent about $ 374 million in the government.

Salvador store promotes Bitcoin (picture source: Reuters)

The Bakl government has implemented a series of measures to popularize Bitcoin in Salvador. In November last year, Bucker announced a "Bitcoin City" at the foot of the volcano in southeast Salvador.

The government then launched a virtual wallet application called "Chivo", which can support Bitcoin transactions. "Chivo" is Salvador, which means "cool".

Anyone who downloads the "Qiwo" wallet will receive a Bitcoin worth 30 US dollars after registration. The average monthly salary of Salvador is $ 365 per month. Therefore, at the beginning of the "Qino", it was downloaded 4 million times.

Salvador Bitcoin Beach (Picture Source: BBC)

However, Salvador is a country that is mainly cash economy, and about 70%of people do not have a bank account or credit card. A report released by the National Economic Research Agency in April showed that there were only 20%of people who continued to use "Qiwo" after downloading.

Bakl's experiments also involved the establishment of Bitcoin self -service withdrawal machines across the country and required all companies to accept Bitcoin. However, on the first day of the use of the withdrawal machine, many machines had technical faults.

What followed was that the people stepped on the streets of the Salvado capital to protest, and even burned Bitcoin ATM and violent conflict.

"Broken" throughout the country, the presidential support rate still exceeds 85%

According to the United Nations, Salvador is one of the countries with the world's gang violence, organizational crimes and the worst poverty. In Salvador, about one -fifth of people's living expenses per day are less than $ 5.50.

Faced with such economic difficulties, it is still a farce to adhere to the implementation of Bitcoin.

But Bitcoin experiments did not harm the president's reputation. Since taking office on June 1, 2019, Bakl's support has remained above 75%. As of the latest data on June 1st, Bucker's support rate exceeded 85%.

"This is the dream of leaders in other parts of the world." Saipado, a financial technology data analyst in London.

According to US Consumer News and Business Channels, Bakl's support rate is largely due to the tough leadership style. According to Reuters, the tough blows of the Bakle government have reduced the number of gang crimes and murders in Salvador.

President Salvador Twitter "Bitcoin, make us cool!"

Bakle, 41, said on Twitter that he was "the coolest dictator in the world." In April this year, he announced that he had arrested more than 9,000 suspected gang members in 15 days.Many surveys show that 70%of the Salvado supports the government's current measures to reduce gang crimes.And although the Bitcoin test failed, it really attracted a group of tourists.According to government official estimates, since September last year, the tourism industry has increased by 30%, and 60%of tourists are now from the United States.

Faced with Salvador's heavy debt, almost everyone believed that Bakl had the ability to raise enough cash to repay the debt today.

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