Tldr at the end.
Intro:
When Musk announced Tesla was purchasing bitcoin, we were all ecstatic. Why wouldn’t we be? Here is the first major case of institutional private-sector money pouring into cryptocurrency. Over the last few weeks though, we have quickly seen that enthusiasm evaporate. In fact, it was demolished. Seeing companies get into the space is awesome, but there needs to be limits. The reliance on Musk led to a massive liquidation event, a bizarre attempt at centralizing a group of miners, and spurred mainstream skepticism of cryptocurrency.
It is exciting that El Salvador is adopting bitcoin as legal tender. Fucking hell though, let us not get ahead of ourselves and turn this into another Tesla situation:
Presidet Bukele Must Be Treated with Scrutiny:
Let us avoid another Musk type of event. El Salvador is the first government to officially adopt bitcoin as legal tender. That is great, but we should not blindly accept this development. If President Bukele is truly on board he needs to prove it with actions.
Given his past controversies, I currently have little reason to believe Bukele is trying to build a pro-democratic and decentralized future. I assume many of the individuals here are libertarian or lean in that direction of politics. Were you aware that Bukele brought the El Salvador military into a parliamentary session to pass legislation? Did you know Bukele overthrew the Attorney General and forcibly tossed out Supreme Court Judges because they were investigating corruption in his administration? This is not designed to be a hit piece on Bukele, but these are red flags. Imagine if Trump or Biden tried to throw out Supreme Court Judges because they did not like a decision ruled on. A move like that is the antithesis to democratic principles and decentralization.
Closing Thoughts:
Once again, I find this development to be exciting. BUT President Bukele must show that this move is truly for every citizen of his country. Not to be benefit the few who are politically or economically connected within the country. Cryptocurrency has the potential to give every citizen of earth access to sound financial infrastructure. WE the people must ensure that this space is not manipulated by autocrats. If Bukele is serious about this it will be fascinating to see how El Salvador develops blockchain advances. If he does it successfully there are bright days ahead for the country. Remember, keep a close eye on his actions not just his words.
Tldr; President Bukele of El Salvador has some skeletons in his closet. While it is great that he is classifying bitcoin as legal tender, we need to see the promises being lived up to. Treat it all with scrutiny. Do not let Bukele become the public sector version of Elon Musk.
(Shameless plug: If you want to follow political developments in the crypto space, I have a YouTube channel that tracks these stories. Here is my episode from today talking about the El Salvador situation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyl4zVgwFBY)
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