Bitcoin has had an eventful week, with several new announcements and developments taking place. From a $150 Million Fund For Bitcoin announced by the El-Salvador Congress to Jack Dorsey’s decentralized exchange for Bitcoin. Let’s look at some of the biggest developments over the past week.
Salvadorans Still Not Entirely On Board With Bitcoin
A recent study carried out in El Salvador revealed that 70% of the country’s citizens were not happy with the new proposal regarding Bitcoin and did not want to participate in any transactions using BTC. The poll was conducted by the José Simeón Cañas Central American University and had a sample size of 1281 citizens.
The poll revealed that 7 out of 10 Salvadorans favored lawmakers repealing the legislation that would make BTC legal-tender. The legislation comes into effect from the 7th of September. Furthermore, 2 out of 10 people surveyed stated that they had little or no faith in Bitcoin, while a significant 43% believed that Bitcoin legalization would be detrimental to the country’s economy.
The mistrust against the BTC legislation has been brewing for a considerable amount of time, with the results of the current poll in line with previous polls. An earlier survey conducted by the Center for Citizen Studies concluded that over 75% of the Salvadorans viewed the BTC Legislation as “not a wise move.”
El Salvador Gears Up To Adopt BTC, Approves $150 Million Budget.
El Salvador, meanwhile, is fully geared up to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender from the 7th of September, despite strong opposition from a majority of the country’s population. El Salvador conducts a majority of its transactions in USD, petitioned Congress to release funds from the finance ministry’s budget to support the government’s initiative. Congress approved the fund with a 64-14 majority and will be administered by the Development Bank of El Salvador.
Earlier in the week, President Nayib Bukkele announced that all necessary infrastructure had been put in place to ensure crypto’s smooth integration and adoption nationwide. El Salvador is fully geared up to adopt Bitcoin, despite widespread protests from citizens who are skeptical of the new Bitcoin law. Many have questioned the claim of inclusiveness around crypto because of the technical capacity and know-how required to access it.
Morgan Creek Capital CEO Bullish On Crypto.
Mark Yusko, CEO of Morgan Creek Capital, wrote about his concerns about the US Stock Market, stating that he believes that the US Stock Market is “Wildly Overvalued.” He also voiced concern in the article about how, despite several indicators that should set alarm bells ringing, one of the problems being the amount of liquidity in the system.
However, the hedge fund CEO is very bullish on Bitcoin, expecting the crypto to reach $10,000 by the end of the year while also expecting the cryptocurrency to reach parity with gold.
Mayoral Candidates Turning To Crypto To Win Elections
With the New York Mayoral elections set to culminate in November, candidates are increasingly turning to crypto to sway voters, using several pro-crypto stances and policies to attract voters. One prime example is Curtis Silwa, who is running as an independent. Silwa has been vocal in his support for crypto, taking to Twitter to explain his stance.
“As New York City Mayor, I will make NYC the most cryptocurrency-friendly city in the nation. Property taxes, fines, and fees will be payable in crypto. We will open more crypto ATMs & incentivize businesses to accept crypto. We must modernize our economy & make it accessible for ALL!”
Several other nominees have adopted a pro-crypto and pro-Bitcoin stance, with several others also reminding voters of their stance when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
Donald Trump Thinks Cryptocurrencies Could Be Fake
Ex-US President Donald Trump shared his views about cryptocurrencies in an interview with Fox Business and spoke less than favorably about them. Earlier last year, Trump had spoken about cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, which he states he was very wary of because of the threat to the Dollar because of it. He stated that he viewed Bitcoin as a scam, commenting,
“Bitcoin just seems like a scam…I don’t like it because it is another currency competing against the Dollar. Essentially it’s a currency competing against the Dollar. I want the Dollar to be the currency of the world; that is what I have always said.”
Brazilian Police Seize BTC worth $28 Million
The Brazilian police seized $28.5 Million worth of Bitcoin, the largest such seizure in the country’s history. The seizure was part of an elaborate Ponzi scheme that was operated by a company based in the region of Lagos. In addition to seizing 591 Bitcoin, the police also arrested five individuals, 21 luxury cars, and other high-value goods.
TBD to Help Create Decentralized Exchange For Bitcoin
Jack Dorsey, Twitter, and Square CEO has announced that Square’s new initiative, TBD, will be helping to create an open, decentralized exchange for Bitcoin. Dorsey had previously talked about TBD (@TBD54566975), introducing the project to the world.
“Square is creating a new business (joining Seller, Cash App, & Tidal) focused on building an open developer platform with the sole goal of making it easy to create non-custodial, permissionless, and decentralized financial services. Our primary focus is #Bitcoin. Its name is TBD.”
The announcement puts to bed intense speculation about TBD and the direction that the company would be taking.
