They dont have to, they will have an app in which they will receive USD. BTC will work behind the scenes. If these moms have a cell phone, they have downloaded apps before. They will download an app and choose their sons from their contacts, then request funds. It ain't rocket science. There might be some learning involved but MPesa shows that it is possible
El Salvador hopes to becomes the world’s first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender
- Thread starter johnarb
- Start date
They dont have to, they will have an app in which they will receive USD. BTC will work behind the scenes. If these moms have a cell phone, they have downloaded apps before. They will download an app and choose their sons from their contacts, then request funds. It ain't rocket science. There might be some learning involved but MPesa shows that it is possible
I don't need BTC to build an app and the associated back end that does exactly the same thing, and in fact there already exist a dozen such apps that do exactly that without crypto for de minimus fees. BTW, at the point you build an app and have exchanges going on in the background it's no longer free. And your remitter still needs a way to convert the cash they most likely receive their pay in into BTC, which will also always cost them money. At this point you have to ask yourself why BTC is required for all this? Again, BTC is a solution in search of a problem.
Which app does international remittances for free with 5 second transactions? You might want to listen to the interview I posted earlier. This is not a situation of a solution in search of a problem but one of a solution that has never existed before. The person sending sends USD, the one receiving receives USD, internationally instantly at no cost. This is like a stablecoin that uses BTC LN as a payment rail, the liquidity is provided by Strike and the Government of El Salvador
So first off, it's just not going to be free. Someone has to collect cash in the sending country. Someone has to convert it to BTC. Someone has to convert back to cash in the receiving country. Someone has to convert it to cash in the receiving country. There have to be facilities and staff to pay in both sending and receiving countries. In what universe do you believe you can do all that for free? BTC isn't a magical unicorn in the leprechaun forest of international transfers!
So instead you want to transfer from a bank account to another overseas bank account? Well back to my original point that you've never had a conversation with a poor person in El Salvador or a poor immigrant in the U.S. And at the point everyone has bank account, phones, and internet access as you assume they do, then again there are dozens of services that already do this.
Well, clearly you dont get how the whole thing will work. So I would tell you to listen to the interview
https://podcasts.apple.com/my/podcast/jack-mallers-vs-the-world/id1317356120?i=1000504716648
And also, study how lightning works because you dont seem to understand it
I listed a bunch of defined questions, your podcast link doesn't answer any of them. Who pays for each of the items I listed? Simple question.
There really is no need for "fiat" conversion if the governmental edict is "everyone must accept BTC as form of payment". So sure, if I use dollars to buy BTC to send to auntie, I do pay a fee to an exchange if I opt out of using something like "local bitcoins". There's a non insignificant fee to the miners depending on hash load, but auntie wouldn't need to pay another middle man to buy her groceries if everyone over there is told to take BTC.
The biggest middle man fee here is at point of BTC purchase (if lazy) and miner fees (which the Salvadoran government could subsidize in times of high vol.; this fee thus eaten by the tax payer). There really is no staff or maintenance fees involved as you're using the network and potentially your bank at time of purchase. This is only an example if talking remittances. Internally, payroll could be in BTC and there would be no middle man whatsoever except the miners and those giant government purchases to acquire BTC to make it happen. The government could in theory start the mining farm in lieu of this purchase but that'd require enough hashrate to sustain their GDP.
My experience w/third worlders has been hit or miss w/smart phones depending on their landline service at their place of origin. I also don't subscribe to the ethos of not being able to teach a dog a new trick.
Last edited:
Strike has very little cost for fiat to btc or vice-versa conversions, its similar to payment for order flow. im sure they will charge for something but BTC LN is so cheap. on the fiat side they allow the remitter to deposit via ACH or bank cards. it looks like they make some money if the remitter deposits via cards instead of ACH. other than that, most likely the service will be free or close to it as its the correct strategy for tech companies in order to accumulate users
1. A stablecoin on Ethereum L1 would cost more in transaction fees than the bitcoin on the Lightning Network which allows micro payments (pennies transaction value)
2. Their own stablecoin meant they would need to have the developer skills and the time to support, upgrade and maintain the network
3. Bitcoin btc has been working for years in El Salvador. It will now be stress-tested on a national level
The reason the President chose to make btc a legal tender is because of the Bitcoin Beach that was there for years (see below on the story)
Let's be honest, this is a new frontier for bitcoin and El Salvador
There's legit criticisms on the difficulties this will pose on every single Salvadoran merchant or service provider as they are required by law to accept bitcoin (if offered) as payment starting today
It smells of authoritarian decree on the struggling citizens
In the short term there will be growing pains
I think there is a marketing side to this that the millennial president is trying to put El Salvador in a leadership status by having the first-mover advantage
Imagine if the blockchain companies such as Binance, Bitfinex, Tron foundation and mining companies all setup offices and operations in the country?
These companies will be welcomed and supported by a friendly government to their cause
Think of all the jobs and revenues it will bring in
During the Twitter spaces last night, the president said he has a scheduled meeting with the IMF next week. I wonder if "they" will tell him to stop or reverse "this"
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tatian...-el-salvador-village-adopts-bitcoin-as-money/