It’s been exactly a year since El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender, the process initiated by President Nayib Bukele.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele (pictured) has been roundly criticized by the media on the first anniversary of the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender in the country. In view of the prolonged slump in the value of bitcoin after its life high in November 2021, it is understandable that the government chose to be reticent on the occasion. Not so the media, which was critical of the exercise, masterminded by Bukele. (Crypto News)

Media comments:

· Economicsts quoted by the newspaper El Diario de Hoy said the government had not been transparent about its bitcoin investments, with little detail available beyond Bukele’s tweets

· Economist José Luis Magaña said: “The bubble of real estate financing in the country has been fed, because throughout the year we have seen a rise in investment in real estate projects linked to bitcoin.”

· The Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies panned the lack of transparency as “alarming.” It went so far as to call for a reversal of the decision to make bitcoin legal tender, alleging that it had inflicted “great costs for Salvadoran society and without any tangible benefits.”

· These sentiments were echoed by the La Prensa Gráfica outlet which quoted Jaime Reusche, a Senior Analyst in Moody’s sovereign risk group, as follows: “Adoption has brought more costs than benefits. In reality, the main cost that we have seen is how it has affected foreign investors’ perception of risk toward El Salvador.”

No official comment has yet been offered by the El Salvador government on the issue.

However, Bukele seemed not to be overly perturbed, saying on Twitter that he would come out with an op-ed on the subject titled “Stop Drinking The Elite’s Kool-Aid.”

Related Story: El Salvador Makes History Adopting Bitcoin As Legal Tender Alongside The US Dollar

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