[WSMDiscuss] [REDlistserve] El Salvador looks to become first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender
Ashish Kothari
ashishkothari at riseup.net
Tue Jun 8 11:46:17 CEST 2021
But what about this? (and there are many more such reports):
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/27/bitcoin-mining-electricity-use-environmental-impact
Democracy that comes at a huge ecological cost is not, well, democracy!
But, like Jai, then I don't understand much about all this, so perhaps
someoen can enlighten.
Also, are all cryptocurrencies likely to cause such ecological impacts,
or are some different ...and if so, how?
I also did not understand this, James: "blockchain is a network of
millions of computers .... makes decentralisation possible" ... and then
"authoritarian regimes don't want to let in existing cryptos ... would
ratehr create their own Blockchain & crypto currency" ... now is
blockchain/cryptos are inherently decentralised, would not authoritarian
regimes risk their own power by setting up their own?
Finally, do any of these fundamentally challenge capitalism (and in the
above qs, statism), or are they 'reforms' within the existing structures?
thanks to anyone, who can respond to these qs.
ashish
On 08/06/21 3:03 pm, James Pochury wrote:
> One bitcoin had almost touched 50,000 USD. Right now it is hovering
> around 36,000. You can own a fraction of bitcoin, including by giving
> a fraction to the 70% of the informal economy and over a period of
> time, the value increases benefitting them.
>
> There are atleast 5000 cryptocurrencies and counting. Etherium is at
> no. 2 in terms of value.
>
> The decentralised nature of cryptocurrency, with crowdfunding approach
> in many cases, makes it a viable and political project with huge
> potential for the masses.
>
> Blockchain technology is the engine that drives cryptocurrency.
> Blockchain is a network of millions of computers across the world
> wired together through a software platform. Blockchain makes
> decentralisation possible. A reason why authoritarian regimes don't
> want to let in existing cryptos into their countries. They would
> rather create their own Blockchain and crypto currency.
>
> Blockchain is also poised to be used for many other sectors, including
> financial, health, educational institutions, communications,
> transportation, trade, etc.
>
> James
>
> On Tue, 8 Jun 2021, 02:01 Jai Sen, <jai.sen at cacim.net
> <mailto:jai.sen at cacim.net>> wrote:
>
> Monday, June 7, 2021
>
> *El Salvador in movement…, **Ideas in movement…, **History in
> movement…, Economies in movement…*
>
> [I know nothing about Bitcoin, and my last attempt – this last
> weekend - to try to understand (by reading an article on it)
> resulted in my bailing out. But that’s not the point : A day
> later, I see this article, and the part that interests me is the
> social (and political) basis on which E; Salvador’s President is
> selling his move : */That it will “include” the “70% of El
> Salvador’s population does not have a bank account and works in
> the informal economy”/*. Any comments, from those who understand
> this field ? Because it seems to me that the implications, and
> repercussions, of this step are huge, for economies – and rulers -
> across the world :
>
> “Next week I will send to Congress a bill that will make Bitcoin a
> legal tender in El Salvador,” Bukele said in the message Saturday.
> “In the short term this will generate jobs and help provide
> financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy and in
> the medium and long term we hope that this small decision can help
> us push humanity at least a tiny bit into the right direction.”
>
> The U.S. dollar is El Salvador’s official currency. About one
> quarter of El Salvador’s citizens live in the United States and
> last year, despite the pandemic, they sent home more than $6
> billion in remittances.
>
> Stephen McKeon, a finance professor at the University of Oregon
> who studies cryptocurrencies, said Bitcoin is legal to own in most
> countries but has never been designated as legal tender, which
> would mean it could be used to to settle financial obligations,
> including taxes.
>
> But, he added, “It is unclear whether anyone desires to pay their
> taxes in Bitcoin.”
>
> Additional details of the plan were not released. But Bukele in
> subsequent messages on Twitter noted that Bitcoin could be “the
> fastest growing way to transfer six billion dollars a year in
> remittances.” He said that a big chunk of those money transfers
> were currently lost to intermediaries and with Bitcoin more than a
> million low-income families could benefit.
>
> He also said 70% of El Salvador’s population does not have a bank
> account and works in the informal economy. Bitcoin could improve
> financial inclusion, he said.
>
> *El Salvador looks to become first country in the world to adopt
> bitcoin as legal tender*
>
> Associated Press
>
> https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/international-business/article-el-salvador-president-plans-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?symbol=print-msg
> <https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/international-business/article-el-salvador-president-plans-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?symbol=print-msg>
>
> El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, pictured after a news
> conference in San Salvador on June 6, 2021, wants to make Bitcoin
> legal tender in his country. (JOSE CABEZAS/Reuters)
>
>
> El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced in a recorded message
> played at a Bitcoin conference in Miami that next week he will
> send proposed legislation to the country’s congress that would
> make the cryptocurrency legal tender in the Central American nation.
>
> The 39-year-old president, who has maintained approval ratings
> above 90% and made Twitter his preferred way of communicating,
> characterized it as an idea that could help El Salvador move forward.
>
> “Next week I will send to Congress a bill that will make Bitcoin a
> legal tender in El Salvador,” Bukele said in the message Saturday.
> “In the short term this will generate jobs and help provide
> financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy and in
> the medium and long term we hope that this small decision can help
> us push humanity at least a tiny bit into the right direction.”
>
> The U.S. dollar is El Salvador’s official currency. About one
> quarter of El Salvador’s citizens live in the United States and
> last year, despite the pandemic, they sent home more than $6
> billion in remittances.
>
> Stephen McKeon, a finance professor at the University of Oregon
> who studies cryptocurrencies, said Bitcoin is legal to own in most
> countries but has never been designated as legal tender, which
> would mean it could be used to to settle financial obligations,
> including taxes.
>
> But, he added, “It is unclear whether anyone desires to pay their
> taxes in Bitcoin.”
>
> Bukele’s New Ideas party holds a supermajority in the new congress
> seated May 1, giving any legislative proposal from the president a
> strong likelihood of passage.
>
> Additional details of the plan were not released. But Bukele in
> subsequent messages on Twitter noted that Bitcoin could be “the
> fastest growing way to transfer six billion dollars a year in
> remittances.” He said that a big chunk of those money transfers
> were currently lost to intermediaries and with Bitcoin more than a
> million low-income families could benefit.
>
> He also said 70% of El Salvador’s population does not have a bank
> account and works in the informal economy. Bitcoin could improve
> financial inclusion, he said.
>
> Riding his high popularity and his party’s dominance performance
> in Feb. 28 elections, Bukele has concentrated power. His party’s
> supermajority in congress ousted the justices of the
> Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court May 1. They then
> replaced the attorney general.
>
> They had been critical of some of Bukele’s more drastic measures
> during the pandemic, including a mandatory stay-at-home order and
> containment centres where those caught violating the policy were
> detained.
>
> While enjoying a positive relationship with former U.S. President
> Donald Trump, Bukele has had a much more tense relationship with
> the administration of President Joe Biden.
>
> Last month, the White House Special Envoy for the Northern
> Triangle Ricardo Zuniga said during a visit to El Salvador that
> the U.S. government would like to see El Salvador reverse the
> moves against the court and the attorney general. Bukele said that
> would not happen.
>
> Bukele’s concentration of power, attacks on critics and open
> disdain for checks on his power have raised concerns about El
> Salvador’s path. However, Bukele has a wide base of support in
> part due to the utter failure of the country’s traditional parties
> who ruled during the past 30 years to improve people’s lives and
> to his ability to provide short-term benefits.
>
> Bukele has been praised for aggressively obtaining COVID-19
> vaccines and running an efficient vaccination program far more
> successful than El Salvador’s neighbours.
>
>
> ____________________________
>
> Jai Sen
>
> Independent researcher, editor; Senior Fellow at the School of
> International Development and Globalisation Studies at the
> University of Ottawa
>
> jai.sen at cacim.net <mailto:jai.sen at cacim.net>&jsen at uottawa.ca
> <mailto:jsen at uottawa.ca>
>
> Now based in Ottawa, Canada,on unsurrendered Anishinaabe
> territory(+1-613-282 2900) and in New Delhi, India (+91-98189 11325)
>
> */Check out something new/*/– including for copies of the first
> two books below, at a discount, and much more :/*The Movements of
> Movements <https://movementsofmovements.net/>*//
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2017 –*/The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What
> Makes Us Move ?/*.New Delhi : OpenWord and Oakland, CA :PM
> Press.Ebook and hard copy available atPM Press
> <http://www.pmpress.org/>;hard copy only also atThe Movements of
> Movements <https://movementsofmovements.net/>
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2018a –*/The Movements of Movements, Part 2 :
> Rethinking Our Dance/*.Ebook and hard copy available atPM Press
> <http://www.pmpress.org/>;hard copy only also atThe Movements of
> Movements <https://movementsofmovements.net/>
>
> Jai Sen, ed, 2018b –*/The Movements of Movements, Part 1 : What
> Makes Us Move ?/*(Indian edition). New Delhi : AuthorsUpfront, in
> collaboration with OpenWord andPM Press.Hard copy available
> atMOM1AmazonIN
> <https://www.amazon.in/dp/9387280101/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522884070&sr=8-2&keywords=movements+of+movements+jai+sen>,MOM1Flipkart
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>
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Ashish Kothari
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<https://sutra.vikalpsangam.org/>
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