A recent study that investigated the attention of multiple nations towards bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies positioned El Salvador as the runner-up when it came to having the most curiosity in the matter. Even though America stayed at number one, El Salvador’s high ranking comes at a time when President Nayib Bukele has been criticized by Salvadorans for advocating for bitcoin acceptance.
El Salvador remains interested in Bitcoin
The Crypto Betting portal, a decentralized gaming platform, conducted a study that revealed El Salvador is one of the countries most curious about bitcoin and its applications. Through their analysis of Google Analytics search queries and the amount of bitcoin ATMs in each country, they found El Salvador was ranked second in terms of interest.
El Salvador scored a 46.19 out of 100 on the evaluation scale, with the countries that have the highest interest in cryptocurrency being closest to 100. The report commented on El Salvador’s situation by saying:
“El Salvador is a unique and prominent player in the world of Bitcoin.”
The U.S. topped the list of countries with the most interest in bitcoin, scoring an impressive 54.95 out of 100 on the report. Other countries that followed close behind included Vietnam, Canada, Nigeria, Switzerland, Philippines, India, Venezuela and Austria.
Crypto in the Country
Despite the passing of the Bitcoin Law in June 2021, allowing bitcoin to be used as a form of payment in El Salvador, analysts and studies have been critical of President Nayib Bukele’s pursuit to implement bitcoin usage.
A series of surveys conducted by Simeon Canas University in 2020 revealed that the majority of Salvadorans were not convinced that bitcoin had improved their financial situations, expressing a negative view towards it. Furthermore, the Center for Citizen Studies at Francisco Gavidia University surveyed citizens in May 2022 and discovered that over 60% opposed making bitcoin a legal currency, preferring to use the US dollar.
Despite the criticism, Bukele has proposed the creation of Bitcoin City, a city powered by geothermal energy that will be funded through Volcano Bonds, which have not been released yet. The research showed that El Salvador still has some interest in cryptocurrency even if not everyone is completely sold on it.
