Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin Isn’t Happy With El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption

While the Latin American country El Salvador has received much praises over making Bitcoin a legal currency in the country, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed a strong dissent over this move.

Last week Buterin criticized el-Salvador President Nayib Bukele for facing the country in Bitcoin adoption. El Salvador passed the Bitcoin law last month on September 7 following which BTC became a legal currency in the country.

As a result, merchants and businesses have been forced into accepting Bitcoin as a payment along with the USD. In one his Reddit posts, Buterin wrote: "Making it mandatory for businesses to accept a specific cryptocurrency is contrary to the ideals of freedom that are supposed to be so important to the crypto space”.

The Ethereum co-founder also noted that the El Salvador government has been pushing the Bitcoin use among its people without actually educating them beforehand. Buterin calls this attempt as “reckless” further adding that it "risks a large number of innocent people getting hacked or scammed”.

The Ethereum co-founder didn’t just stop here. He further lashed out at the Bitcoin maximalists who have been extending support to the El Salvador government over this move. "Shame on everyone (ok, fine, I'll call out the main people responsible: shame on Bitcoin maximalists) who are uncritically praising him [Bukele]," wrote Buterin.

Well, it’s not that Buterin holds this view for Bitcoin supporters itself. When asked if his views would be the same if El Salvador accepts Ether (ETH) a s a legal tender, Buterin said that he has criticized Ethereum users several times in the past.

This is not the first time that El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has been criticized over his decision of making Bitcoin a legal tender in the country. IMF said that such a move could backfire in the long run. On the other hand, the World Bank denied offering any technical assistance in Bitcoin implementation.

In another new, Nayib Bukele made a series of tweets last Saturday, October 9, stating that they will use $4 million of their BTC profits in funding a veterinary hospital in the country.

The funding shall happen through the Trust that holds this surplus. Explaining this, Bukele said: “By the way, we’re not selling any BTC, [we are] using the USD part of the trust, since the BTC part is now worth more than when the trust was established”.

Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador has been going pretty strong so far with nearly 3 million people using the state-created Bitcoin wallet Chivo. This is equivalent to 46 percent of the total population in El Salvador.