El Salvador recently made history by becoming the first country in the world to have a bitcoin (BTC) introduced the law. According to Alexander Höptner, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, more countries to follow soon.
El Salvador first, who’s next? The dominoes are falling. Here is our CEO @Alex Hoeptner on why you think 5 developing countries will adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in 2022. https://t.co/KPPsXtHazQ
– BitMEX (@BitMEX) October 6, 2021
“My prediction is that by the end of next year we will have at least five countries that will accept bitcoin as legal tender. They will all be developing countries. “
According to Hoptner. According to the CEO, developing countries will be the first to adopt bitcoin due to three factors: faster and cheaper international deals, rising inflation, and “politics.”
Regular settlement services like Western Union charge 10% on each cross-border transaction, whereas that would cost only a fraction through bitcoin. The CEO points out that international settlements are responsible for no less than 23% of El Salvador’s gross domestic product (GDP).
According to Höptner, developing countries will be less inclined to stick to the status quo. Developing countries have decades of analysis to see how the global financial system works and how it doesn’t work for their populations. They are powerless in the face of monetary policy that deeply affects their citizens.
The introduction of the bitcoin law in El Salvador was met with much criticism, but according to the CEO, the decision deserves praise. The experiment in the Central American country makes it easier for other developing countries to make such an attempt. However, politics can have a positive or negative influence on this:
“But if it is a reality that politics will play an important role in the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender, it is also true that any deficiencies of these leaders in the implementation phase could harm the wider adoption of cryptocurrencies in general.” .
Last month, Edward Snowden and Charles Hoskinson said, founder of Cardano (ADA), also that more countries will follow after El Salvador. Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin he was less enthusiastic about the bitcoin law.