Key Takeaways
- A developer reported near-zero crypto payments at El Salvador’s Bitcoin Beach, sparking adoption concerns.
- Vendors noted almost all customers now pay by card, showing a severe decline in everyday crypto use.
- Experts suggest users hoard bitcoin expecting price hikes, undermining its use in a circular economy.
‘Pretty Depressing’: Bitcoin Developer Laments Low Bitcoin Payment Adoption in El Salvador
The statements of a Bitcoin Core collaborator commenting on the state of bitcoin payments in El Salvador have awakened concerns about the low adoption level of bitcoin in the country, even as it has been globally promoted as the first bitcoin Country after passing the so-called bitcoin law in 2021.
Jon Atack, a Bitcoin Core contributor since 2019 who has been living in El Salvador since 2022 and was temporarily arrested last year, raised concerns among bitcoin proponents on social media when he shared his experience after paying with bitcoin in El Zonte, a Salvadoran region known as an adoption hotspot.
“Lunched in El Zonte (Bitcoin Beach) today. After I paid, they told me it was the first bitcoin payment there all month, going on to describe how before, they used to see many payments in bitcoin, and that now it’s practically non existent. Pretty depressing,” Atack declared.
He added that after asking about how most customers paid, he was told that almost all customers paid by card.
“I then asked if she wanted a tip in sats, but she had forgotten how to use her bitcoin app and didn’t really want any: ‘It’s dead,’” he said.
Atack stressed that this observation was anecdotal, but highlighted that the person had worked there for three years and had seen the evolution of payments in the zone.
Atack’s remarks awakened positive and negative reactions, with some even refuting his experience. Juan Galt, a bitcoin reporter, recognized that there was “an economics problem at hand and no one seems to be taking it seriously,” assessing that an altruistic behavior was needed for bitcoin payments to push a circular economy, but that, given the expectation of bitcoin going up in price, this behavior was “counter-economic” at its core.
At the same time, a user commented that she was back from the same region and paid with bitcoin with no problem, ensuring that paying with bitcoin was possible. “We paid by card to our hotel, but there were signs everywhere that they accept bitcoin, so I assume they do,” she declared.
“Sometimes I begin to take for granted what we have in El Salvador and forget that it is a pioneering frontier and how far ahead it is of other places in adoption and forward-thinking legislation,” Atack concluded.
