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El Salvador’s Bitcoin Report Card with Aaron Van Wirdum

Peter McCormack

Interview | Description | Timestamps | Show Notes

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El Salvador’s Bitcoin Report Card with Aaron Van Wirdum - WBD424 Peter McCormack

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Location: London
Date: Tuesday 9th November
Project: Bitcoin Magazine
Role: Print Editor-In-Chief

When I first visited El Salvador, towards the end of 2019, Michael Petersen was in the early stages of implementing his vision of a local bitcoin economy in the coastal village of El Zonte. What started as a small-scale experiment has become a transformative initiative and a key driver in the country's adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender.

On 7th June 2021, El Salvador passed the Bitcoin Law, with an ambitious plan to replicate El Zonte nationwide and make Bitcoin a central part of El Salvador’s economy. Nayib Bukele, the Salvadoran President, mandated an ambitious 3-month deadline to implement the Law. And, despite the complete lack of both public and private infrastructure, on 7th September 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to make Bitcoin legal tender.

In this interview, I talk to journalist and Print Editor-In-Chief at Bitcoin Magazine, Aaron Van Wirdum. We discuss the implementation of the Bitcoin law, what has changed in El Salvador and which nation-states might follow in their footsteps.

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00:02:31: Introductions
00:04:30: Bitcoin adoption rollout in El Salvador
00:11:35: The Chivo app
00:13:58: For and against Article 7
00:18:14: Opinion from the El Salvadoran banks
00:23:31: Real adoption vs the $30 incentive
00:30:00: The protests
00:36:35: Benefits from the adoption
00:41:52: President Bukele
00:51:23: Anti-Bukele sentiment
01:00:25: Making Bitcoin history
01:02:17: How it plays out: remittances
01:06:26: Surviving the bear market
01:09:43: Bitcoin: what is it and why is it?
01:13:24: Michael Saylor on Bitcoin vs gold vs fiat
01:20:55: Bitcoin Magazine back in print
01:24:24: Taproot
01:31:44: Final comments

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