Ethereum's co-founder also said Bitcoin maximalists should be ashamed for uncritically praising Nayib Bukele.
Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin has jumped into the Salvadoran Bitcoin Law debate — calling the Central American country’s decision to make the cryptocurrency legal tender “reckless” and against the ideals of freedom espoused by the crypto community.
He also slammed Bitcoin maximalists for praising the policy put in place on June 5 by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. He has said it will make remittances cheaper, faster and easier to send home.
The law, which took effect on Sept. 7, makes Bitcoin legal tender that must be accepted by merchants. There were substantial protests against the law in the country which opponents fear will bring financial instability and inflation. Bitcoin ATMs were burned, local insurance companies were threatened with credit rating hits, and businesspeople were nearly unanimous — 96.4% — in opposing mandatory acceptance.
More than 80% of consumers said they did not want remittances in Bitcoin, citing price volatility and poor understanding of cryptocurrency — despite a $30 giveaway for downloading the Chivo electronic wallet.
Earlier this week, data showed many Chivo wallets were being used for day trading, and that Bitcoin ATMs were seeing more withdrawals than deposits.
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Reckless Maximalism
Buterin jumped into the fray on Oct. 8, when he responded to a top comment post in Reddit’s “Unpopular Opinions” subreddit, arguing Bukele should not be praised by crypto community.
“Nothing unpopular about this opinion,” Buterin said, adding:
“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.”
He went on to call the decision to push BTC to millions of Salvadorans with little to no education “reckless,” saying that it “risks a large number of innocent people getting hacked or scammed.”
Buterin reserved his strongest attacks for the fiercest Bitcoin proponents:
“Shame on everyone (ok, fine, I'll call out the main people responsible: shame on Bitcoin maximalists) who are uncritically praising him.”
