El Salvador’s Biggest Bitcoin Critics Make Embarrassing Public Statements

A pair of high-ranking officials in El Salvador’s ruling party, Nuevas Ideas, took aim at critics who stand in opposition to the country’s forthcoming Bitcoin legal tender law on Tuesday.

A pair of high-ranking officials in El Salvador’s ruling party, Nuevas Ideas, took aim at critics who stand in opposition to the country’s forthcoming Bitcoin legal tender law on Tuesday.

In what appears to be one of the first public pushes to counter critics by the administration, the deputy of the party, Christian Guevara pointed out the ignorance of the opposition’s knowledge of Bitcoin basics, Diario La Huella reported.

“Perhaps those who oppose Bitcoin have already heard the opinions of ‘Tesale’ or have met with ‘Elios Monk’ who advised them on the ‘sototochis’ as pennies of the ‘bitcom,’” Guevara is quoted as saying.

The statements point out how the opposition, like left-leaning El Salvadoran political analyst Rubén Zamora, has used incorrect terms in reference to Bitcoin in recent days.

Guevara’s comments make abundantly clear that the biggest opposition to Bitcoin so far in El Salvador is coming from people who perhaps don’t understand it.

He continued, “Remember that what you are going to do is pay him with ‘sototoshis’, the ‘toshis’ is, ‘santoshis’, that each ‘santoshis’ is like someone who says the penny,” Zamora reportedly said on a local radio show.

The public battle in the headlines comes just six days before the Bitcoin law will take effect in El Salvador and follows small protests by pensioners and politicians who are speaking out against the currency’s adoption.

Another representative of the El Salvadoran New Ideas party, Alexia Rivas, rebuked opposition pushed forward by the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), Diario La Huella noted in a separate report, advising them directly to learn more about Bitcoin and how it is being regulated internationally.

“I ask the FMLN leaders who do not understand Bitcoin to go to Cuba and learn how it is regulated,” Rivas said.

Just a few days ago, Cuba’s government said it would “recognize and regulate” Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for payments on the island.

Rivas continued, “I want you to understand that there is going to be a whole training process so that there is no doubt how this new model that the country is undertaking will begin.”

Notably, Rivas didn’t hide the fact that there is a significant learning curve to understand Bitcoin, but as many believe, the payoff may be well worth the time investment for El Salvadorans.

The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced via Twitter last week that 200 ATMs and 50 in-person kiosks are being built to launch on September 7 to support its forthcoming law.

In an effort to help the population integrate Bitcoin as an additional legal currency President Bukele said, “you can deposit and withdraw money (without commissions) and there will be people ready to advise on how to download and use the electronic wallet and ATMs.”

In any case, the world will watch and learn as El Salvador spearheads Bitcoin adoption next week.