London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

As El Salvador Makes Cryptocurrency Legal Tender is It the Beginning of the End for Dollar Hegemony?

As El Salvador Makes Cryptocurrency Legal Tender is It the Beginning of the End for Dollar Hegemony?

The idea of cryptocurrency was first conceived in the 1980s but it was not until 2009 that the first open-sourced software, Bitcoin, was released. There are now dozens of blockchains but they have until not been regarded as legal tender.

El Salvador will make history on Tuesday, 7 September, when it becomes the first country in the world where cryptocurrency is officially legal tender and can be used to buy a house or a car or even to pay your taxes.

Supporters of cryptocurrency hope it could mark the beginning of the end of the "dollar hegemony."

In 2019, the dollar was responsible for 88 percent of global trade but cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin could offer an alternative, especially for smaller countries who are prone to economic bullying.

A poll by the Central American University, published on Thursday 2 September, found two-thirds of Salvadoreans were opposed to allowing cryptocurrencies to be legal tender, although it appeared to be driven by ignorance.


​Of 1,281 people surveyed nine out of 10 people did not have a clear understanding of how Bitcoin worked and 70 percent thought the government should repeal the law, passed in June, allowing it to be legal tender.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who proposed the idea, believes cryptocurrency can help boost jobs and economic development by making the country less reliant on US dollars.

Unemployment is around seven percent in El Salvador but the majority of the population live on low wages and grinding poverty, as well as high levels of crime, have persuaded tens of thousands to head north to the “promised land” of the United States.

The sun rises as asylum-seeking migrants' families from Honduras and El Salvador walk towards the border wall after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States from Mexico on a raft, in Penitas, Texas, U.S., March 26, 2021


There are 1.5 million Salvadoreans in the US, compared to six million in El Salvador itself, and another 40,000 live in Honduras, Guatemala or Mexico, often having abandoned the migrant journey north.

Seven out of 10 people in El Salvador do not have bank accounts and President Bukele believes cryptocurrency will make it easier for migrants in the US to send remittances back to their family without having to pay the charges demanded by banks and firms like Western Union.

Remittances - around US$4 billion a year - makes up around a fifth of the country's GDP.


Mr Bukele, a former businessman of Palestinian origin, has portrayed the cryptocurrency move as a way for El Salvador to dig itself out of its economic mire.

"This will improve lives and the future of millions," Mr Bukele told a Bitcoin conference in Florida in June.

President Nayib Bukele holds his ballots as he prepares to vote in local and legislative elections, at a polling station in San Salvador, El Salvador, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021


But the UCA survey found most Salvadoreans think foreign investors and the country’s wealthy elite will be the only beneficiaries.

"The dean of UCA, Andreu Oliva, said: "What we can see in this survey, in addition to this broad rejection of the implementation of Bitcoin as legal tender, is that for the first time we found a significant disagreement between the population and decisions being made by the Legislative Assembly and the president.There is a lot of concern about the possible negative effects of using Bitcoin."


But if cryptocurrency works in El Salvador, and if it boosts the economy and draws in inward investment, then it could well be copied by other impoverished states like Honduras, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×