- Title: Salvadorans protest over country's plans to use Bitcoin as legal tender
- Date: 27th August 2021
- Summary: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (AUGUST 27, 2021) (REUTERS) GENERAL OF PROTEST AGAINST BITCOIN PROTESTER CARRYING SIGN AGAINST BITCOIN AROUND HIS NECK PROTESTERS MARCHING PROTESTER PLAYING HORN DURING PROTEST PROTESTER HOLDING SIGN READING (Spanish) "No to corrupt money laundering" PROTESTERS EXPLODING FIRE CRACKERS DURING PROTEST PROTESTERS WAVING SALVADORAN FLAG / HOLDING BANNER MAN TALKING ON MEGAPHONE PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEMBER OF EL SALVADOR'S WAR VETERANS ASSOCIATION, JOSE SANTOS MELARA, SAYING: "They shouldn't dare pay us with bitcoins because then they will have us on the streets every day demanding to be paid with the current currency in circulation (U.S. dollar). We will not accept any of this." GENERAL OF PROTESTERS PROTESTER HOLDING SIGN READING (Spanish) "Bukele we don't want bitcoin" PROTESTERS MARCHING VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGNS AND BANNERS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, CARLOS MORALES, SAYING: "We need mobile phones, people need to understand the technology. And that will lead to people being ripped off and it will affect their personal economy. That is why we firmly reject the implementation of this currency, besides the big crisis this will generate because even global powers reject this coin. This will affect workers, veterans, former combatants and all the country's vulnerable sectors." VARIOUS OF SIGNS DURING PROTEST PROTESTERS GATHERED LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MEMBER OF SUPREME COURT OF JUSTICE WORKERS UNION, STANLEY QUINTEROS, SAYING: "We know this coin fluctuates drastically. Its value changes from one second to another and we will have no control over it, the big investors will. They are the ones who can launder money, buy stocks when they are cheap, control their value when they go up, sell them and then we are left with nothing." PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGNS PROTESTERS GATHERED
- Embargoed: 11th September 2021 00:09
- Keywords: Bitcoin El Salvador Nayib Bukele economy protest
- Location: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR
- City: SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR
- Country: El Salvador
- Topics: Currencies/Foreign Exchange Markets,South America / Central America,Economic Events
- Reuters ID: LVA001ES23T53
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of Salvadorans took to the streets of San Salvador on Friday (August 27) to protest against the government's plan to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.
Retirees, veterans, disability pensioners, and workers expressed their concerns that the government would start paying their pensions in bitcoins instead of U.S. dollars.
"We know this coin fluctuates drastically. Its value changes from one second to another and we will have no control over it," said the member of the Supreme Court of Justice's workers union Stanley Quinteros.
There is also a concern that people don't understand the technology needed to use crypto-currency.
"That will lead to people being ripped off; protester Carlos Morales told Reuters.
El Salvador's Congress approved President Nayib Bukele's proposal to embrace the crypto-currency, making the country the first in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender on Sept. 7.
The law means that bitcoin will be on an equal footing with the dollar, which became its official currency 20 years ago.
(Production: Wilfredo Pineda, Rodolfo Pena Roja, Nina Lopez) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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