The initiative was led by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. On Friday, Buterin went to Reddit to agree with a commenter who believes Bukele should not be rewarded for his conduct.
“Making it obligatory for companies to accept a particular cryptocurrency is antithetical to the values of freedom that are supposed to be so essential in the crypto world,” explains the Ethereum inventor. Furthermore, pushing BTC to millions of individuals in El Salvador at the same time with little to no previous knowledge is irresponsible and risks a huge number of innocent people being hacked or defrauded.
Buterin advises Bitcoin fans to keep their enthusiasm for the top cryptocurrency in control and to keep a critical eye on what’s going on in the sector. Shame on everyone (well, alright, I’ll name the major culprits: shame on Bitcoin maximalists) who blindly praise [Bukele].”
El Salvador’s Bitcoin rollout has allegedly been far from flawless. According to Reuters, hundreds of users in the nation experienced at least one problem with the country’s Bitcoin wallet, known as Chivo. According to one user, the program stole his money but never returned it in BTC. According to statistics from the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development, 13% of Salvadorans have used BTC to make transactions.