Bitcoin went from $52,000 to below $45,000 after becoming the official currency in El Salvador
On September 7th, Bitcoin became the legal tender in El Salvador. The digital wallet that will be used to conduct crypto transactions is called Chivo, and its ATMs are now being built in the country with around 50 financial branches that support BTC transactions as well. Many countries are waiting to see if this implementation will save the country’s crippled economy.
After the launch, there was an increased supply for miners and low demand for investors. Thus, Bitcoin’s price went from $49,937.86 US to $52,445.66 but then crashed to $43,285. There was also another reason for this crash. JPMorgan was claiming that retailers were busy driving up the prices and its users should not buy crypto during this stage of the bull market. Although the BTC market cap dropped from $989.965B to $880.498B, there was a 56.48% increase in trading volume.
Following El Salvador’s government-approved financial service Chivo’s launch, the government declared that Chivo had to temporarily go offline due to technical issues within hours after the big launch.
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Standard Chartered: Bitcoin will reach $100K by the end of the year or early next year
Following the big crash in the price of BTC on Tuesday, experts believe that not only will the price recover, but it will reach $100K USD in a few months. In addition, they believe that this will increase Ether's price as well. Co-founder of Zap Protocol, Nick Spanos, says that the crash was a “false dip”.
In response to the assumption that this was caused by the bumpy rollout in El Salvador, he stated:” So here we have a president who is breaking new ground, like a top CEO, rolling out innovation. He believes in it: he bought the dip, as everyone should be.” Spanos also mentioned that if BTC hits $100K, Ether’s price will reach $10,000 as well.
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Bitcoin payments will be integrated in Brazil by Visa
Eduardo Abreu, Vice President of New Business at Visa, stated that the company has plans to incorporate crypto assets onto its platform for payments and as a store of value. Abreu continued to say that this implementation will require a system that can support both traditional banking activity as well as the crypto ecosystem. This will result in customers more easily transacting with fiat and crypto on the same platform. Additionally, there might be cashback rewards in the crypto program as well. ”Brazilians already have the culture of receiving card points, miles, discounts, etc. Why not receive cryptocurrencies with their credit card as well?” said Abreu.
Visa has shown a lot of interest in the digital asset industry as of late. Last month, the company purchased Cryptopunk NFTs for 50 ETH. The company has also established relationships within the Brazilian fintech industry with national banks Alterbank, Ripio, and Zro in order to maximize its adoption across the country.
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Ukraine becomes 5th world’s country to legalize Bitcoin
Ukraine is now the 5th country in the world to legalize Bitcoin. The initial bill to legalize cryptocurrencies for transactions was passed in 2020, and now it's heading towards the presidential desk to be processed.
This legislative bill includes protection against frauds and scam clauses for merchants and local businesses. Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, has mentioned that the country is currently working on remodelling its payment market. As a result, the National Bank of Ukraine will be able to issue cryptocurrencies.
It has been anticipated that by the end of 2022, Ukraine would become a part of the global crypto network and will enable foreign businesses to participate in the country’s digital asset trades. However, Ukraine’s current bill is not like the ones that have been passed in other countries when they legalized crypto as their legal tender. It restricts the rollout of Bitcoin as a form of payment. Moreover, BTC will also not be equal to Hryvnia, Ukraine’s original currency regarding its status. According to Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s unicameral parliament, this bill will make the country more susceptible to cryptocurrency proceedings in a phased manner.
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Bitcoin is being accepted everywhere in El Salvador, from Starbucks to McDonald’s
After the Chivo Wallet app was able to recover from technical difficulties following its launch, it ranked at the top of finance app downloads inside Apple’s App Store.
Mario Aguiluz, Vice President of Sales at the Guatemalan brokerage IBEX Mercado, shared a video of his Starbucks purchase with the Chivo app and tweeted: ”This is to all the critics who said #Bitcoin would never be used to buy coffee. Just paid for mine at Starbucks in #ElSalvador. I just hope this doesn’t become the new 10,000 BTC pizza…’Several local businesses in El Salvador, including cafes, recording studios, women’s fashion brands and telecom providers also made sure they were a part of this trend and announced that they will be accepting Bitcoin payments as well.
Despite all the support these vendors are showing, some Salvadorians were protesting against these regulations in the streets. Also, there have been some privacy and security issues with the Chivo app. El Diario de Hoy, a local newspaper, mentioned that the app requests that users grant it microphone, camera, and storage access, as well as access to their contacts. The media outlet went on to quote a computer scientist who had stated, ”There are other digital wallets that do not request or need that kind of information. It's unnecessary.”