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0 pointsel-salvador3y ago0 comments

> > Even so, this scheme only makes a little sense. A better approach might have been for the government to have set up a USD-based remittance program of its own.

I agree with that. For example linking the U.S. banking system via ACH/Fedglobal with the El Salvador one as Panama and Mexico have done to bring down transactions costs.

https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/ach/fedglobal

> This is just not true. Crypto as foreign remittance has been proven and is working quite well in Argentina.

But El Salvador is not Argentina though. El Salvador had never been affected by unstable currencies or unfavorable exchange rates set by their governments.

Bitcoin on the other hand, has been the first experience for Salvadorans, of having a currency that loses 50% of its value.

I'm just judging from their accents in Youtube videos, but part of the Salvadoran bitcoin wallet developers were from South American countries, so it seems to me that they were trying to solve a problem that existed in their countries, but not in El Salvador.

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hailwren3y ago

> But El Salvador is not Argentina though. El Salvador had never been affected by unstable currencies or unfavorable exchange rates set by their governments.

You're conflating two things. Inflation has little do with how well a remittance system functions. You wouldn't say that Western Union's system functions better or worse because of the currency it is denominated in.

> so it seems to me that they were trying to solve a problem that existed in their countries, but not in El Salvador.

While not inflation, El Salvador doesn't have a great history of fiduciary responsibility either. [1] 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_El_Salvador#Corrupt...

el-salvadorOP3y ago

> Western Union's system functions better or worse because of the currency it is denominated in.

When funds are sent on the same currency there is no exchange rate markup on the Western Union transaction, so it's cheaper.

> El Salvador doesn't have a great history of fiduciary responsibility either.

The judicial system was able to sentence former ex-president. In Saca's case all his assets and companies were seized by the National Commission of Property Administration. Unfortunately Funes was able to leave before being sentenced, and obtained nationality in another country to prevent extradition.

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