The CEO of crypto exchange BitMEX, Alexander Hoptner, has said that other countries will soon follow in the footsteps of El Salvador president Nayib Bukele and the country’s move to grant Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender. Hoptner suggested that at least 5 countries will soon accept BTC as legal tender before the end of 2022.
The CEO made his claims in a blogpost in which he said that Bukele’s move was praiseworthy and hit out at critics in the mainstream western media. He stated that the move “deserves praise, not derision.”
Hoptner’s boldest prediction was that other countries would soon follow El Salvador’s example writing: “My prediction is that by the end of next year, we’ll have at least five countries that accept Bitcoin as legal tender. All of them will be developing countries. […] I think developing countries will jump into crypto in 2022.”
The CEO did not further specify what those five countries might be.
Hoptner has denied that his post was a “love letter” to Bukele and wanted that the crypto sector should not pay too much attention to individuals- using Elon Musk’s control over Dogecoin prices earlier this year as an example.
The BitMEX CEO gave a number of reasons as to why he thought developing countries would jump aboard the Bitcoin train, including:
Remittance benefits
Many economies are reliant on remittances for a large chunk of their income. Therefore, the need for lower cost transfers is high. He explained that adopting BTC as legal tender would put families in developing countries in a better position to cheaply remit funds.
Fighting inflation
The International Monetary Fund expects inflation in developing countries to reach 5.4% this year. Hoptner noted that Bitcoin could fix this with its capped supply of 21m coins. He claimed that developing countries are starting to notice this.
Political point-scoring
Hoptner noted that world leaders have the desire to position themselves “as progressive, populist and new-age thinkers” and will be attempting to make a political statement by following the footsteps of Bukele.
Hoptner concluded his post by saying that nations “who have the most to lose by continuing the status quo are acting in their self-interest” if they decide to “explore alternative options” such as bitcoin adoption.
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