Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, has announced that the government will airdrop $30 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) to every adult citizen of the country.
It has been reported that the announcement was welcomed by Bitcoiners, with influencers speculating that El Salvador’s government will need to purchase the required BTC it intends to distribute adding more than $100 million in buying pressure on markets.
However, by quickly googled estimates of the adult population of El Salvador varied, with on-chain analyst Willy Woo tweeting that Bitcoin’s global user base will grow by 2.5% as the influx of 4.5 million Salvadorans.
The report said that others placed the Salvadoran adult population as high as 6.5 million with Yahoo Finance anchor Zack Guzman using the figure for some rough, back-of-the-envelope calculations by suggesting that $195 million worth of Bitcoin will be airdropped across the country.
Crypto Twitter’s euphoria may be slightly premature, as El Salvador’s citizens will only receive the free Bitcoin after downloading the government-issued cryptocurrency wallet application.
The news was announced on last Friday's press conference, with president Nayib Bukele stating the government’s “wallet app will even work anywhere with a cell connection, and you won’t have to have a cell plan for the app.” President Bukele also stated that the country’s much-celebrated Bitcoin law recognizing BTC as legal currency nationwide will come into effect on September 7.
Thus, El Salvador’s Bitcoin law was passed roughly two weeks ago. While the move has been praised by the global crypto community, the legislation has faced opposition from a minority political party and the World Bank.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: FT | Wikipedia | CNBC
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