El Salvador’s Bukele Remains Popular Despite Bad Bitcoin Bets, Falling Economy

El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele bet on Bitcoin last September when he made it legal tender in the Central American nation and invested a lot of money in the cryptocurrency himself.

One year and $107 million later, and his investment isn’t paying off: the president is down over $61 million on paper from the Bitcoin buyer, data from the Nayib Tracker website showsand many inhabitants still don’t use it.

The small country’s economy is not doing so well either. The IMF has warned that El Salvador’s economy will grow only 1.7% in 2023, which will feel like a recession.

But that does not mean that President Bukele is not liked. According to a CID Gallup poll released Thursday, the leader has the highest approval ratings in Latin America.

CID Gallup, a Costa Rican consulting firm, surveyed 1,200 residents of 13 Latin American countries and found that President Bukele was the most popular, with an approval rating of 86%. Bukele fared much better than leaders of major Latin American economies such as Mexico and Argentina (but the poll did not include all countries in the region.)

This may come as a surprise to political observers outside the country, given the reports of civil unrest in El Salvador. Last year, Salvadorans out into the streets numerous times to protest the Bitcoin Act and the president consolidating too much power.

And the manager, like once upon a time admitted he buys crypto on the phone while naked has been criticized by everyone from the US lawmakers – who called Bitcoin law a ‘careless gamble’ – to The World Bank and IMF.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin law requires businesses to accept the major cryptocurrency if they have the technological means to do so.

The country’s government encouraged citizens to use the asset by giving them all $30 dollars worth of Bitcoin via a government-issued digital wallet.

When Decrypt visited the country late in 2021, vi found many Salvadorans were uninterested in Bitcoin and businesses were reluctant to accept it.

But El Salvador, a poor nation that often finds a place on the list of the world’s most murderous countries, is supposedly less dangerous under Bukele.

The eccentric leader this year launched a tough crackdown by rounding up suspected gang members and throwing more than 53,000 of them in jail.

The bold move has been praised by Salvadorans – who say it makes the country safer – but criticized by human rights groups, which warn it is unsustainable and could lead to a crisis in the country’s prisons.