El Salvador’s Bitcoin ‘experiment’ leaves digital poor on the sidelines

A demonstrator holds a sign during a protest against Bukele and Bitcoin on Sept 15 in San Salvador, El Salvador. This month, El Salvador became the first to adopt bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar, which has been the official currency for two decades. — Bloomberg

SAN SALVADOR/BOGOTA: Bertila Garcia has set up her snack stall on the same corner in El Salvador’s capital for four decades – never accepting anything other than cash as payment. Even as her country makes history by adopting Bitcoin, she has no plans to change.

This month, the Central American country became the first in the world to adopt the cryptocurrency as legal tender, but many ordinary Salvadorans, like Garcia, 65, are struggling to make sense of how the step could affect their livelihoods.