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Are Cryptocurrencies Currencies? Bitcoin as Legal Tender in El Salvador

Author

Listed:
  • Fernando E. Alvarez
  • David Argente
  • Diana Van Patten

Abstract

A currency’s essential feature is to be a medium of exchange. We leverage a quasi-natural experiment—El Salvador as the first country to make bitcoin legal tender—to study a cryptocurrency’s potential to be used in daily transactions. The government also launched and provided incentives to download and use a digital wallet named Chivo, which shares features with Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and allows users to trade bitcoin and dollars. Were Chivo Wallet and bitcoin actually adopted after this “big push”? Conducting a representative face-to-face survey and relying on blockchain data to obtain all Chivo transactions, we document how usage of digital payments and bitcoin is low, concentrated, and has been decreasing over time. We find that privacy concerns are key barriers to adoption, which speaks to a policy debate on crypto and CBDCs that has had anonymity at its core. We also estimate the technology’s adoption cost and its network externalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando E. Alvarez & David Argente & Diana Van Patten, 2022. "Are Cryptocurrencies Currencies? Bitcoin as Legal Tender in El Salvador," NBER Working Papers 29968, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29968
    Note: AP EFG ME
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    Cited by:

    1. Hokkanen, Topi, 2023. "Externalities and market failures of cryptocurrencies," BoF Economics Review 4/2023, Bank of Finland.
    2. Wilko Bolt & Jon Frost & Hyun Song Shin & Peter Wierts, 2023. "The Bank of Amsterdam and the limits of fiat money," BIS Working Papers 1065, Bank for International Settlements.
    3. Emilio Ocampo, 2023. "Dollarization as an Effective Commitment Device: The Case of Argentina," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 848, Universidad del CEMA.
    4. Katherine Baer & Ruud De Mooij & Shafik Hebous & Michael Keen, 2023. "Taxing cryptocurrencies," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 39(3), pages 478-497.
    5. Henry, Christopher S. & Engert, Walter & Sutton-Lalani, Alexandra & Hernandez, Sebastian & Mcvanel, Darcey & Huynh, Kim P., 2023. "Unmet payment needs and a central bank digital currency," Journal of Digital Banking, Henry Stewart Publications, vol. 8(3), pages 242-255, December.
    6. Alexandre Tombini & Ana Aguilar & Jon Frost & Christian Upper & Fabrizio Zampolli, 2023. "Lessons from 20 years of central banking in the Americas," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Central banking in the Americas: Lessons from two decades, volume 127, pages 3-20, Bank for International Settlements.
    7. Bibi, Samuele, 2023. "Money in the time of crypto," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Harald Uhlig, 2023. "Review Article: Eswar S. Prasad: How the Digital Revolution is Transforming Currencies and Finance," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 58(4), pages 201-204, October.
    9. Monika Eisenbardt & Tomasz Eisenbardt, 2023. "Can Cryptocurrencies Be Feasibly Adopted as a National Currency? The Perspective of the Younger Generation," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 463-481.
    10. Divakaruni, Anantha & Zimmerman, Peter, 2023. "The Lightning Network: Turning Bitcoin into money," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    11. Nizam, Ahmed Mehedi, 2023. "How the fiat-backed stablecoins are manipulating US money supply," MPRA Paper 117948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Di Casola, Paola & Habib, Maurizio Michael & Tercero-Lucas, David, 2023. "Global and local drivers of Bitcoin trading vis-à-vis fiat currencies," Working Paper Series 2868, European Central Bank.
    13. Syngjoo Choi & Bongseob Kim & Young-Sik Kim & Ohik Kwon, 2023. "Central Bank Digital Currency and Privacy: A Randomized Survey Experiment," BIS Working Papers 1147, Bank for International Settlements.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
    • E41 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Demand for Money
    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System

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