A recent study that examined the interest of several countries in bitcoin and crypto ranked El Salvador as second for having the most interest in the issue. While the U.S. was still ranked first, El Salvador’s high rank comes amidst criticism President Nayib Bukele has drawn from Salvadorans for his push for bitcoin adoption.

El Salvador Retains Interest in Bitcoin

El Salvador ranks amongst the countries most interested in learning about bitcoin and its uses, according to a recent study made by Crypto Betting, a decentralized gaming portal. The study, which examined the behavior of the queries using Google Analytics and the number of bitcoin ATMs in each country, found El Salvador was the country with the second highest interest in the subject.

The study gave the country a grade of 46.19 on a scale of 0 to 100, where the most interested countries in bitcoin ranked closer to 100. About the situation of El Salvador, the report stated:

El Salvador is a unique and prominent player in the world of Bitcoin.

The U.S. was ranked as the country most interested in bitcoin worldwide, receiving a grade of 54.95 out of 100. Other countries that ranked high in the report were Vietnam, Canada, Nigeria, Switzerland, Philippines, India, Venezuela, and Austria.

Crypto in the Country

While the country saw the approval of the Bitcoin Law in June 2021, which would make bitcoin legal tender in the country, analysts and studies have criticized the push that President Nayib Bukele is making for bitcoin adoption.

For example, several polls organized by the Simeon Canas university last year have found that most Salvadorans believe that bitcoin has not improved their personal finances, having a negative opinion about bitcoin. Also, another study conducted in May 2022 by the Center for Citizen Studies of the Francisco Gavidia University, found that more than 60% of Salvadorans disagreed with the adoption of bitcoin as a legal tender, embracing the use of the U.S. dollar instead.

Even with this criticism, Bukele has pushed for the construction of Bitcoin City, a city powered by geothermal energy that will be built with funds coming from the so-called Volcano Bonds, which have yet to be issued by the government. The study suggests that there is still interest in the crypto issue in El Salvador, even if the population is not completely convinced about it.

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