The political economy of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador: Temporary bandages to permanent wounds?

Boos, Tobias; Grigera, Juan

doi:10.35188/unu-wider/2023/444-1

WIDER Working Paper

2023

DOI: 10.35188/unu-wider/2023/444-1

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The political economy of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador: Temporary bandages to permanent wounds?

Tobias Boos,

Juan Grigera

Abstract: This study is published within the UNU-WIDER project Fiscal states-the origins and developmental implications, which is part of the Domestic Revenue Mobilization programme. The programme is financed through specific contributions by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

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2024

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The medium is the message: The geographies of cryptocurrency remittances to Venezuela

Robins

2024

Trans Inst British Geog

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Cryptocurrency remittances overcome many regulatory and practical barriers, but there is little empirical research into this increasingly popular remittance medium. In response, this article explores cryptocurrency remittances from Latin America and the Caribbean into Venezuela. Cryptocurrencies as a remittance medium conveys important messages for advocates and critics. To appropriately critique cryptocurrencies, it is important to understand how they are used in the ‘every day’ rather than how their use may be characterised by ideologues. Rather than directly relying on ‘trustless’ and decentralised blockchain technology, ‘really existing’ cryptocurrency remittances are highly intermediated. Access to this medium is often hierarchical, stemming from knowledge barriers but also legal status (and by extension, economic status). The ‘need’ for trusted intermediaries prompts discussions around the relationship between ‘trustless’ blockchain technology and cryptocurrency remittances. This article shows that stablecoins (cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies—usually the US dollar) are the most popular cryptocurrency remittance medium. Stablecoins challenge institutional attempts to geographically restrict currencies, yet also contribute to global processes of dollarisation. This is important to understanding how stablecoins simultaneously undermine spatial barriers to financial access yet may create new ones in the process.

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The medium is the message: The geographies of cryptocurrency remittances to Venezuela

Robins

2024

Trans Inst British Geog

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The political economy of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador: Temporary bandages to permanent wounds?

Abstract: This study is published within the UNU-WIDER project Fiscal states-the origins and developmental implications, which is part of the Domestic Revenue Mobilization programme. The programme is financed through specific contributions by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).

Cited by 1 publication

References 21 publications

The medium is the message: The geographies of cryptocurrency remittances to Venezuela

The medium is the message: The geographies of cryptocurrency remittances to Venezuela

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