Edward Snowden: Nations Are Under Pressure To Acquire Bitcoin

Former CIA consultant and whistleblower Edward Snowden warned that latecomers to Bitcoin BTC/USD adoption may regret hesitating.

What Happened: In a tweet on Wednesday, Snowden acknowledged El Salvador’s decision to formally recognize Bitcoin as legal tender.

“Beyond the headlines, there is now pressure on competing nations to acquire Bitcoin—even if only as a reserve asset—as its design massively incentivizes early adoption. Latecomers may regret hesitating,” he said.

Yet just days after El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law came into effect, the country’s economy began exhibiting some potentially challenging signs.

A report from Bloomberg noted the yield curve on El Salvador’s bonds has inverted.

“That’s generally considered a bad sign as it means investors see shorter-term debt as riskier, and most yield curves will slope upwards given the inherent uncertainty of pricing things over the longer-term,” the report said. 

Moreover, a majority of the country’s own citizens have outright opposed the decision to make Bitcoin an official currency. As many as 65% of citizens surveyed said that they would not be open to being paid in cryptocurrency.

Even so, El Salvador-based outlets of fast food giant McDonald’s Corp MCD and global coffeehouse Starbucks Corporation SBUX have already begun accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment.

BTC Price Action: At press time, Bitcoin was trading at $46,123. The market-leading cryptocurrency was trading as high as $52,850 on Wednesday before crashing down to $44,500 in a matter of hours.

Photo: Bermix Studio on Unsplash.