It's no secret that El Salvador is making Bitcoin legal tender.
News of Bitcoin being accepted as a legal form of payment in this Central American country
hit the Interwebs like a tsunami.
On every major news outlet,
we're seeing pictures of Bitcoin ATMs,
articles about using volcanoes and geothermal energy to mine Bitcoin,
and, yes, even memes where everyone in El Salvador is driving a Lambo.
And, hey, the vision of a Bitcoin-friendly Central American country seems like a great fit.
And we absolutely believe the people of El Salvador will look great in their Sian Roadsters.
But how is Bitcoin really going to work as a payment system?
Is the Bitcoin Lightning Network going to cut the tamales?
Or we have some bigger plantings to fry.
Today, we're going to discuss how we think payments can happen in El Salvador
and in the other countries that might soon be following in El Salvador's footsteps.
Let's get it!
Welcome to BitBoy Crypto! The largest crypto channel in all the Interwebs.
My name is Ben.
Everyday on this channel, I show you how to make money in crypto.
If you like money and crypto, then make sure to hit that subscribe button.
In this video, we look at the Lightning Network's ability to allow payments with Bitcoin
as well as payment systems like Nexus, Strike and Utrust that could increase scalability.
On June 9, El Salvador voted to pass a law that would make Bitcoin legal tender,
winning with a super majority, 62 out of 84 votes in the Salvadoran Congress.
Until 2001, El Salvador used the Salvadoran Colón,
named after Christopher Columbus,
until it was replaced by the US dollar and a fixed exchange rate of 8.75 colones.
El Salvador has been in a state of persistently low levels of economic growth.
70% of Salvadorans are unbanked.
There are many citizens who left El Salvador to find work and send money back home to their families.
And they're using expensive bank transfers to get it there.
The perfect combination of the need for low cost money transfers
and El Salvador's high internet and cellular usage
was a great opportunity for Bitcoin.
It's not just the issues with bank transfers and remittances
that the Salvadoran government wants to solve.
They voted to make it mandatory to accept Bitcoin as a payment method across El Salvador.
The president of El Salvador even hopped on a Twitter live feed
and talked about how it can now be used at McDonald's,
and we're loving it.
Oh, the taste of fast food.
But how is the blockchain going to handle all these transactions?
Sure, we've got the Lightning Network and that's made everyday transactions a lot quicker
by taking them to off the main Bitcoin blockchain through channels
and allowing the channel to be closed on the blockchain at a later date.
This saves the time consuming issue of waiting to confirm each transaction
which would have created scalability issues and wait times
that would amount to quite the spicy tamale
when you're just trying to buy a, well, spicy tamale in El Salvador.
Lightning Network fixes this issue in theory,
but the scalability is still at seven transactions per second.
And if you compare this to your Visa card's tens of thousands of transactions per second,
well, there still might be a long line for tamales.
We've got the Taproot hardfork coming out which will eventually enable Bitcoin smart contracts.
And that's going to help solve some issues.
But if the BitSquad was to buy something with Bitcoin in El Salvador today,
here's how we could do it.
First up is Strike,
payment system that arguably has a jumpstart on the competition.
Strike CEO Jack Mallers and a few others on his team
stayed in El Salvador for months before the bill was passed in parliament,
onboarding 20,000 Salvadorans a day to the Strike platform.
Built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network,
it's the payment system that infamously allowed the NFL's Russel Okung
to get paid a portion of his $13 million salary in Bitcoin.
Strike allows you to make and receive crypto payments in converted dollars,
and it can convert instantly between fiat and crypto assets.
For the expat Salvadoran who is making money for a family back home,
that means making money in fiat currency,
exchanging it for Bitcoin and sending it home to El Salvador.
The receiver can then keep it in Bitcoin or convert it to US dollars or another fiat currency or asset.
All of this has a huge discount compared to the fees being charged by banks and money services
like Western Union.
Strike is currently working on an update that allows money to be streamed,
which could allow payments or paychecks to be sent every few seconds.
This means that getting paid in Bitcoin isn't just for high profile athletes anymore.
Salaries paid in Bitcoin are coming soon to a pay grade near us.
Currently, there's a waitlist to get on the Strike system and download the app,
but it promises to make fund transfers and payments as fast as, well, lightning.
Next up is Utrust,
a blockchain-based payment system with the native token UTK
that allows payments with a quick scan of a QR code.
Self-dubbed "PayPal of Crypto" gives businesses the ability to easily accept crypto assets as payment.
The user interface looks a lot like the Starbucks app,
where you have funds pre-loaded that can be used with a quick scan at checkout.
Utrust is available right now on the App Store under the name HOLD,
but it's only available in English.
The program is innovating with cash advance options and referrals coming soon.
And fiat conversions can be made on the app similar to Strike.
With some improvements,
a quick scan of a QR code with a Utrust wallet,
and you would be off to the races,
or more likely a soccer match if you're in El Salvador.
The UTK token is available on Binance, KuCoin and Gate.io.
The last payment system on the menu is a family favorite, Nano.
Nano has been spicing up the cryptoverse since 2017 and is a favorite project of this channel.
It's a digital currency that is many things,
but it's not a blockchain.
Nano has modified the legacy blockchain structure
and created what they call a block lattice.
The lattice was put in place to allow Nano to accomplish its biggest claim to fame,
feeless transactions,
a real game changer when you consider that the Nano block lattice system
can process 45,000 transactions per second.
This is all backed up with a hybrid proof-of-work and proof-of-stake consensus system
that uses the Blake2b algorithm.
The hybridization of the consensus system in Nano
along with its long history of development and impressive team
is why I think it could see wide adoption in Central and South America in the near future.
The Nano token is available on KuCoin, Gate.io and Binance as well.
Finally, no conversation about payments would be complete without the piping hot bowl of queso
we call XRP.
In case you don't know or don't like queso,
XRP has been the darling of the crypto scene for years even while it's been put in the fridge by the SEC.
XRP's ability to process payments is established, proven and scalable,
so the use case for XRP to plug into El Salvador's economy is a no brainer like we're in queso.
When you get Latin food, you get the queso.
The challenge for XRP will be getting away from the SEC
and putting that lawsuit behind them.
Check out our latest XRP update here above.
It's looking good for Ripple Labs,
but they have to put their order in fast,
or else they'll risk getting left under the heat lamps.
Bitcoin is winning,
and Bitcoin payment methods are innovating,
making easy Bitcoin payments as simple as the Speedy Gonzalez lunch special.
Soon, El Salvador will be able to use these payment systems
to buy things they want and things that they need,
and they can see their wealth grow with Bitcoin or maybe another option.
Ultimately, the massive population of unbanked people can become part of an independent
decentralized monetary system that they control.
And that, my friend, is why El Salvador is adopting Bitcoin
and why we love crypto.
But remember, there are also other options out there and not just Bitcoin.
Comment below and tell us which payment method you think is going to take off in El Salvador.
Do you have any of the Utrust token? What about Nano?
What do you think's going to happen with XRP?
Drop those comments down below. And if you haven't already done so,
hit that like button for us and smash the subscribe button.
It really helps us out.
That’s all I got.
Be blessed.
BitBoy out.