It has been 7 months since the government of China imposed a sudden Bitcoin mining crackdown in the region. Before the mining exodus, China accounted for contributing ¾ of the total Bitcoin hashrate in the world. Over the years, crypto mining firms started to gather in the country to take advantage of the cheap electricity supply and real estate costs.
However, in June after the Chinese mining exodus went live, the global Bitcoin hashrate dropped by 75%. During this period, Bitcoin has been able to remain operational without any major glitches or setbacks that show its strength and stability. After 7 months, the hashrates were able to make a full recovery from an all-time low of 58 EH/s to 190 EH/s.
El Salvador recently became the first-ever country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender. However, Hamilton Investment CEO, William Je claims that the South American country is an exceptional case for Bitcoin and not a model. He further explained that Salvador is a developing economy where a majority of the population does not have access to banking or basic financial services.
He also pointed out that in 2001, Salvador opted to discard the local legal tender called colon in favor of USD to escape the effects of devaluation. Je also claimed that it is highly unlikely that developed countries will ever consider using Bitcoin in the same manner as Salvador. Je also opines that the centralized financial institutions are not going to recognize Bitcoin as a legal tender any time soon.
89 Central Banks Around the World are Working on CBDCs
China has given up on Bitcoin mining but it has big plans for a CBDC called e-CNY. Bahamas has become the first-ever country to launch the CBDC. Nigeria has joined the rank with the Bahamas, as the second-largest African economy to introduce a CBDC called e-Naira. HSBC Global researchers have pointed out that e-Niara allows Nigerian nationals to approach financial services with smaller costs.
World Bank has highlighted that more than 60% of the Nigerian population was deprived of financial services before e-Naira. The Bank of England in association with the HM Treasury is also looking into the digital pound by 2025. On the other hand, the USA government is also funding two different CBDC projects. American Think-tank Atlantic Council has claimed that 89 sovereign nations are currently working on localized CBDC projects. Je has expressed concerns over Central Bank issuing CBDC into circulation like quantitative easing and claims that the governments need to have a proper plan about the digitize fiat currencies.