All El Salvadoran adult will get an airdrop of $30 worth of BTC, provided they follow the laid out condition by the government.
El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele has revealed that every adult citizen will get $30 worth of Bitcon (BTC) from the government.
Bitcoiners reacted positively to the news, with influencers suggesting that El Salvador’s government would need to acquire the requisite BTC to distribute it, putting more than $100 million in purchasing pressure on markets.
Googled estimates of El Salvador’s adult population varied, with onchain analyst Willy Woo tweeting that the entry of 4.5 million Salvadorans will increase Bitcoin’s global user base by 2.5%.
Others estimated the Salvadoran adult population to be as high as 6.5 million (which is actually the total population), with Zack Guzman Yahoo Finance anchor estimating that $195 million worth of Bitcoin will be airdropped over the country.
6 million people added to the crypto ecosystem in one go. pic.twitter.com/DVoW6vLrAK
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) June 25, 2021
Exact data are difficult to come by, but according to Statista, the population aged 15 and up in 2019 was 4.72 million.
However, the enthusiasm on crypto Twitter may be a little premature, as local magazine Prensa Latina reports that inhabitants of El Salvador will only receive the free Bitcoin after downloading the government-issued cryptocurrency wallet application.
President Bukele broke the announcement during a press conference on June 25, saying that the government’s “wallet app will even work anywhere with a cell connection, and you won’t have to have a cell plan for the app.”
He also indicated that the country’s much-heralded Bitcoin law, which recognizes Bitcoin as legal tender throughout the country, will take effect on September 7.
El Salvador passed a Bitcoin law just two weeks ago. While the worldwide crypto community applauded the initiative, it was met with opposition from a minority political party and the World Bank.