ビットコイン法定通貨化は「失敗」　エルサルバドル世論調査

【サンサルバドルＡＦＰ＝時事】中米エルサルバドルで暗号資産（仮想通貨）ビットコインが法定通貨となって１年余りが経過したが、１８日に公表された世論調査結果で、大半の回答者が「失敗」だとみていることが明らかになった。（写真はエルサルバドルの首都サンサルバドルで、壁に描かれた反ビットコイン運動のシンボル）
　中米大学が実施した調査によると、今年に入ってビットコインを一度も使っていないとの回答が７５．６％に上った。ビットコインは昨年、米ドルと並び法定通貨になったが、７７％の回答者はビットコインの導入は「誤り」だったと受け止めた。
　ビットコイン相場は過去１年間で大幅に値を下げた。同大のアンドレウ・オリバ学長はビットコインの法定通貨化について、「最も不人気で最も批判された政策」だと指摘した。
　エルサルバドル人約３００万人が米国をはじめとする国外に居住しており、国内の家族に送金している。ナジブ・ブケレ大統領としては、ビットコインの導入により、送金に伴う銀行手数料を低減できるとみて法定通貨化を進めた。国内向け送金はエルサルバドルの国内総生産（ＧＤＰ）の４分の１以上を占めている。
　しかし、中央銀行が９月初めに公表した調査結果によれば、ビットコイン建ての国内向け送金が全体に占める割合は「２％弱」にとどまっている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/10/19-13:49）

More than a year after Bitcoin became legal tender in El Salvador, a new poll Tuesday showed most people in the country consider the controversial move by President Nayib Bukele as a failure.
According to the poll by the University of Central America (UCA), 75.6 percent of respondents said they never used cryptocurrency in 2022, and 77 percent consider its adoption 14 months ago as legal tender, alongside the dollar, to have been a failure.
Bitcoin, whose value has tumbled over the past year, is the government's most unpopular measure, the most criticized and the most frowned upon, said UCA rector Andreu Oliva, commenting on the results of the study.
Bukele's idea was to promote crypto money transfers from some three million Salvadorans living overseas, mainly in the United States, to their relatives back home, thereby saving on bank charges.
The president's decision was a strategic one, given that these remittances make up more than a quarter of El Salvador's gross domestic product.
But according to data from the Salvadoran Central Bank in early September, a year after the introduction of Bitcoin, less than two percent of remittances from emigrants were made using the cryptocurrency.
In September 2021, Bitcoin was hovering around $45,000. By November it soared to $68,000, but after a steep drop it is currently trading below $20,000.
Taking advantage of the plummeting prices, Bukele bought 80 Bitcoin with public funds in July, bringing El Salvador's total reserves to 2,381 units.
According to the UCA study, 77 percent of Salvadorans believe their president should not continue to spend public money to buy Bitcoin.
The survey also looked into an emergency regime in place since March as part of the war on gangs decreed by Bukele, which led to the arrest of 55,000 suspected members of criminal gangs, the dreaded maras.
The population still overwhelmingly approves of it, at 75.9 percent, but that figure was down nine points from May, when it was 84.8 percent.