Snowden Says Competing Nations Now Under Pressure to Acquire Bitcoin

Following El Salvador's decision to make bitcoin legal money, Edward Snowden, a privacy campaigner and whistleblower, claims that "competing governments are now under pressure to purchase bitcoin - even if merely as a reserve asset." “Latecomers may regret hesitating,” he cautioned.

Countries who are hesitant to adopt Bitcoin, according to Edward Snowden, may come to regret their decisions.

Edward Snowden, a former computer intelligence specialist for the National Security Agency (NSA) and CIA contractor, reacted on El Salvador's decision to make bitcoin legal money on Tuesday. He wrote on Twitter:

"The first country to recognize Bitcoin as legal money did so today. Beyond the headlines, rival countries are now under pressure to purchase bitcoin — even if merely as a reserve asset — since the cryptocurrency's architecture heavily incentivizes early adoption. Latecomers may grow to regret their hesitation."

El Salvador's Bitcoin Law took effect on September 7th, making Bitcoin a national currency alongside the US dollar. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, also announced on Tuesday that his country has acquired 550 bitcoins.

Other countries are expected to follow El Salvador's lead and adopt bitcoin, according to Snowden. If El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin as legal money goes well and the cost of remittances reduces significantly, Dante Mossi, the executive president of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), believes that "other nations would certainly seek that benefit and embrace it."

Even Bank of America sees advantages in El Salvador accepting bitcoin as official money. “Bitcoin may be utilized as a cross-border transfer middleman... In early August, the bank noted that “using bitcoin for remittances may possibly lower transaction costs compared to existing remittance channels.” El Salvador's decision, according to major investment firm JPMorgan, may be "the beginning of a larger trend among similarly positioned, smaller states."