About El Salvador and Argentina

I think there are two important aspects of these two countries conducting commerce via Bitcoin, the second of which just occurred to me even though it is kind of obvious:

1. Most businesses have very narrow profit margins due to competition. Sometimes this margin is only a few percentage points or even 1 percent. I would guess that a bank plus currency conversion costs something around 1 percent (also, time is money and waiting for things to clear via the bank can take days, especially since banks close overnight and on weekends). If this is correct and by using BTC this 1 percent is saved, perhaps some business doubles its profit margins although increasing profits by 50 percent or even less is significant
2. Because of tight margins, perhaps some types of commerce do not even occur: perhaps then Bitcoin will allow a lot more business simply because it makes what would be unprofitable business profitable I think this might be a huge deal.

Perhaps not closely related but something that occurred to me about ES selling citizenship for 1 million in BTC: El Salvador does not just get the million, it also get citizens who presumably have a lot more than just 1 million (Would you spend a million if you had less than say 10 million?). And such citizens are probably almost always: 1. Tech savvy and educated in general 2. Often entrepreneurial.

Bottom line, sometimes it is side-effects that turn out to be the important thing, not just the obvious stuff.

Consider the mining operations our hero Nayib has caused to occur: Sure, it's great that they have mined coins, but also: How many jobs have these operations created? How many Salvadorians have started to become tech savvy?

ES has already made some money from BTC, but probably not 1 percent of what it will make in the next few years. Bukele may have done about the smartest thing possible for his little country and the criticisms of his idea simply do not hold water.

Who cares what the percentage of ES citizens have used BTC?? That fruit vendors can't understand it and so don't use it is meaningless --one entrepreneur could start a new business based on BTC and generate more revenue than all the fruit vendors in the entire country, easily. This is why Vegas casinos send jets for whales: one high roller can gamble more than a casino full of dollar slots players.

Finally: ES's success has attracted the interest of a Argentina which despite its financial problems still has a relatively huge economy. And yet Argentina is but one country -- there are 33 countries in South and Central America and if international commerce benefits from using BTC, why would these countries not start doing business among themselves in BTC?

It all seems inevitable.