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El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

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927 points smallerfish | 9 comments | 04 Feb 25 00:00 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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starspangled ◴[04 Feb 25 00:51 UTC] No.42925817[source]▶
It's interesting and nice to see how progressive and creative El Salvador has been. Some failures are perfectly understandable when one is willing to try new things. Their approach to crime is another thing that comes to mind that was lambasted and ridiculed by the "international community" and "experts". Yet in the space of a single decade they went from murder capital of the world to safer than New Zealand (in terms of homicide rate), which is just staggering.

I love that they are innovating and experimenting and trying their own things, and don't let the stuffy pompous status quo hold them back.

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EA-3167 ◴[04 Feb 25 01:03 UTC] No.42925950[source]▶
This is... a strange and jarring thing to read. My kneejerk response was that yes, they are innovating and experimenting with oppressive and corrupt governance, but that is ultimately uncharitable. A more balanced response is that while you may personally think of Bitcoin as progressive (I can't imagine why) you certainly can't claim that Bukele's El Salvador is progressive. You may like the gang crackdown, you may appreciate the suspension of habeus corpus, but you can't claim that's a progressive position.
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1. heartbreak ◴[04 Feb 25 04:23 UTC] No.42927912[source]▶
CNN says Secretary Rubio just struck a deal with Bukele to accept deportees from the United States regardless of nationality, including US citizens, as long as we pay to house them in his prison.
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2. NewJazz ◴[04 Feb 25 08:25 UTC] No.42929678[source]▶
They're deporting US citizens? How is that even legal?
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3. bloopbloopscoop ◴[04 Feb 25 08:51 UTC] No.42929882[source]▶
Isn’t this what caused the gang problem in the first place in El Salvador? I’m no expert but that was my understanding.
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4. ImJamal ◴[04 Feb 25 18:20 UTC] No.42936442[source]▶
El Salvador is going to keep them in prisons, not just let them loose.
5. ImJamal ◴[04 Feb 25 18:22 UTC] No.42936471[source]▶
That is not what is happening. The agreement is to use El Salvadorian prisons instead of US prisons for prisoners. El Salvador said they would be willing to accept any prisoner, regardless of nationality. The US citizens would not be deported, but imprisoned in another country. However, it is not clear if the US will use El Salvadoran prisons for US citizens, only foreigners or not at all.
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6. NewJazz ◴[04 Feb 25 19:30 UTC] No.42937382{3}[source]▶
That's deportation.
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7. ImJamal ◴[05 Feb 25 01:42 UTC] No.42942398{4}[source]▶
The definition according to Google is

> the action of deporting a foreigner from a country.

A citizen would obviously not be deported.

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8. NewJazz ◴[05 Feb 25 03:27 UTC] No.42943333{5}[source]▶
Forcing someone out of a country is deportation. Maybe not in your dictionary, but in reality.

Tell me, when in history has the US sent its citizens to overseas prisons?

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9. ImJamal ◴[05 Feb 25 04:37 UTC] No.42943874{6}[source]▶
I literally just pulled the first definition. It is not my dictionary, but Google's. If you don't like the first definition that comes up, that is on you, not me.

Second, it is not even clear that any US citizens will be shipped off. Bukele is just offering it and Trump said he isn't sure if it will happen.

Third, US citizens are able to serve their sentence in a foreign country if they so choose since 1977 [1]. Obviously this situation is not the same, but the US does send its citizens to foreign prisons sometimes.

[1] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-lega...