The peer-to-peer Bitcoin platform hopes to boost understanding of cryptocurrencies in El Salvador.
Research conducted in 2021 revealed that Salvadorans are skeptical of using cryptocurrency as legal tender, with less than 5% of the participants stating they knew a lot about Bitcoin.
This may come as a surprise in a country run by a president who may be the most crypto-positive politician in the world. Since the Salvadoran government adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, it has been increasing the digital treasury and recently relaunched the Chivo wallet.
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Paxful, a peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin platform, has been stepping up to help Salvadorans break their crypto stereotypes and learn more about the country’s new legal tender. The platform announced the launch of a new educational center in El Salvador on Wednesday, February 2.
La Casa Del Bitcoin will act as an educational and training center that offers free Bitcoin-themed learning opportunities. Paxful plans to hold educational workshops and discussion panels concerning cryptocurrency and the financial outlook in El Salvador. It aims to spread a better understanding of BTC trading in the local community.
Paxful is hopeful that the learning center will play a major role in the next waves of cryptocurrency’s adoption nationwide. In addition to the learning facilities, La Casa Del Bitcoin will also house the Built With Bitcoin Foundation offices.
Built With Bitcoin Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization. It works to provide clean water, education equality, sustainable farming, and assist with other humanitarian issues with the help of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Ray Youssef, co-founder and CEO of Paxful, is the foundation’s executive director.
In a Q&A, Youssef emphasized the importance of global education and financial inclusion. He believes that El Salvador could teach the world many lessons about the Bitcoin movement.
While El Salvador is leading in many ways, our biggest hurdle to global adoption continues to be education. Financial literacy should be a right, but many people are denied this. We won’t get to 1 or 4 billion users without education for the 100%. This same lesson can be applied to the U.S., where over 7 million people are currently underbanked.
Youssef also discussed opportunities in emerging markets like Latin America and Africa, saying that Western countries like the US had a lot to learn from countries that have already adopted cryptocurrencies or are well on their way to this goal.
What we know is that the U.S. has far more in common with the people of Africa and the emerging world than they realize. Bitcoin can be a bridge to create business and commerce between these two worlds. Bitcoin has the power to transform the global financial system and we’re seeing that right in the heart of El Salvador.
El Salvador implemented a law that made Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021, a controversial move that was met with backlash both locally and internationally. BitDegree previously reported that the IMF advised El Salvador to rescind the decision.
