BitMEX CEO predicts Bitcoin will be legal tender in five countries by 2022 – Cointelegraph

Countries in the developing world will soon follow in the steps of El Salvador and make Bitcoin (BTC)legal tender, BitMEX CEO Alexander Hptner recently predicted.

In a Wednesday blog post, Hptner expressed support for El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as legal tender in September, predicting that developing countries will be leading the way in Bitcoin adoption:

According to Hptner, developing countries will adopt Bitcoin faster due to three major factors: the growing need for cheaper and faster international remittances, massive inflation, and political issues.

As opposed to consumers in more developed countries, people in developing economies are more affected by issues related to cross-border payments and inflation, Hptner said.

The CEO noted that remittances made up 23% of El Salvadors gross domestic product in 2020, while the World Bank assessed that low- and middle-income countries receive about 75% of total global remittances. He added that people around the world are increasingly looking at Bitcoin as a solution to weather massive inflation, citing rapid crypto adoption in Turkey amid a 19.2% inflation rate.

Hptner went on to say that El Salvadors Bitcoin move will make it easier for other countries to consider similar moves. But if its a reality that politics will play a big role in the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, its also true that any failings by these leaders in the implementation phase may hurt wider adoption of cryptocurrencies in general, he added.

Related: 70% of Salvadorans opposed to Bitcoin Law as Sept. 7 implementation draws near

A former CEO of German stock exchange Boerse Stuttgart, Hptner took over as CEO of BitMEX in December 2020, replacing Arthur Hayes.

Hptner is not alone in thinking that more countries will follow El Salvadors lead in adopting Bitcoin. Last month, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson predicted that a lot more countries will adopt cryptocurrencies. World-renowned computer programmer Edward Snowden also believes that latecomers may regret hesitating.

Some major figures in the cryptocurrency space have been hesitant to praise El Salvadors crypto adoption sparked by President Nayib Bukele. On Friday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterincriticized Bukeles approach to adopting Bitcoin,arguing that forcing businesses to accept a specific cryptocurrency is contrary to the ideals of freedom that are supposed to be so important to the crypto space.

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BitMEX CEO predicts Bitcoin will be legal tender in five countries by 2022 - Cointelegraph

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