According to the CoinMarketCap community, the main cryptocurrency price monitoring site, Paraguay and Venezuela may be the next countries to give bitcoin (BTC) legal tender.
The results of this survey were published on the platform’s website to monitor prices. In it, Paraguay is positioned as the country with more possibility of legally adopting BTC and other crypto assets, with more than 268,847 votes.
Venezuela, for its part, has 172,038 votes. The Caribbean country is second on the list that, according to CoinMarketCap community members, is likely to give legal tender to BTC.
Third is Anguilla, an island in the eastern Caribbean dependent on the United Kingdom. This town obtained 123,490 votes from the community. Fourth is Ukraine, with 64,057 votes. And, in fifth place, is the United Stateswhere 55,570 people believe that bitcoin can gain legal status.
The possible legal adoption of bitcoin and the rest of the crypto assets in these five countries is inspired by El Salvador, where BTC obtained legal tender in September 2021. However, CoinMarketCap does not clarify the parameters used for its survey. They only indicate that they see “great growth in cryptocurrency adoption around the world.”
In any case, although the CoinMarketCap community is hopeful, it should be noted that the legal adoption of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as currency depends entirely on a legislative and political process that operates at the government level. And not from the intention of the cryptoactive community in these nations.
In Paraguay, for example, there is currently a regulatory limbo due to the filing of the Bitcoin law. This legislation sought precisely to give a legal framework to operations with this and other crypto assets.
And in Venezuela, although there is a regulation that regulates the activity of cryptocurrencies, it has not been raised –until now– the possibility of granting legal tender to virtual assets.
Paraguay and Venezuela are benchmarks for bitcoin adoption in Latin America
The fact that Paraguay and Venezuela rank first in the survey published by CoinMarketCap reinforces the narrative that bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption in these countries is constantly growing.
Paraguay is one of the Latin American countries with the largest Bitcoin mining presence. As CriptoNoticias has reported, this nation is rich in renewable energy sources. For this reason, mining activity can occur with remarkable profitability.
Added to this is the fact that, according to the Global Adoption Rate conducted by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, the Guarani country is within the top 100 nations where more use of cryptocurrencies is registered. However, it is ranked 18th in the region’s adoption index.
In the Venezuelan case, the story is similar. Although Bitcoin mining is currently paralyzed by government order, it has been shown that this nation also offers ample profitability for the execution of the important activity.
In addition, the Caribbean country was positioned for several months as one of the countries with the highest adoption of cryptocurrencies, according to Chainalysis. And while there is no recent data on the level of adoption (due to government opacity), the growth of the ecosystem in that nation has been constantly reported. In 2022 alone, more than USD 37 billion in cryptocurrencies were traded in that country, according to that analytical company.
The latter is largely due to the rise in inflation that Venezuela has experienced for almost a decade. The increase in the consumer price index (CPI) has made Venezuelans take refuge in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.This is due to its nature as a store of value. Currently, year-on-year inflation beats 450% in Venezuela, according to the independent economic organization Observatorio Venezolano de Finanzas.
The inflationary issue, however, does not apply directly to Paraguay. In the South American nation, the inflationary spiral is quite controlled. As proof of this, the CPI for May 2023 was 0%, according to the central bank of that country.
