By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 24 December 2023
In 2023, bitcoin was gaining ground in emerging and developing economies where traditional financial systems were inadequate or hard to reach, and was used less as an investment than as an alternative to unstable local currencies. The article points to Nigeria and Kenya, where limited access to banking drove adoption, El Salvador’s decision in 2021 to make bitcoin legal tender, growing interest in Vietnam and Argentina’s political shift under its new leadership.
It also notes the obstacles, including weak financial infrastructure, unclear regulation, limited internet access and the cost of devices, as well as bitcoin’s potential to make remittances cheaper and faster. Responding to concern that institutional products such as spot ETFs could dilute bitcoin’s role as “freedom money”, the article argues that in emerging markets it was already serving that purpose.