If only people applied the same media criticism to crypto trade publications, which are awash in conflicts of interest.
That's the bullshit asymmetry principle in action. Let's go ahead and fact-check the first claim in the article.
>More than 91 percent of Salvadorans want dollars, not bitcoins.
Following the source, we see this quote (google-translated from Spanish):
>University indicates that, when presenting the option of both currencies, 91.4% of Salvadorans favor the dollar, 4.9% for Bitcoin and 3.7% do not. answered.
We also see:
>However, when asked about the decision to adopt Bitcoin as a currency, 35% said they were in favor and 40% against.
These both make perfect sense. Since my landlord won't accept bitcoin as rent payment, I would rather have dollars than be homeless. But in the future, maybe my landlord will accept bitcoin? If the poll is to be believed, 35% of the country wants that future, 40% do not, and 25% are undecided. I think that's a pretty amazing level of public support, accomplished in only a few months, especially in a country where 70% of people don't even have a bank account.
However you feel about it, I don't think a 35%-40% split in the polls is enough to call the president a con artist and declare it a failure one week after the law passes. The author's bias is clear.
---
I'll leave the rest of the article as an exercise for the reader, since (1) no one would take the time to read a fact check of the whole article, and (2) I don't have the time to write one. See also: bullshit asymmetry principle.
> but industrial rates in El Salvador are US13¢ to US15¢ per kilowatt-hour. In one four-day period, the Berlín operation mined $US269 of bitcoin — and was estimated to have spent at least $US4672 worth of electricity doing so
because if it's not bullshit, the economics of this are firmly in the scam territory.
If you haven’t noticed, HN hates crypto. Its why posts like these rise up every other week. Its a losing battle trying to argue the value and merits of crypto, when most have made up their mind and will downvote you anyways or parrot memes.