The most significant piece of information in the News in the last weeks was


    China Declares All Cryptocurrency Transactions illegal

First, in 2017 China kicked the Crypto Exchanges from the field; earlier this year, the miners concluded making any cryptocurrency transaction illegal.

Well, people can still hold cryptos but not use them. The ultimate Hodl strategy is imposed on all crypto enthusiasts.
These News made me think about how other countries react.

Ultimately, the entire cryptocurrency space needs buy-in from governments globally to continue thriving and evolving.
The mobile industry took off in the 90s because governments globally wanted it; the same applies to the Internet and the digital revolution that followed. I remember well that European governments paved the way for these technologies to succeed as they believed in the value for their people.

Governments can make or break technologies. I see the entire digital asset revolution similar important to the world's population as mobile technology and the Internet.

What governments have actively taken a pro-crypto approach and support the eco-system actively?


    El Salvador — owns 700 BTC.

While China banned Cryptos, the small country of El Salvador went in the opposite direction.
On September 7, Nayib Bukele, the countries president, declared Bitcoin as legal tender. Everyone who wants to pay with Bitcoin on El Salvador's territory can do so, and the traders are obliged by law to accept BTC. But he didn't stop there.

El Salvador also holds 700 Bitcoin for no other reason than having it. When the price dropped in September, the country's president added another 150 Bitcoin to the existing 550 — in total, 700.

Was that it?

No. Recently Nayib Bukele tweeted that the government has opened a Bitcoin mine using geothermal energy from Volcanos and, during the testing phase, has mined Bitcoin worth 269 dollars.

El Salvador is adopting Bitcoin at scale. Since the introduction of the Chiba Wallet to the population of El Salvador, it has gained 3 million users in less than a month. End the first experience those users make is a price rise.


    Venezuela — owns 0 BTC

A beautiful country in the northern part of South America which is the world's largest exporter of oil.
While Saudi Arabia is economically thriving, Venezuela struggles to do so despite being in the same oil business. Its citizens have seen hyperinflation for about two decades now.

Inflation in this country doesn't mean the usual 1–5% that Europe or the US are accustomed to. Venezuela sees inflation rates that go as high as 130,000%, which in practical terms means that when you get paid in the morning a full monthly salary, you can't even afford a loaf of bread in the evening.

How does the government respond to this challenge?

They introduced a digital currency to work against that dynamic but didn't go down the "legal tender bitcoin status" route. Instead, they present a digital version of the existing currency, and time will tell how that went.

Besides the digital currency via an SMS-based exchange system, Venezuela is interested in attracting cryptocurrency miners and has the advantage of offering low energy prices.

Despite the success in El Salvador, Venezuela didn't buy any bitcoin, but the success of Bitcoin in Venezuela is apparent in Coindesks Infographic.


    Brasil- owns 0 BTC

It came as a surprise that El Salvador pushed Bitcoin hard into its economic system, while in parallel, China altogether banned the novel industry in almost the same month.

As the more enormous country, one might argue that China creates a more negative spin on BTC as El Salvador — a tiny little country — could compensate.

It would need another buy-in from a bigger country or a major institutional player. Which country could that be?
While I was pondering on that question, Brasil started adopting BTC as local currency as well.

According to Financial Express, the necessary bill was introduced in the Brazilian House of Representatives, and the approval was given on September 29. The bill will now be discussed in the Plenary of Chambers of Deputies — the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil.


    Ukraine — 46,186 BTC

In Ukraine, public officials declared to hold about 46,000 Bitcoin. Regardless that Bitcoin is not legal tender in Ukraine, it didn't prevent civil servants from buying crypto-assets at scale.

The largest holding is 18,000 BTC (Mishalov Vyacheslav Dmitrovich), and also the Minister of Foreign Affairs holds more than 6,000 BTC.

It looks like the government consists of cryptocurrency experts. It could well be that the country follows suit when El Salvador, Brazil, and other countries include digital assets into their economies.

The government is working on a digital asset bill and has yet to figure out regulatory details.
But I am confident that those details will be worked out well in the political process, and Ukraine will also be amongst the early crypto adopters.


    Bulgaria — owns 213,519 BTC.

The government has owned over 200,000 Bitcoin since 2017. It is the result of joint work against sophisticated organized crime networks.

Back in 2017, the total value was 3 billion dollars, and meanwhile, it has grown to over 11 billion.
If the country continues to hold on to their bitcoin and Raoul Pal's latest price prediction comes true, Bulgaria might be debt-free in less than six months.

In a Podcast with Anthony Pompliano, Raoul Pal has assumed that in his bull case, bitcoin achieves a price of 400,000 USD in spring 2022.


    Cuba — 0 BTC

Although the country doesn't hold bitcoin, it followed El Salvador's example to declare digital assets as legal tender.
According to Euronews next:
The Cuban resolution, which will come into force on September 15, regulates “the use of certain virtual assets in commercial transactions, as well as the licensing of providers” of these services in “operations related to financial, exchange and collection or payment activities” in or from Cuban territory.

Bulgaria, Ukraine, El Salvador, Venezuela, Brasil, and Cuba are the first countries that help digital assets to thrive and, by doing so, create a massive opportunity for their population.

I have followed BTC since 2011, and up until 2017, it was primarily techy nerds who talked about Bitcoin. The bubble status revealed itself as individuals, often not even retail investors, started buying bitcoin. As a result, the price surged to 20,000 dollars.

I thought that was it, and with the crash, silently Bitcoin will vanish. But the opposite happened. One financial opinion leader after the other changed sides and became a crypto advocate.

And in 2021, the first countries will start to follow that example.

Digital Assets are here to stay.