Since the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador, the country has dramatically changed, and practically overnight. In one huge turn, you can now buy a Big Mac with Bitcoin in Apopa because McDonald’s now accepts it.
That’s right! The fact is that you can buy any meal from any of the fast-food restaurants anywhere in El Salvador because McDonald’s is one of the many merchants now accepting Bitcoin. Just ask Aaron van Wirdum, a cryptocurrency journalist who thought it was a myth:
“Just walked into a McDonald’s in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with Bitcoin, tbh fully expecting to be told no. But low and behold, they printed a ticket with QR that took me to a webpage with Lightning invoice, and now I’m enjoying my desayuno traditional!” @AaronvanW
There is some confusion about the benefits of this among people who haven’t quite figured out Bitcoin. So, this is the perfect time to address why this is a good thing.
The first myth is that some people think Bitcoin will be held by more and more large companies. When you think of Bitcoin as the Dollar, you realize that just because McDonald’s accepts a dollar bill from you, that doesn’t mean it hoards it like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. Those dollars return to the economy and Bitcoin will be traded back and forth between businesses who take it and the people who use it just the same.
A second myth is that no one spends Bitcoin. There is a common misconception that Bitcoin is just an investment to get rich quickly. While that has happened for quite a few people, the fact is that Bitcoin was invented to be spent. The intent of Bitcoin was to give people a form of currency that can be traded from peer to peer, without any centralization, or control of any single authority.
McDonald’s isn’t really the biggest news though. The big news would be all of the merchants who now have the capability of accepting Bitcoin as payment. From a vendor selling ice-cold drinks from a cart to a small store selling fresh fish over the counter, Bitcoin gives the citizens of El Salvador another option of payment. And as we’ve pointed out, accepting Bitcoin benefits the Salvadorans in so many ways.
If you’d like to buy a Big Mac with Bitcoin, you know where to go. Start your crypto journey with Byte Federal by clicking the button below.
