El Salvador, while not a "failed state", is certainly a "dysfunctional state". I don't think this is even in the top 10 of their problems, and is mostly a PR ph

El Salvador, while not a "failed state", is certainly a "dysfunctional state". I don't think this is even in the top 10 of their problems, and is mostly a PR phenomenon. Remember that this is a country in which a quarter of their GDP comes from remittances from the United States. Their economy has already dollarized. They have historically had terrible problems with armed gangs and insurrectionists (in 2005 the murder rate peaked at 103 per 100,000, but has since fallen to about 20 per 100,000). They have very poor infrastructure. They rank 104 out of 180 nations for corruption perceptions. 14% of the population has paid a bribe in the last year. A poor track record on property rights, rule of law, or ability to collect taxes. For a developing economy they have very low GDP growth and virtually no productivity growth. Worrying about this bitcoin stuff is just silly. At best it's a distraction, hopefully an entertaining one, from the problems of governance in El Salvador.