{"id":7655,"date":"2022-10-06T03:08:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T03:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=7655"},"modified":"2022-10-06T03:08:49","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T03:08:49","slug":"south-carolina-treasurer-goes-on-bitcoin-fact-finding-trip-to-el-salvador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/?p=7655","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina treasurer goes on Bitcoin \u2019fact-finding trip\u2019 to El Salvador"},"content":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"crypto\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script>\n<p>Curtis Loftis, the treasurer for the U.S. state of South Carolina, spent five days in El Salvador as part of an \u201cexploratory trip\u201d focusing on cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n<p>According to an Oct. 5 announcement, Loftis was part of a delegation including South Carolina business leaders, rural health officials, and individuals \u201cinterested in the expansion of cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies\u201d who met with officials from El Salvador\u2019s government in an effort to understand the country\u2019s efforts to adopt Bitcoin (BTC). The cryptocurrency has been legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar in the Central American nation since El Salvador\u2019s Bitcoin Law went into effect in September 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Loftis reportedly used his own funds to pay for the trip, which included discussing Bitcoin with government officials and exploring the country\u2019s financial literacy educational programs. According to the treasurer, the visit to El Salvador was prompted by South Carolina\u2019s legislature exploring ways to support the adoption of crypto and blockchain in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Cointelegraph, Loftis, a self-described Luddite, said he was neither a \u201cproponent or opponent\u201d of crypto but wanted to learn how South Carolina&#8217;s government could use the technology effectively in addition to promoting financial literacy among residents. The treasurer said the group tried to use Bitcoin \u201cmaybe four times\u201d during the El Salvador trip, as payments to street vendors and local businesses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were in a nicer restaurant, and the tab was about $300-400 \u2014 a bunch of us \u2014 and they paid with Bitcoin,\u201d said Loftis. \u201cI signed up for Lightning beforehand. [&#8230;] It was interesting &#8230; people living really close to the ground using Bitcoin and some of them really enjoy it \u2014 they were really pleased to have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0South Carolina treasurer added:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s our mandate: not to make a world with Bitcoin or Ethereum, or not make that world \u2014 it&#8217;s just to understand what&#8217;s going on, set up a system where we [&#8230;] make sure people have good resources to understand what&#8217;s happening.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">S.C. Columbia Treasurer and Bitcoin supporter, Curtis M. Loftis, visited El Salvador and witnessed the positive and transformational impact of BTC \u2013 El Salvador in English https:\/\/t.co\/NddUO4HyIp<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bitcoin Beach (@Bitcoinbeach) October 4, 2022<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Related: <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>Grassroots initiatives are bringing Bitcoin education to communities across America<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Reports have suggested that roughly 20% of Salvadorans use BTC through Chivo Wallets, while El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced the government held 2,381 BTC as of July. With the crypto market down, the value of the country\u2019s total Bitcoin investment has dropped more than 55% since September 2021 \u2014 worth roughly $48 million at the time of publication.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\namzn_assoc_placement = \"adunit0\";\r\namzn_assoc_tracking_id = \"totafreearti-20\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_mode = \"search\";\r\namzn_assoc_ad_type = \"smart\";\r\namzn_assoc_marketplace = \"amazon\";\r\namzn_assoc_region = \"US\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = \"bitcoin\";\r\namzn_assoc_default_category = \"All\";\r\namzn_assoc_search_bar = \"false\";\r\namzn_assoc_title = \"\";\r\namzn_assoc_rows =\"1\";\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"\/\/z-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/onejs?MarketPlace=US\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/south-carolina-treasurer-goes-on-bitcoin-fact-finding-trip-to-el-salvador\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Curtis Loftis, the treasurer for the U.S. state of South Carolina, spent five days in El Salvador as part of an \u201cexploratory trip\u201d focusing on cryptocurrencies. According to an Oct. 5 announcement, Loftis was part of a delegation including South Carolina business leaders, rural health officials, and individuals \u201cinterested in the expansion of cryptocurrency and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bitcoin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7657,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7655\/revisions\/7657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoheretostay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}