Cryptocurrency adoption in developing countries: A Comparative Case Study of Venezuela and El Salvador

Bokor Bence (2025) Cryptocurrency adoption in developing countries: A Comparative Case Study of Venezuela and El Salvador. Külkereskedelmi Kar.

	PDF Cryptocurrency Adoption in Developing Countries_PCRQOV_Bokor_Bence.pdf Hozzáférés joga: Csak nyilvántartásba vett egyetemi IP címekről nyitható meg Download (784kB)
	PDF Bokor_BA_evaluation.pdf Hozzáférés joga: Bizalmas dokumentum (bírálat) Download (290kB)
	PDF Bokor_Bence_bírálat.pdf Hozzáférés joga: Bizalmas dokumentum (bírálat) Download (84kB)

Absztrakt (kivonat)

This dissertation investigates the socio-economic, institutional, and political dimensions of cryptocurrency adoption in developing countries, with a particular focus on Venezuela and El Salvador as comparative case studies. Amid growing global interest in decentralized finance, cryptocurrencies have been variously celebrated as tools for democratizing financial access, hedging against inflation, bypassing repressive financial systems, and enabling economic inclusion in underbanked populations. Yet, such claims remain insufficiently scrutinized in empirical research, particularly within fragile states where governance deficits, infrastructural asymmetries, and contested sovereignties prevail. The study is situated within a multidisciplinary theoretical framework, integrating insights from development economics, institutional theory, political economy, and digital finance. It employs a qualitative comparative case study methodology informed by process tracing, thematic analysis, and institutional critique. Venezuela and El Salvador were selected on the basis of a most-different systems design: the former exemplifies informal, bottom-up cryptocurrency adoption driven by citizens under conditions of hyperinflation, authoritarian repression, and economic collapse; the latter constitutes a rare example of formal, top-down adoption, where the state unilaterally enacted the Bitcoin Law in 2021, positioning Bitcoin as legal tender within a dollarized economy. Primary sources include ethnographic testimonies (Alves da Silva, 2019), digital interview data, policy texts (e.g., the Bitcoin Law, Petro whitepapers), institutional documents from entities such as the IMF and NBER, and macroeconomic indicators collected from the World Bank and national statistical agencies. In Venezuela, the study finds that cryptocurrency adoption—particularly Bitcoin—was driven by urgent material necessity. It served as a survival mechanism, enabling remittances, preserving value amid hyperinflation, and providing access to digital labor markets. These practices constituted both economic adaptation and political resistance, operating within informal, decentralized networks outside the reach of the authoritarian state. Conversely, El Salvador’s experiment with state-mandated Bitcoin adoption reveals a markedly different trajectory. Despite substantial state investment in the Chivo Wallet infrastructure, financial incentives, and regulatory support, public engagement remained limited and largely superficial. Surveys and transaction data show that most citizens abandoned the state wallet after initial use, citing concerns over volatility, technical dysfunction, and mistrust in the government’s opaque implementation strategy. Moreover, the anticipated economic dividends, such as increased foreign investment, reduced remittance costs, and macroeconomic growth, which failed to materialize, with the country instead experiencing reputational damage and sovereign credit downgrades. The comparative analysis underscores the critical role of trust, governance, and infrastructural capacity in shaping cryptocurrency outcomes. While both countries confronted high levels of financial exclusion and relied heavily on remittance flows, the nature of adoption—voluntary and necessity-driven in Venezuela, imposed and speculative in El Salvador—produced diverging results. The research finds that cryptocurrencies can, under specific conditions, serve as effective tools for informal financial inclusion and individual empowerment. However, their imposition through state fiat without robust institutional support and public legitimacy is likely to provoke resistance, undermine efficacy, and exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. This dissertation contributes to the scholarly literature by advancing a context-sensitive theory of cryptocurrency adoption in developing economies. It challenges deterministic narratives—whether utopian or dystopian—about decentralized technologies and instead foregrounds the interdependence between digital infrastructures and socio-political contexts. The findings have significant implications for policymakers, international financial institutions, and development agencies engaging with financial innovation in the Global South. Specifically, the study recommends that any effort to integrate cryptocurrency into development strategies must be grounded in participatory governance, digital literacy, and infrastructure equity, and must recognize the heterogeneity of user experiences and institutional environments.

Intézmény

Budapesti Gazdasági Egyetem

Kar

Külkereskedelmi Kar

Tanszék

Nemzetközi Gazdaságtan Tanszék

Tudományterület/tudományág

NEM RÉSZLETEZETT

Szak

Nemzetközi gazdálkodás

Mű típusa:	diplomadolgozat (NEM RÉSZLETEZETT)
Kulcsszavak:	Blockchain, cryptocurrency adoption, decentralized finance, digital finance, el salvador, financial inclusion, Venezuela
SWORD Depositor:	User Archive
Felhasználói azonosító szám (ID):	User Archive
Rekord készítés dátuma:	2025. Szep. 23. 12:56
Utolsó módosítás:	2025. Szep. 23. 12:56

Actions (login required)

Tétel nézet