Location: Remotely Date: Tuesday 22nd June Project: lynalden.com Role: Macroeconomist

The new legislation in El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender is a bold move for the country. As a dollarised nation and with remittance making up 15% of GDP, there are clear benefits in bringing bitcoin and the Lightning Network to the country.

A catalyst for this move is the macroeconomic fallout of 2020 which included unprecedented monetary expansion and economic disruption. Today, it seems some of the effects are starting to appear in price inflation and oddities in the overnight lending markets between financial institutions.

Will El Salvador’s bet on Bitcoin pay off? And are these simply transitory macroeconomic irregularities, or is there cause for concern?

In this interview, I talk to Lyn Alden, a macroeconomist and investment strategist. We discuss El Salvador making Bitcoin legal tender, other countries adopting Bitcoin, the Lightning Network and the reverse repo market.