DOI: 10.5061/dryad.z8w9ghxjm
title: Are cryptocurrencies currencies? Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador

description: A currency's essential feature is to be a medium of exchange. We
 leverage a quasi-natural experiment––El Salvador as the first country to
 make Bitcoin legal tender––to study a cryptocurrency's potential to
 be used in daily transactions. The government also launched and provided
 incentives to download and use a digital wallet named Chivo, which shares
 features with Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and allows users to
 trade bitcoins and dollars. Were Chivo Wallet and Bitcoin actually adopted
 after this "big push"? Conducting a representative face-to-face
 survey and relying on blockchain data to obtain all Chivo transactions, we
 document how usage of digital payments and Bitcoin is low, concentrated,
 and has been decreasing over time. We find that privacy concerns are key
 barriers to adoption, which speaks to a policy debate on crypto and CBDCs
 that has had anonymity at its core. We also estimate the technology's
 adoption cost and its network externalities.
description: We provide the data from the survey implemented in El Salvador by
 Cid Gallup, and the codes required for the analysis of these data. The
 blockchain data, which is used in the last section of the paper, was
 obtained from Crystal Blockchain B.V (crystalblockchain.com), and we share
 the Stata code and data required to generate all the figures in the
 paper.
description: Only Stata is required to run all programs. 
description:   Are Cryptocurrencies Currencies? Bitcoin as Legal Tender in El Salvador
 (README)   This README file was generated on 2023-08-01 by Fernando
 Alvarez, David Argente, and Diana Van Patten University of Chicago Yale
 University Yale University GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Title of Dataset: Are
 Cryptocurrencies Currencies? Bitcoin as Legal Tender in El Salvador We
 conduct a nationally representative face-to-face survey spanning 1,800
 households during February 2022. Respondents are all adults, which is a
 prerequisite to be eligible to use Chivo Wallet. The national survey was
 conducted in partnership with CID-Gallup. This replication package
 contains data, Stata codes, and output files all figures and tables in the
 paper. We provide the data from the survey implemented in El Salvador by
 Cid Gallup, and the codes required for the analysis of these data. The
 blockchain data, which is used in the last section of the paper, was
 obtained from Crystal Blockchain B.V (crystalblockchain.com), and we share
 the Stata code and data required to generate all the figures in the paper.
   1. Author Information A. Name: Fernando Alvarez Institution: University
 of Chicago Address: Chicago, IL USA Email: 
 B. Name: David Argente Institution: Yale University Address: New Haven, CT
 USA Email: B. Name: Diana Van Patten
 Institution: Yale University Address: New Haven, CT USA Email:
 2. Date of data collection (single date,
 range, approximate date): February 2022 3. Geographic location of data
 collection: El Salvador 4. Information about funding sources that
 supported the collection of the data: N/A SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1.
 Dryad Digital Repository. 
 DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. File List: A) Survey_original.dta B)
 GoogleTrends_Bitcoin.csv C) GoogleTrends_Chivo.csv D)
 Remesas_oficiales.xls E) BTC-USD_yahoofinance.csv F)
 slv_admbnda_adm2_gadm_20210204_cor.dta G)
 slv_admbnda_adm2_gadm_20210204_db.dta H) object_id.dta I) Cell.csv J)
 Branches.csv K) ATM.csv L) Remittances.csv M) EHPM 2020.sav N)
 ESA_GFI_2017.csv O) crystal.dta P) Demographics.xlsx Q)
 Bitcoin_trading_volume_bitcoinity 1. Relationship between files, if
 important: None 2. Additional related data collected that was not included
 in the current data package: None 3. Are there multiple versions of the
 dataset? No A. If yes, name of file(s) that was updated: NA i. Why was the
 file updated? NA ii. When was the file updated? NA
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Survey_original.dta This dataset was used
 to create Figure 1. This dataset was used to create Figure 2. 1. Number of
 variables: 165 2. Number of cases/rows: 1,800 3. Variable List: * SbjNum:
 individual id * departamento: department (region) dpt * Sexo: sex * edad:
 age * P2: education * p3: marriage status * p4: date birth / * removed for
 confidentiality */ * p6: members home / * removed for confidentiality */ *
 p7: income / * removed for confidentiality */ * p8: income last year *
 \_v1: answer to question p9_1 in the survey * \_v2: answer to question
 p9_2 in the survey * \_v3: answer to question p9_3 in the survey * \_v4:
 answer to question p9_4 in the survey * \_v5: answer to question p10_1 in
 the survey * \_v6: answer to question p10_2 in the survey * \_v7: answer
 to question p10_3 in the survey * \_v8: answer to question p10_4 in the
 survey * \_v9: answer to question p10_5 in the survey * \_v10: answer to
 question p10_6 in the survey * \_v11: answer to question p10_7 in the
 survey * \_v12: answer to question p13_1 in the survey * \_v13: answer to
 question p13_2 in the survey * \_v14: answer to question p13_3 in the
 survey * \_v15: answer to question p13_4 in the survey * \_v16: answer to
 question p13_5 in the survey * \_v17: answer to question p13_6 in the
 survey * \_v18: answer to question p13_7 in the survey * \_v19: answer to
 question p13_8 in the survey * \_v20: answer to question p13_9 in the
 survey * p15: answer to question p15_1 in the survey * \_v21: answer to
 question p15_2 in the survey * p17: answer to question p17_1 in the survey
 * \_v22: answer to question p17_2 in the survey * \_v23: answer to
 question p20_1 in the survey * \_v24: answer to question p20_2 in the
 survey * \_v25: answer to question p20_3 in the survey * \_v26: answer to
 question p20_4 in the survey * \_v27: answer to question p23_1 in the
 survey * \_v28: answer to question p23_2 in the survey * \_v29: answer to
 question p23_3 in the survey * \_v30: answer to question p26_1 in the
 survey * \_v31: answer to question p26_2 in the survey * \_v32: answer to
 question p26_3 in the survey * \_v33: answer to question p26_4 in the
 survey * \_v34: answer to question p26_5 in the survey * \_v35: answer to
 question p27_1 in the survey * \_v36: answer to question p27_2 in the
 survey * \_v37: answer to question p27_3 in the survey * \_v38: answer to
 question p27_4 in the survey * \_v39: answer to question p27_5 in the
 survey * \_v40: answer to question p27_6 in the survey * \_v41: answer to
 question p27_7 in the survey * \_v42: answer to question p27_8 in the
 survey * \_v43: answer to question p27_9 in the survey * \_v44: answer to
 question p30_1 in the survey * \_v45: answer to question p30_2 in the
 survey * \_v46: answer to question p30_3 in the survey * \_v47: answer to
 question p30_4 in the survey * \_v48: answer to question p30_5 in the
 survey * \_v49: answer to question p30_6 in the survey * \_v50: answer to
 question p34_1 in the survey * \_v51: answer to question p34_2 in the
 survey * \_v52: answer to question p34_3 in the survey * \_v53: answer to
 question p34_4 in the survey * \_v54: answer to question p34_5 in the
 survey * \_v55: answer to question p34_6 in the survey * \_v56: answer to
 question p34_7 in the survey * \_v57: answer to question p34_8 in the
 survey * \_v58: answer to question p34_9 in the survey * \_v59: answer to
 question p34_10 in the survey * \_v60: answer to question p34_11 in the
 survey * \_v61: answer to question p34_12 in the survey * \_v62: answer to
 question p41_1 in the survey * \_v63: answer to question p41_2 in the
 survey * \_v64: answer to question p42_1 in the survey * \_v65: answer to
 question p42_2 in the survey * \_v66: answer to question p43_1 in the
 survey * \_v67: answer to question p43_2 in the survey * \_v68: answer to
 question p44_1 in the survey * \_v69: answer to question p44_2 in the
 survey * \_v70: answer to question p45_1 in the survey * \_v71: answer to
 question p45_2 in the survey * \_v72: answer to question p45_3 in the
 survey * \_v73: answer to question p45_4 in the survey * \_v74: answer to
 question p45_5 in the survey * \_v75: answer to question p45_6 in the
 survey * \_v76: answer to question p46_1 in the survey * \_v77: answer to
 question p46_2 in the survey * \_v78: answer to question p46_3 in the
 survey * \_v79: answer to question p46_4 in the survey * \_v80: answer to
 question p47_1 in the survey * \_v81: answer to question p47_2 in the
 survey * \_v82: answer to question p48_1 in the survey * \_v83: answer to
 question p48_2 in the survey * \_v84: answer to question p48_3 in the
 survey * \_v85: answer to question p48_4 in the survey * \_v86: answer to
 question p49 in the survey * \_v87: answer to question p51_1 in the survey
 * \_v88: answer to question p51_2 in the survey * \_v89: answer to
 question p51_3 in the survey * \_v90: answer to question p51_4 in the
 survey * \_v91: answer to question p64_1 in the survey * \_v92: answer to
 question p64_2 in the survey * \_v93: answer to question p64_3 in the
 survey * \_v94: answer to question p64_4 in the survey * \_v95: answer to
 question p64_5 in the survey * \_v96: answer to question p65_1 in the
 survey * \_v97: answer to question p65_2 in the survey * \_v98: answer to
 question p65_3 in the survey * \_v99: answer to question p65_4 in the
 survey * p66: answer to question p66_1 in the survey * \_v100: answer to
 question p66_2 in the survey * \_v101: answer to question p66_3 in the
 survey * \_v102: answer to question p66_4 in the survey * \_v103: answer
 to question p68_1 in the survey * \_v104: answer to question p68_2 in the
 survey * \_v105: answer to question p69_1 in the survey * \_v106: answer
 to question p69_2 in the survey * \_v107: answer to question p70_1 in the
 survey * \_v108: answer to question p70_2 in the survey * \_v109: answer
 to question p71_1 in the survey * \_v110: answer to question p71_2 in the
 survey * \_v111: answer to question p72_1 in the survey * \_v112: answer
 to question p72_2 in the survey * \_v113: answer to question p73_1 in the
 survey * \_v114: answer to question p73_2 in the survey * \_v115: answer
 to question p74_1 in the survey * \_v116: answer to question p74_2 in the
 survey 1. Missing data codes: \_v3 \_v4 \_v11 \_v60 \_v61 \_v79 \_v95 2.
 Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None 3. Empty cells imply
 that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: GoogleTrends_Bitcoin.csv 1. Number of
 variables: 2 2. Number of cases/rows: 260 3. Variable List: * Week: week
 of the year * bitcoin: (El Salvador): popularity of the term bitcoin in
 google trends El Salvador 1. Missing data codes: None 2. Specialized
 formats or other abbreviations used: None 3. Empty cells imply that data
 is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: GoogleTrends_Chivo.csv 1. Number of
 variables: 2 2. Number of cases/rows: 260 3. Variable List: * Week: week
 of the year * chivo wallet: (El Salvador): popularity of the term chivo
 wallet in google trends El Salvador 1. Missing data codes: None 2.
 Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None 3. Empty cells imply
 that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Remesas_oficiales.xls 1. Number of
 variables: 13 2. Number of cases/rows: 3 3. Variable List: * Total
 remmittances: Sept 2021 to Sept 2022 * Remmittances in cash: Sept 2021 to
 Sept 2022 * Remmittances in cryptocurrencies: Sept 2021 to Sept 2022 1.
 Missing data codes: None 2. Specialized formats or other abbreviations
 used: None 3. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: BTC-USD_yahoofinance.csv 1. Number of
 variables: 8 2. Number of cases/rows: 838 3. Variable List: * Date: day of
 the year * Open: open price of bitcoin in USD * High: open price of
 bitcoin in USD * Low: open price of bitcoin in USD * Adj Close: closing
 price of bitcoin in USD after adjustment * Volume: shares traded 1.
 Missing data codes: None 2. Specialized formats or other abbreviations
 used: None 3. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: slv_admbnda_adm2_gadm_20210204_cor.dta 1.
 Number of variables: 3 2. Number of cases/rows: 93,642 3. Variable List: *
 \_ID: identifies locations * \_X: variable containing the x-coordinate of
 points * \_Y: variable containing the y-coordinate of points 1. Missing
 data codes: None 2. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None
 3. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: slv_admbnda_adm2_gadm_20210204_db.dta 1.
 Number of variables: 15 2. Number of cases/rows: 266 3. Variable List: *
 Shape_Leng: length * Shape_Area: area * ADM2_ES: district name *
 ADM2_PCODE: district code * ADM2_REF: district reference * ADM2ALT1ES:
 district alternative 1 * ADM2ALT2ES: district alternative 2 * ADM1_ES:
 department name * ADM1_PCODE: department code * ADM0_ES: country name *
 ADM0_PCODE: country code * date: date * validOn: date valid on * validTo:
 date valid to * id: location identifier 1. Missing data codes: ADM2ALT1ES
 ADM2ALT2ES validTo 2. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used:
 None 3. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: object_id.dta 1. Number of variables: 6 2.
 Number of cases/rows: 266 3. Variable List: * id: location identifier *
 admin2name_es: district name * mun_data: district name 2 * pop: population
 * atm: chivo ATMs * atm_per100k: chivo ATMs per capita 1. Missing data
 codes: None 2. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None 3.
 Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Cell.csv 1. Number of variables: 64 2.
 Number of cases/rows: 265 3. Variable List: * Country Name: country name *
 Country Code: country code * Indicator Name: indicator name (mobile phone)
 * Indicator Code: indicator code (mobile phone) *v5-v66: Years from
 1960-2020 mobile phones per 100 people 1. Missing data codes: v6 v7 v8 v9
 v11 v12 v13 v14 v16 v17 v18 v19 v66 2. Specialized formats or other
 abbreviations used: None 3. Empty cells imply that data is not available:
 Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Branches.csv 1. Number of variables: 64 2.
 Number of cases/rows: 265 3. Variable List: * Country Name: country name *
 Country Code: country code * Indicator Name: indicator name (bank
 branches) * Indicator Code: indicator code (bank branches) *v5-v66: Years
 from 1960-2020 commercial bank branches (per 100,000 adults) 1. Missing
 data codes: v5 v7 v9 v11 v13 v15 v17 v19 v21 v23 v25 v27 v29 v31 v33 v35
 v37 v39 v41 v43 v45 v47 v66 v6 v8 v10 v12 v14 v16 v18 v20 v22 v24 v26 v28
 v30 v32 v34 v36 v38 v40 v42 v44 v46 v48 2. Specialized formats or other
 abbreviations used: 3. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: ATM.csv 1. Number of variables: 64 2.
 Number of cases/rows: 265 3. Variable List: * Country Name: country name *
 Country Code: country code * Indicator Name: indicator name (ATMs) *
 Indicator Code: indicator code (ATMs) *v5-v66: Years from 1960-2020
 automated teller machines (ATMs) (per 100,000 adults) 1. Missing data
 codes: v5 v7 v9 v11 v13 v15 v17 v19 v21 v23 v25 v27 v29 v31 v33 v35 v37
 v39 v41 v43 v45 v47 v66 v6 v8 v10 v12 v14 v16 v18 v20 v22 v24 v26 v28 v30
 v32 v34 v36 v38 v40 v42 v44 v46 v48 2. Specialized formats or other
 abbreviations used: None 3. Empty cells imply that data is not available:
 Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Remittances.csv 1. Number of variables: 64
 2. Number of cases/rows: 265 3. Variable List: * Country Name: country
 name * Country Code: country code * Indicator Name: indicator name
 (remittances) * Indicator Code: indicator code (remittances) *Years from
 1960-2020: personal remittances, received (percent of GDP) 1. Missing data
 codes: None 2. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None 3.
 Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes
 \#########################################################################
 \#########################################################################
 DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: EHPM 2020.sav The EHPM (Household Survey of
 El Salvador) is a statistical instrument conducted in El Salvador. It is
 carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (ONEC).
 The objective of the survey is to provide information on the socioeconomic
 situation of Salvadoran households. We use the 2020 survey. The file is
 available online and can be found here:
 \######################################################################### \######################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: ESA_GFI_2017.csv 1. Number of variables: 2 2. Number of cases/rows: 8 3. Variable List: * Indicator: indicator of financial inclusion * 2017: year indicator is measured 1. Missing data codes: r017otr r208otr r303otr r317otr r409otr r42512otr r43512b r504otr r918_otr_03 r01f_d r214otr r304otr r318otr r413otr r431b_otr r43512otr r507otr r918_otr_04 r01otr r217otro r308otr r319aotr r413a_otr r43502b r439_1 r511otr r918_otr_05 r06otr r218otr r311otr r320otr_02 r417a14otr r43504b r44010b r512_otr r919_11_otr r202botr r219otr r313otr r322otr r418tr r43509b r443b6otr r513_otr r204otr r301otr r317b r32818otr r418a_otr r43510b r450_otr r916_05otr r207otr r302otr r317c r408otr r420_otr r43511b r453a1 r918_otr_02 2. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None 3. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes \######################################################################### \######################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: crystal.dta This dataset was used to create Figure 3. 1. Number of variables: 10 2. Number of cases/rows: 422,287 3. Variable List: *all_dates: date of the transaction *id: identifier of the transaction *contr_entity: exchange *entity_country: country exchange *direction: direction, internal, or withdrawal *sum_in_btc: amont sent in BTC *sum_in_usd: amount sent in USD *total_tx_fee_btc: fees in BTC *total_tx_fee_usd: fees in USD *total_sent: total sent in the transaction 4. Missing data codes: None 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None 6. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes \######################################################################### \######################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Demographics.xlsx 1. Number of variables: 5 2. Number of cases/rows: 24 3. Variable List: *Departamento: Region in El Salvador *Edad: Age bin\ *Sexo: Sex *Educación: Education - Primary, Secondary, Tertiary *Survey: Number of observations in the survey *Percent: Share of survey observations in each bin *Data 2021: 4. Missing data codes: None 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None 6. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes \######################################################################### \######################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Bitcoin_trading_volume_bitcoinity Data available at: 1. Number of variables: 11 2. Number of cases/rows: 730 3. Variable List: *time: date *bitbay: bitcoin trading volume bitbay exchange *bitfinex: bitcoin trading volume bitfinex exchange *bitso: bitcoin trading volume bitso exchange *bitstamp: bitcoin trading volume bitstamp exchange *coinbase: bitcoin trading volume coinbase exchange *exmo: bitcoin trading volume exmo exchange *gemini: bitcoin trading volume gemini exchange *korbit: bitcoin trading volume korbit exchange *kraken: bitcoin trading volume kraken exchange *others: bitcoin trading volume other exchanges 4. Missing data codes: None 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None 6. Empty cells imply that data is not available: Yes \######################################################################### CODES 1. File List: a) Results - All Other Datasets.do This file includes the code for all tables and figures that use data other than survey and blockchain data. The raw data necessary to produce the figures is provided in the folder “Data”. This includes the data from Google Trends, Banco Central de Reserva del El Salvador, Yahoo Finance, Chivo Wallet’s website, World Bank Open Data, and the Multipurpose Survey on Households (EHPM). b) Results - Survey.do This file includes the code for all tables and figures that use the survey instrument. It includes all the results in the main paper and appendix. The survey data was implemented by Cid Gallup. The csv file necessary to produce the figures and tables is provided in the folder “Data”. c) Results - Crystal.do. This file includes the code for all tables and figures that use the blockchain data collected by Crystal Blockchain.  The Stata file necessary to produce the figures is provided in the folder “Data”. SOFTWARE 1. All the analysis was conducted using STATA 16. The packages that need to be downloaded to run the codes are: reghdfe, gtools, and spmap. All packages can be downloaded using the ssc install command.