Countries in the developing earth will soon follow in the steps of Republic of el salvador and brand Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender, BitMEX CEO Alexander Höptner recently predicted.

In a Wednesday blog post, Höptner expressed support for El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as legal tender in September, predicting that developing countries volition exist "leading the way" in Bitcoin adoption:

"My prediction is that past the end of next year, we'll have at least v countries that accept Bitcoin as legal tender. All of them volition be developing countries."

Höptner told Cointelegraph that countries similar Brazil and the Philippines could be among the following jurisdictions to adopt Bitcoin every bit legal tender. "I think it'll be like dominoes dropping, particularly when information technology looks likely that a powerhouse emerging economic system similar Brazil is set up to make a move. With elections scheduled in places like Lebanon, Republic of kenya, and the Philippines next yr, look out for campaign pledges to make Bitcoin legal tender too," he said.

Co-ordinate to Höptner, developing countries volition prefer Bitcoin faster due to three meaning factors: the growing demand for cheaper and faster international remittances, massive inflation, and political problems.

Every bit opposed to consumers in more developed countries, people in developing economies are more than afflicted by cross-edge payments and inflation bug, Höptner said.

The CEO noted that remittances fabricated up 23% of El salvador'south gross domestic product in 2022, while the World Depository financial institution assessed that low- and centre-income countries receive about 75% of full global remittances. He added that people effectually the world are increasingly looking at Bitcoin as a solution to weather massive inflation, citing rapid crypto adoption in Turkey amongst a 19.ii% inflation charge per unit.

Höptner went on to say that El Salvador'south Bitcoin move will make it easier for other countries to consider similar activities. "But if it's a reality that politics will play a big role in the adoption of Bitcoin equally legal tender, it's also true that any failings by these leaders in the implementation phase may injure wider adoption of cryptocurrencies in general," he added.

A one-time CEO of German stock commutation Boerse Stuttgart, Höptner took over equally CEO of BitMEX in Dec 2022, replacing Arthur Hayes.

Höptner is not alone in thinking that more countries will follow El Salvador's lead in adopting Bitcoin. Terminal month, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson predicted that a lot more countries would adopt cryptocurrencies. Earth-renowned computer programmer Edward Snowden also believes that "latecomers may regret hesitating."

Related: 70% of Salvadorans opposed to Bitcoin Law as Sept. 7 implementation draws about

Some major figures in the cryptocurrency space have been hesitant to praise El Salvador'south crypto adoption sparked by President Nayib Bukele. On Friday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticized Bukele's approach to adopting Bitcoin, arguing that forcing businesses to have a specific cryptocurrency is "opposite to the ideals of freedom that are supposed to exist so important to the crypto space."