[GNC] Bitcoin is legal currency in El Salvador - why not add BTC?

[john]

> On Dec 5, 2021, at 8:40 AM, Dr. David Kirkby <drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 5 Dec 2021 at 16:09, Derek Atkins <derek at ihtfp.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>>> Is there not a case for adding cryptocurrency support? For anyone able to
>>> build GnuCash from the source code, I would expect it to be a trivial
>>> matter to add whatever currency they want, but I would have thought
>>> there's
>>> a good case for adding cryptosupport, in addition to fiat currencies.
>> 
>> There is no ISO4217 entry for it.
> 
> 
> The great thing about standards is that there’s a lot to choose from. 😂😢
> 
> It seems all cryptocurrency exchanges use data from CoinMarketCap, so I
> would have thought that to be as authoritative a list
> as any.
> 
> https://coinmarketcap.com/all/views/all/
> 
> I'm in the UK, and have never dealt with anyone in El Salvador, but it
> seems odd for an accounting package not to support a currency that's legal
> tender in a certain country.
> 
> I see that there are some minor currencies not listed in ISO 4217, but
> around $39,000,000,000 of bitcoin have been traded over the last 24-hours.
> It is hardly a minor currency.
> 
> I guess this gives me an incentive to get GnuCash to compile on linux. Then
> adding cryptocurrencies would (I assume) be fairly easy.

Sorry, Bitcoin is neither a major nor a minor currency. It's not a currency at all: It isn't backed by the full faith and credit of any government, including El Salvador's, nor is it used much for actual commerce, even in El Salvador. $39B *traded*, not $39B was used to pay for goods and services. That describes a speculation vehicle, not a currency.

Regards,
John Ralls