El Salvador's pro-crypto president Nayib Bukele said that despite Bitcoin's presence in the Central American nation's economy, adoption has been slow.
Bukele, on the cover of TIME magazine, said the country's Bitcoin strategy is good. But not enough people use Bitcoin.
He said that many Salvadorans use digital assets for day-to-day payments. The country has never forced anyone to adopt it. It has simply been offered as an option.
"It hasn't been adopted as much as we expected," he added. "I expected more adoption, but we always prided ourselves on being a free country."
Bukele said people should use Bitcoin now because they will make money in the future.
He also said that because Bitcoin has had a positive effect on the country, there is no reason to worry about a slight lag in adoption.
Bukele sees a lot of future in Bitcoin. The country was one of the first to adopt Bitcoin in 2021. In September 2021, the nation made Bitcoin a legal tender, becoming the first country to do so.
The nation's Bitcoin reserves are now 5.858K BTC, worth $345.61 million. Additionally, it buys 1 BTC per day until Bitcoin is unaffordable with fiat currencies. This makes El Salvador one of the world's richest countries.
"You have the largest funds in the world," Bukele told TIME.