El salvador's adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender has been widely celebrated beyond the crypto ecosystem, but one expert believes the importance of the rollout was a little bit exaggerated.

Speaking to CNBC, Fidelity Investments manager Jurrien Timmer said that the significance of El Salvador'southward Bitcoin move is "a little bit overplayed."

"Because it's not like El Salvador has dropped the U.South. dollar as its peg," Timmer explained. "It'southward not like information technology switched from dollars as its currency peg to Bitcoin."

Reminding that the country still has the United states dollar and people tin can decide to exist paid in dollars or pay in dollars, he added that the adoption is on a voluntary ground. However, while paying in Bitcoin is voluntary in El Salvador, local merchants in the country are mandated to have and procedure BTC transactions.

Timmer noted that Bitcoin is being tested, for the starting time time, as a medium of exchange as opposed to a shop of value. Listing its scarcity and its powerful network as the core values of Bitcoin, he stressed that the proof-of-work makes Bitcoin, by definition, less scalable than other cryptocurrencies similar Ether (ETH).

Related: Sept. 7 is 'Bitcoin Day' in El Salvador as BTC becomes legal tender

The Allegiance executive compared Bitcoin's electric current moment to an "boyish's coming of age" like gold was in the 1960s:

"Although it'south in reverse, because gold went from being coin to being an asset grade in the '70s. Bitcoin is kind of going from being an nugget class to too being a currency or beingness money."

Every bit Cointelegraph reported, El Salvador fabricated history on Tuesday, Sept. 7, by making Bitcoin legal tender. The government besides provided a state-issued wallet named Chivo.