El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Law” comes into effect!
Bitcoin is an official currency now in El Salvador! This is the first time ever that a country has made Bitcoin a legal tender. What a long way Bitcoin has come in 12 years!
Bitcoin can now be used alongside the United States dollar as an official currency in El Salvador, starting from September 7. This will certainly make other countries take interest in what El Salvador is doing and possibly consider following in its footsteps.
One of the few reasons why El Salvador took this bold leap was the fact that the country was using a foreign currency as its national currency whose monetary policy it didn’t have a say on ﹣the US dollar.
Also remittances, sending money across borders, forms a large part of El Salvador’s economy, and Bitcoin helps to streamline remittance payments by cutting out expensive middlemen.
El Salvador is by no means the only country in the world whose citizens rely on the US dollar to protect themselves from a steep inflation of a national currency.
In fact, lawmakers in many other Latin American countries, such as in Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay, have been introducing or discussing bills to clear up the regulatory status of cryptocurrencies in these countries.
To coincide with the Bitcoin Law, the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced that the country had bought 550 bitcoins (around 25 million US dollars) for its reserves. The country is also giving $30 worth of Bitcoin to its citizens.
