President of El Salvador says he’s submitting Bill to make Bitcoin legal tender
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele is currently developing a bill to recognize bitcoin as legal tender. In a videotaped announcement shown Saturday, he said he will submit the bill next week.
The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele is currently developing a bill to recognize bitcoin as legal tender. In a videotaped announcement shown Saturday, he said he will submit the bill next week.
Zap’s Jack Mallers announced the news at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami. He said his company is working with Bukele to implement a plan.
However, the bill must still be reviewed by the country’s legislative assembly. But with the populist Bukele’s upstart political party in firm control of that body, approval seemed all but assured Saturday afternoon.
The bill’s approval would likely make El Salvador the first nation to adopt a bitcoin standard. Its full text was not immediately available.
“As of now, El Salvador is set to be the first bitcoin country,” Mallers said.
“And the first country to make bitcoin legal tender and treat it as a world currency and have bitcoin on their reserves.”
But it is not yet clear what being “the first bitcoin country” will mean for the fiscally unstable and oppressively poor Central American nation, where 70% of residents lack a banking account. El Salvador’s gross domestic product was $24.6 billion in 2020, according to Statista.
The 39-year-old Bukele claimed in recorded remarks that his plan will have short-term benefits for thousands of unbanked individuals. He also claimed it will generate jobs.
“And in the medium and long term, we hope that this decision can help us push humanity, at least a tiny bit into the right direction,” Bukele said.
