TL;DR Breakdown
- El Salvador Bitcoin law comes to effect on Tuesday Sept. 7
- Other American countries are looking to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender .
Finally, El Salvador has made history as its Bitcoin law comes into effect. No other country in the world has made Bitcoin a legal tender as the American country also marks as the first to buy Bitcoin.
President Nayib Bukele announced on Monday that the Central American country made its first Bitcoin purchase on Monday. “El Salvador has just bought its first 200 coins,” Bukele tweeted. He noted that more Bitcoin purchases were going to be made on Tuesday.
The purchase is part of a new $150 million Bitcoin fund passed last week by El Salvador’s Congress. The fund is to help aid conversion from BTC to USD so that businesses, households, and individuals can make or accept payments in BTC if they choose.
President Bukele also appreciated the blockchain technology and Bitcoin industry for the innovations his government has embraced.
In July, El Salvador began processes to make Bitcoin a legal tender when it passed its Bitcoin law to make the coin its legal tender.
The decision, however, was met with praise by the Bitcoin community. Those against it came from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund as they warned that the new strategy isn’t a good idea and many Salvadorians were against the Bitcoin law idea.
Series of protests have also held to reverse the decision ahead of today, all to no avail.
The Bank of America, on the other hand, outlined four potential benefits to El Salvador accepting Bitcoin.
The bank said the country’s adoption of BTC could streamline remittances, promote financial digitization, provide greater consumer choice and open the country to foreign investors.
With the Bitcoin law now in effect, Salvadorans can hold the digital asset as part of a long-term investment strategy or withdraw it in cash at any of the 200 ATMs installed across the country.
El Salvador brings Bitcoin fever to America
After the El Salvador legislature approved Bitcoin to become a legal tender in the country, other American countries have begun mulling, making the same move.
Many, however, are worried over Bitcoin’s extreme volatility or the collapse of the entire system. This is one of the reasons many Salvadorians are protesting vehemently against the currency adoption.
Despite this, other countries like Cuba, Argentina are watching El Salvador to see how things play out and possibly make Bitcoin their legal tender owing to inflation and many other economic issues they face.
