El Salvador Adopts Bitcoin As Legal Tender

El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.

Gatekeepers News reports that Central America country of El Salvador has become the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

The lawmakers in the country, on Wednesday, voted in favour of a law proposed by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele for the nation to adopt Bitcoin.

Although 19 lawmakers opposed the bill, three of the legislators were absent during the exercise while 62 members voted in its favour.

President Bukele said the new law will drive financial inclusion as an estimated 70 percent of the country’s population does not have access to traditional financial services in the nation.

According to the law, all economic agents shall accept bitcoin as a form of payment when it is offered by the purchaser of a good or service.

Also, taxes in the Latin American country can now be paid in bitcoin.

The law read: “The purpose of this law is to regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender with liberating power, unlimited in any transaction, and to any title that public or private natural or legal persons require carrying out.

“The exchange rate between bitcoin and the United States dollar, subsequently USD, will be freely established by the market.

“Prices may be expressed in bitcoin. Tax contributions can be paid in bitcoin. Exchanges in bitcoin will not be subject to capital gains tax, just like any legal tender.

“For accounting purposes, the USD will be used as the reference currency. Every economic agent must accept bitcoin as payment when offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service.

“Without prejudice to the actions of the private sector, the State shall provide alternatives that allow the user to carry out transactions in bitcoin and have automatic and instant convertibility from bitcoin to USD if they wish.

“Furthermore, the State will promote the necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access bitcoin transactions.”

According to the World Bank, El Salvador is one of the most densely populated countries, ranking in the 83rd percentile worldwide in terms of population density, with a population of 6.4 million (plus over 1.5 million Salvadorians living abroad).

Although many countries have continued to take actions against cryptocurrencies, El Salvador has, however, recorded history by becoming the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender.

The Chinese government had pledged to crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading in May.

A Chinese microblogging platform similar to Twitter, Weibo, over the weekend, blocked various accounts linked to cryptocurrency.

Also in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had always warned over trading in crypto and issued a directive to banks to close accounts of individuals or entities involved in cryptocurrency transactions.