Central America’s smallest country, which is El Salvador, neighboring Honduras and Guatemala, will next Tuesday become the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as an official currency, with the US dollar as the “reference” currency. Also, which made it its official currency for circulation in 2001 instead of the currency introduced in 1892, ie the colon.
The Palestinian-born Salvadoran president, Najib Bukele, said in early June that he would send “a bill that would make bitcoin legal” to the House of Representatives, as reported by US television network CNBC. day, i.e. on 9 June, Parliament approved the law by a majority of 62 out of 84 members and on the use of the currency beginning on 7 September, “and settling it as a legal currency that is not restricted by editorial authority and is not limited by any transaction, nor by any condition that natural, legal or legal persons must apply,” according to the summary of Al-Arabiya.net. Reports received in the local media, with a footnote, indicated that the foreign investor would obtain the right of permanent residence in the country if he so desired, in the currency of “Bitcoin”.
The colon was the official currency from 1892 until it was replaced by the dollar in 2001, then bitcoin starting on 7 September.
In fact, bitcoin has been used since 2019 in an area famous for its beaches and sea resorts in El Salvador, which is El Zonte, two American pioneers of digital currencies in the United States Michael Peterson and Nicolas Bertie. started a project. What he called Bitcoin Beach and allowed the use of “bitcoins” via cell phones and computers to pay for everything he bought, even if it was groceries, he allowed sellers to accept cryptocurrency. and what he did won the praise of President Bukele. .
One fifth of GDP is remittances from abroad
The law states that bitcoins must be accepted as payment when offered, except when the sellers or recipients do not have the technology to conduct the transaction. And because Internet access isn’t widespread in rural areas, Bukele, who we see talking about the topic in the video below, promised to build a satellite infrastructure that would help rural residents To facilitate communication through the Internet. The new currency in countries does not exceed 70%, it has 8 million and 600 thousand accounts in banks.
Najib Bukeli, 40, justified his intention to “legalize bitcoin”, saying that the official adoption of the currency creates new jobs “and throws thousands of people out of the legal economy into the financial system”. is allowed to enter,” and explained, according to what al-Arabiya has observed. Net” on the website of the local newspaper La Prensa Grafica, that citizens will be able to pay their taxes in cryptocurrency or in US dollars, as remittances in El Salvador from abroad, with an area of 21 thousand square kilometers, gross domestic product represents 22% of the currency, so the dollar is always available in the country.
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