Bitcoin Announced As Legal Tender in El Salvador

Bitcoin Announced As Legal Tender in El Salvador

Under the law, bitcoin must be accepted by firms when offered as payment for goods and services. Tax contributions can also be paid in the cryptocurrency. "If you go to a McDonald's or whatever, they cannot say we're not going to take your bitcoin, they have to take it by law because it's a legal tender,“ Bukele said in an online conversation he held with cryptocurrency industry figures in parallel to the debate in Congress. World Bank data showed remittances to the country made up nearly $6billion or around a fifth of GDP in 2019, one of the highest ratios in the world. El Salvador's president went on to point out that over 70% of the population lacked access to traditional finance. As El Salvador economy relies on workers abroad sending money back, cryptocurrency, theoretically, offers a quick and cheap way to send money across borders, without relying on remittance firms typically used for these transactions. The initial reaction from people across the world varied: cryptocurrency supporters hailed the move as legitimising the emerging asset, whilst others have criticised the move as complicating a currency - the need to understand one's currency was made abundantly clear and many El Salvadorians