Sunday, June 6th, 2021
President plans law
El Salvador wants to make Bitcoin a means of payment
Bitcoin was originally designed as digital cash, but in recent years it has been used more as an object of speculation than for purchases. El Salvador’s president still wants to raise the cryptocurrency to legal tender status.
El Salvador wants to make the cryptocurrency Bitcoin legal tender. President Nayib Bukele said in a video message to the Bitcoin 2021 Conference in Miami that he will introduce a corresponding bill to Congress in the coming week. “That will create jobs and integrate thousands of people into the formal economic cycle.” According to the head of the payment service provider Zap, Jack Mallers, El Salvador would be the first country in the world to allow Bitcoin as legal tender.
Bitcoin is the most popular digital currency. It is not controlled by a central bank, but created using a decentralized and extremely energy-intensive computer process – so-called mining. The cryptocurrency is considered an object of speculation and is subject to violent price fluctuations. Therefore, according to most experts, Bitcoin is actually quite unsuitable as a means of payment.
El Salvador’s President Bukele likes to present himself as a modern and unconventional head of state. He is very present on social media and likes to give instructions to his ministers on Twitter. Critics see the 39-year-old’s authoritarian style of government as a threat to democracy. For example, it caused horror that he had soldiers march in parliament in February 2020. He wanted to put the MPs under pressure to approve the financing of his security concept with a loan. In the recent general election, his party emerged as the strongest force.
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