The world-first move by President Nayib Bukele, after Bitcoin is passed as a legal tender in the South American country of El Salvador
The South American country of El Salvador has become the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender.
The move happened after that country’s legislators approved President Nayib Bukele’s proposal to embrace cryptocurrency.
The move was driven by President Bukele, whom some regard as controversial after his administration and officials faced accusations of alleged corruption and graft.
In May, for example, the United States reportedly named five of Bukele’s ministers and aides as corrupt and diverted foreign aid funds away from the country’s government institutions, instead to local civil society groups.
Bitcoin tender
It should be noted that President Bukele introduced the bill to the Legislative Assembly last week, on June 5.
On Wednesday the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador voted to pass a bill that declared Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, as legal tender.
It reportedly secured 62 out of 84 votes.
The populist President Bukele had championed the move as a way to help low-income countries like El Salvador move from a large cash economy to a digital economy, where a person’s bank account is essentially their smartphone.
It should be noted that roughly 70 percent of people in El Salvador do not have bank accounts or credit cards. The country replaced its local currency, the colón, with the US dollar in 2001.
Historically, the country had a mostly agriculture-based economy, but it has been riven by chronic political and economic instability, including coups. It continues to struggle with high rates of poverty, inequality and gang-related violent crime
