El Salvador is at risk of becoming the first country to accept Bitcoin as a legal currency. This was stated by the country’s President Naib Bukele in a video recorded for the Bitcoin 2021 conference, which was held in Miami, USA.
“Next week, I will send a proposal to Congress that will make Bitcoin legal tender,” said Bukele, quoted by event organizers. If that happens, El Salvador will be the protagonist of the historical fact, as cryptocurrencies earned the reserves of regulators and central banks.
Bukele, a 39-year-old populist politician, came to power in 2019 and has an overwhelming majority in 56 of 84 congressional seats, which means he can probably easily accept a proposal to formalize bitcoin as a payment method. admitted.
The President of El Salvador believes that cryptocurrency may be “one of those ideas” that will make the world a better place. “In the short term, this will create jobs and help improve the financial literacy of millions of people outside the formal economy. And in the medium term, we hope this small decision can help us push humanity at least a little more. The right decision.” he stated in the aforementioned video in about three minutes.
To implement this measure, Naib Bukele signed a partnership agreement with digital payments company Strike, which will create the country’s new financial infrastructure. In March last year, the tech company launched a mobile payments app in the country, which has become a success with high downloads.
Jack Mullers, CEO of Strike, confirmed the partnership and stressed in statements to CNN that “more than 70% of El Salvador’s working population does not have a bank account.” “They asked me to come up with a plan and saw bitcoin as a global monetary asset that we needed to use to help these people.”
Bitcoin’s high volatility has sparked distrust of central banks, analysts and governments. This cryptocurrency has already lost about half of its value this year, breaking the historic $ 60,000 barrier. The environmental concerns surrounding cryptocurrencies have also drawn widespread criticism.
