El Salvador Will Accept Bitcoin As A Means Of Payment

The Central American country, El Salvador, will be the first country to declare bitcoin legal tender, President Nayib BUKELE said at a bitcoin conference in Miami. As part of this step, the country's central bank will accept bitcoin as part of its reserves, while citizens will be able to conduct transactions with bitcoins.

Jack MALLERS, CEO of Bitcoin Lightning startup Strike, whose company worked in El Salvador to connect citizens to the bitcoin network, voiced some of the weaknesses in the current financial system. El Salvador is a cash economy. Here, about 70% of people do not have bank accounts or credit cards. Remittances sent home by migrants account for over 20% of El Salvador's GDP. Traditional services may charge more than 10% commission for international transfers, which can sometimes take several days to arrive.

Mallers helped the government draft legislation that would enable such large-scale adoption of bitcoin, and promised to share the results of the open source work in an as-yet-unreleased series titled "Bitcoin for Countries."

Image: Prensa Latina