El Salvador to make BTC legal tender; offers crypto entrepreneurs permanent residence | Invezz

El Salvador is on the path to becoming the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender alongside the US dollar. Nayib Bukele, the country’s president unveiled these plans through a video broadcast during the Bitcoin 2021 conference that was held in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. In the video, Bukele said that he would send Congress a bill this week to make BTC legal tender.

Reportedly, the bill is likely to pass into law, seeing as Nuevas Ideas, a political party founded by the 39-year-old president in 2017, currently holds 56 seats of the 84 in Congress. To embrace BTC as legal tender, President Bukele said El Salvador had teamed up with Strike, a leading digital finance company. Through this partnership, both El Salvador and Strike seek to help individuals, businesses, and government agencies tap into the power of BTC while making everyday transactions.

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Per Strike’s CEO, Jack Mallers, more than 70% of the active Salvadorian population lacks bank accounts. He went on to note that the government requested him to help it come up with a plan to help address the widespread financial exclusion in the country. Seeing as the country already considered BTC as a world-class currency, they came up with the plan to modernize its financial infrastructure by making BTC legal tender.

Crypto proponents welcome this news gleefully

Soon after the disclosure of this news, the crypto community lit up with joy. Justin Sun, the founder of TRON, took to Twitter to say crypto investors and entrepreneurs would soon start moving to El Salvador on account of the country’s crypto-friendly atmosphere.

Responding to Sun, President Bukele highlighted other reasons that make El Salvador an ideal destination for crypto enthusiasts. According to him, El Salvador has great weather, world-class surfing beaches, and beachfront properties ready for sale. He added that the country will not have capital gain taxes for BTC, seeing as the coin will be a legal currency. Bukele concluded that these provisions make El Salvador an immediate permanent residence for crypto entrepreneurs.

Adam Black, the CEO of Blockstream, said, BTC becoming a legal currency was an inevitability. With this news, Black believes BTC has unlocked another milestone.

Despite the warm reception of this news from the crypto community, BTC/USD is stuck at the $36,000.00 level. At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency by capitalization is changing hands at $36,168.05 (£25,587.63) after gaining a mere 0.03% over the last 24 hours and 0.9% over the past seven days.