The president of El Salvador announced during the Bitcoin 2021 Conference that: “Next week I will send to congress the proposal that will transform bitcoin into a legal form of payment.”
El Salvador could become the first country to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender. The announcement was made by the country’s president, Nayib Bukele, in a video recorded for the Bitcoin 2021 Conference, quoted by “CNN”.
According to sources at the event who quoted Nayib, the president announced that: “Next week I will send to congress the proposal that would transform bitcoin into a legal form of payment.” Bukele added that El Salvador has partnered with digital finance company Strike to move forward with the proposal.
“In the short term, it will create jobs and help increase financial literacy for millions of people who are on the margins of the formal economy. And in the medium term we hope that this small decision can help us push humanity, at least a little, towards a more correct decision,” argues Nayib Bukele.
For his part, CEO of Strike, Jack Mallers recounted that the government of El Salvador asked “to help write a plan and because they saw potential in bitcoin”. Mallers pointed out that “more than 70% of El Salvador’s working population does not have a bank account” and as such the proposal to use bitcoins as a form of payment aims to “help these people”.
