El Salvador has voted and officially passed the bill that makes Bitcoin legal tender, receiving 60 out 84 votes
President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador has sent a bill to the country’s parliament proposing legal tender for Bitcoin. If approved by the legislature, El Salvador will become the first country in the world to grant cryptocurrency this status.
At the present time, El Salvador has voted and officially passed the bill that makes Bitcoin legal tender, receiving 60 out of 84 votes. The decree will come into effect in 90 days since its publication in the Official Gazette.
La #LeyBitcoin está siendo leída en el pleno de la @AsambleaSV en estos momentos.
The #BitcoinLaw is being read in the @AsambleaSV floor right now.#Btc??
— Nayib Bukele ?? (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021
El Salvador passes groundbreaking Bitcoin bill
Bukele posted a screenshot of the “Bitcoin Law” in a tweet on Wednesday:
I’ve just sent the #BitcoinLaw to Congress ?? pic.twitter.com/DljnxsXlyt
— Nayib Bukele ?? (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021
The law reads:
“The purpose of this law is to regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender with liberating power, unlimited in any transaction, and to any title that public or private natural or legal persons require carrying out.”
Bukele has proposed to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender in the country other than US dollars after joining forces with the payment app Lightning Strike. Most importantly, the bill contains a provision that requires every economic agent to accept payments in Bitcoin.
The government will also ensure that the cryptocurrency is instantly convertible to US dollars to minimize any issues of volatility. The exchange rate with the U.S. dollar will be freely established by the market, according to the proposed law. El Salvador’s current official currency is the U.S. dollar.
Bitcoin transactions will not be subject to capital gains tax. Furthermore, Salvadorans will be able to pay their tax contributions in Bitcoin.
In April, bitcoin hit a record high of $ 64,829.14 but has since dropped by nearly half. It is still up over 230% over the last 12 months. That rise has been attributed to a number of factors including rising interest from institutional investors and large companies such as Tesla and Square buying Bitcoin.
You can become a permanent resident in El Salvador after investing 3 BTC
Reportedly, to further strengthen the decision to legalize Bitcoin, President Nayib Bukele said that El Salvador will grant permanent residency to immigrants that posts 3 Bitcoins. (equivalent to about $100,432 at the time of writing). This was revealed from a live audio chat held inside “Spaces” on Twitter.
According to Bukele, the government will launch a Bitcoin wallet for its citizens, but people will be able to use any wallet. The country will also run a trust fund — which will hold around $150 million worth of BTC — to offset volatility to ensure that merchants won’t have to take risks.
However, Bukele does not aim to de-dollarize El Salvador despite the crypto push:
“We are not trying to de-dollarize because it won’t serve us any purpose…It’s gonna help having both currencies as legal tender.”
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