(SAN SALVADOR) – El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender after Congress approved a proposal by President Nayib Bukele to do so.
With 62 out of 84 possible votes, lawmakers gave the green light after midnight to create the law and to adopt Bitcoin, despite concerns about the potential impact on El Salvador's program with the International Monetary Fund.
Bukele has touted the use of cryptocurrency for its potential to help Salvadorans living abroad send remittances back home, while ensuring that the US dollar will continue as legal tender as well.
The president, who sent the initiative to legislators, said that this law will help create jobs in the short term and will favor the financial inclusion of thousands of people who are outside the formal economy.
The law passed at midnight establishes that all prices may be expressed in Bitcoin and that all tax contributions may be paid in cryptocurrency, but that, for accounting purposes, the dollar will be kept as the reference currency.
Bitcoin was trading at $ 35,216.77, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon.
Its use as legal tender in El Salvador will take effect in 90 days, with the Bitcoin-dollar exchange rate set by the market.
