Three Months Later: Bitcoin Now Officially a Legal Tender in El Salvador

It’s official – Bitcoin, the world’s leading cryptocurrency by means of market capitalization, has become a recognized legal tender in the country of El Salvador.

A Quick Timeline

As CryptoPotato reported back in June, El Salvador’s President – Nayib Bukele, who is touted by many to be a progressive and tech-savvy politician, said that he’s planning to introduce a law that will make bitcoin a legal form of money in the country.

Naturally, the news spread like wildfire, and the entire community was talking about it.

Despite the overwhelming positivity from the cryptocurrency community, there were also some naysayers. JP Morgan said that this move comes with no economic benefits, while Steve Hanke called it downright stupid.

Nevertheless, Bukele wasn’t concerned. In fact, he also announced that every citizen of El Salvador would receive $30 worth of BTC.

Now, the law has officially gone into effect. It was passed back on June 9th with a supermajority as 62 members voted in favor, while only 19 opposed and three refrained from voting.

Now What?

Well, the first thing to consider is that every economic agent in the country must accept the use of BTC as a legal form of payment. This means that goods and services can be purchased with it, and it cannot be refused.

El Salvador also became the very first country to buy bitcoin. They bought 200 BTC yesterday, while President Bukele said that their “brokers would be buying a lot more as the deadline approaches.”

It’s also worth noting that the law didn’t go without its opposition. The World Bank stated that it won’t be able to assist its implementation mainly because of environmental concerns, as well as transparency drawbacks.

On the other hand, though, a serious group of enthusiasts is showing support for the country. There’s an ongoing Reddit post with over 9,100 upvotes that suggests community members buy bitcoin worth $30 each.

So far, the price of the cryptocurrency has declined a bit, down 0.8% in the past 24 hours. However, prior to that, it had increased considerably, reaching almost as high as $53K.

On top of everything else, proponents are now passing off this day to be commemorated as “Bitcoin Day,” celebrating the massive milestone of becoming an officially recognized and regulated legal tender.