Bitcoin becomes official currency in Central American country - El Salvador

El Salvador, a country in Central America, has become the first nation in the world to approve Bitcoin cryptocurrency as an official currency.

The decision was approved by the El Salvador Congress on June 9, with 62 votes in favour of the decision out of the 84 possible votes. The likely benefit of this decision does not stop just there as the government also announced that people who invest in bitcoin in El Salvador will get citizenship of the country.

These decisions were announced by El Salvador President Nayib Bukele on Twitter.

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The resolution passed by Congress stated, “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.”

Following this decision, the citizens of El Salvador will able to make tax contributions through digital currency.

Commenting on this development, Avinash Shekhar, Co-CEO, ZebPay, a cryptocurrency exchange, said, “This is a historic moment. The code (bitcoin) Satoshi wrote is now a legal tender of a country. Bitcoin is the soundest asset and one of the biggest technological innovations the world has ever seen. We are looking forward to how El Salvador incorporates Bitcoin into its economy.”

This decision certainly comes as a big boost for the cryptocurrency community across the world which is pushing hard for legal recognition from the central banks as well as regulatory authorities.

Countries across the world are still debating on whether to provide approval to cryptocurrency. At the same time, there are companies like Tesla which have announced that it would accept cryptocurrency as a mode of payment.

In India, cryptocurrency has still not got the legal sanctity from the regulator, even though the Supreme Court lifted the ban on the trading of these digital currencies.

As Shivam Thakral, CEO, BuyUcoin said, “In India, our approach towards crypto is different; we don’t see it as a legal tender but as an asset class. Indian investors have shown their faith in crypto even during the massive price fluctuations because they have an investment horizon of two to three years.”