Bitcoin becomes LEGAL TENDER in El Salvador

[PROFRBcom]

https://cointelegraph.com/news/el-sa...proved-tonight

Cliff Notes:

Supermajority of their legislature voted for this bill.
President immediately signing it into law.
USD and BTC will be official currencies of El Salvador.
BTC will be mandatory to accept by businesses after some transitory upgrade period.
El Salvadoran residency can evidently be had for as little as a 3BTC investment in the country.


The first country of many to make Bitcoin legal money? This could be a game changer?

I saw rumblings that Brazil and Uruguay are also considering this (no source links). Anyone have any insight?

[tufty]

I know hodlers often make a big deal out of nothing but this is very significant. 13% up on the day currently, which surely doesn't price in this monumental news. Incredible: "BTC will be mandatory to accept by businesses after some transitory upgrade period." Often there is such a delayed reaction to huge events with the price, like March 2020 when BTC went down to $4k 'ish when it ought to have been rocketing . . and then it finally did.

[MMM]

Not familiar with El Salvador but wonder if it's one of those Banana republic places which can do something and then reverse after 2 days.

Also, makes me laugh how various small side shops will try to "accept" btc.

I live in first world country probably much more tech advanced and even here it would be very funny.

Imaging people in some local shop trying to accept 1 satoshi for dinner.

Also, Salvador use USD which makes it easier. Other countries with local (collapsing) currency - that could be a disaster. Rich (and smart young) will adapt, the rest will loose all their money with the currency collapse on steroids.

But yes, good news for btc holders.

[PROFRBcom]

When one starts looking into things, one finds many puzzling coincidences.

Safety of El Salvador: https://www.osac.gov/Country/ElSalvador/Detail

Specifically, look at this brand new US government travel advisory about how crime ridden El Salvador is:




Funny how it was just released yesterday. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[econfox]

El Salvador has a crime problem so it isn't a place for the wealthy (by their standards) to flash any money. There are places on the beach that are nice resorts towns that you can retire to or live as a digital nomad. So, yes you can run an affiliate business like this there but if you become noticed then it can be dangerous.

If there is inflation because of the money the US is printing then Central America usually gets hit hard by it because their economies are tied to the dollar.
Bitcoin could be a good hedge for them.

[MMM]

Their inflation problems are nothing compared to the others mentioned though.

Argentina for example, if you make BTC legal - the current peso value collapse will be nothing in comparison to what will happen.

The reason why Salvador could do it is because they are USD and not local currency.

[rmeeuwsen]

To be sure, El Salvador is not a very rich country. It doesn’t even have the media exposure of Musk (yuck). But it does send a good signal. Certainly better than China’s approach with a controlling central authority.

[DarkHorse-SB]

Huge news! hope it has a domino effect with more countries starting to recognize as currency... great step!

[wonderpunter]

looks like they are trying to attract more investment, The president there has been much touhger on crime than the previous.. My guess is they are all holding and want it to go back up

[PROFRBcom]

looks like they are trying to attract more investment, The president there has been much touhger on crime than the previous.. My guess is they are all holding and want it to go back up

And I hope they get very rich for being the first to legalize BTC and create an impetus for others to do so as well.

Diversifying out of the USD should be something that many people begin to consider if they have not already been doing so. Whether that be other fiat currencies, cryptos, precious metals, real estate, productive businesses, whatever.

Unfettered money printing has consequences.

[Cash Bonus]

That's excellent news, Prof. I read about this the other day. Bitcoin is finally starting to make a bigger impression and becoming more popular throughout the world. Things will still get better in time.

[Sherlock]

https://www.businessinsider.in/crypt...w/83363776.cms

Paraguay wants to join too (there is already developed BTC mning bc of cheap hydro energy; also country is dolarised, crime abundant (I was robbed at knifepoint at Asuncion but all good, we made a deal - I gave tem phone, they gave me my simcards; has low to zero taxes and mafia is running it... ideal for BTC adoption [this is not an irony]).

Clearly this was a news that should catapult BTC in 6 figures teritory at least and I was saying that BTC will not likely see 100K until next halving. Whoever does not have BTC should go for it now, when it is cheap.

It is irrelevant who is paying with it, because sooner or later (maybe sooner) the BTC will be part of central bank reserves, which is something I thought will not happen until 2030. Bitcoin was not possible to ban, but it was possible to restrict it with tearing down the BTC<->fiat bridges. Now, when BTC has a status of currency this will be very hard. USA must start a total war or capitulate, so it will be very interesting. There are not just banana republics that are pissed off - do not forget that USA ***** banking systems all over the world and the other countries respect FATCA only because they need to use swift and because they saw what USA did to Belize.

I was transferring some money from European private bank to dolarised LATAM country, buying a property. I was directly told by my bankers that I can forget about sending USD or GBP. That the intermediary banks simply will stop the payment even when my money is clean at the bank and the paperwork about the trade is also totally clear. USD and GBP is simply impossible to send in higher amounts. What remains for now is EUR or CHF. This is really not how money should work; e.g. when after all the work, after all KYC and AML, even 100% clean business is not allowed, the business will look for other channels.

Latin America is dolarised. At half of countries directly; the other half use USD unofficially. But do not think people here love USD or USA. If they can jump on independed reserve asset, they will love to. The problem is now that BTC needs to be at least 10x higher to serve as the reserve currency. But - it can be there.

Everything is sped up by corona. Northern hemisphere is enjoying summer and end of corona. Meanwhile South America winter is brutal. People keep dying even at faster pace. Even one of the most vaccnated countries of the world (Chile - 75% 1 dose; 58% 2doses) is completely ****** up with hospitals overwhelmed and with even young people dying; the rest of LATAM is even worse. So prepared for another corona winter, because vaccinacion is not the holy grail. Anyways the dead people are not a problem, the economy is and if just one pro-bitcoin factor has to be said here it is inflation that already is brutal.

[Former Member 31]

There were reports about this news in Japan as well. However, virtual currencies are not familiar to Japanese people and are not common. Currently, only a few traders are paying attention to it, and there are few situations where it can be used in daily life.
There was no detailed explanation in the Japanese news, only an explanation of the title. Is it a news that attracts more attention in the world?

[Traumspieler]

Het is zeker een goed voordeel om deze vorm van betaling beschikbaar te hebben

Translated:
It is certainly a good advantage to have this form of payment available

[WillFairfax89]

Well, judging from the available information, it looks like a well-thought-out plan.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-59368483
El Salvador plans to raise $1 billion at an interest rate of 6.5% for 10 years. Half of the funds will be used to buy more bitcoins, which will later be sold to provide investors with additional tokens as dividends. The other half will be spent to build a "Bitcoin City" in the eastern region of La Union.
Residents of the city will be exempt from all taxes except the 10% VAT. It will be levied to pay for the bonds, as well as to form the city's budget. The city's infrastructure will include mining farms for mining cryptocurrencies. It is planned to supply them with electricity from a geothermal power plant. Bitcoin City will be built next to the Conchagua volcano, which will provide energy for the mining infrastructure, and the bond issue will begin in 2022
Blockstream Strategy Director Samson Mou believes that El Salvador will become the financial center of the world thanks to its bet on bitcoin. He expressed confidence that investments in the construction of Bitcoin City will pay off through early investments in the cryptocurrency and its further growth.
True, the last two points are quite controversial to me. What if the volcano suddenly turns out to be active (such cases have already happened in history)? What if bitcoin has already passed its highest price and its value will gradually decline? The consequences for El Salvador could be catastrophic if one of these "black swans" happens.

[Fruity Casinos]

More countries will follow El Salvador in the future. I can see many other coins such as Bitcoin Cash becoming legal tender also.