El Salvador Will Accept Bitcoin As A Means Of Payment

The Central American country, El Salvador, will be the first to declare bitcoin legal means of payment, President Nayib BUKELE said at a Bitcoin conference in Miami. The country's central bank will accept bitcoin as part of its reserves, while citizens will be able to freely conduct transactions with bitcoins.

Jack MALLERS, CEO of Strike, a company that worked in El Salvador to connect citizens to the Bitcoin network, voiced some of the weaknesses in the current financial system. El Salvador, in his opinion, is a cash economy. Approximately 70% of people do not have bank accounts, credit cards. Remittances sent home by migrants account for over 20% of El Salvador's GDP, and international transfer fees can exceed 10%.

Mallers helped the government draft legislation that would enable such large-scale adoption of bitcoin, and promised to share the results of the open source work in an as-yet-unreleased series titled "Bitcoin for Countries."

Image: Prensa Latina