Bitcoin Official In El Salvador
- 3 years ago
El Salvador bought roughly $20.9 million worth of bitcoin one day before it formally adopts the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as legal tender. In a series of tweets Monday, President Nayib Bukele revealed that the country had purchased a total of 400 bitcoin, the first step in a larger push to add the digital currency to its balance sheet. Based on the bitcoin price at the time of the tweets, the digital coin purchased totaled roughly $20.9 million. The price of bitcoin rose following the tweets and was trading at around $52,681.85 at 12:16 a.m. eastern time Tuesday. The posts came hours before El Salvador’s bitcoin law, which was passed in June, took effect Tuesday. El Salvador is the first country to accept bitcoin as a legal currency, which will work alongside the U.S. dollar. Proponents and critics around the world will be watching to see how this unprecedented experiment plays out.
El Salvador is now the first country to have officially put bitcoin on its balance sheet and hold it in its reserves. But the policy has drawn criticism across the country. Nearly 70% of Salvadorans disagreed with the administration’s decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. Many were also unsure of how to use the digital currency. The legislation allows prices to be displayed in bitcoin, tax contributions to be paid with the digital currency, and exchanges in bitcoin will not be subject to capital gains tax.
El Salvador is now the first country to have officially put bitcoin on its balance sheet and hold it in its reserves. But the policy has drawn criticism across the country. Nearly 70% of Salvadorans disagreed with the administration’s decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. Many were also unsure of how to use the digital currency. The legislation allows prices to be displayed in bitcoin, tax contributions to be paid with the digital currency, and exchanges in bitcoin will not be subject to capital gains tax.