Bitcoin Officially Becomes Legal Tender in El Salvador

Bitcoin is Officially Legal Tender in El SalvadorJordan Hinsch

Note: This is not trading advice. Investing in the cryptocurrency market comes with inherent risk. Always do your own due diligence.

Overnight, 62 out of 84 members in the Salvadoran Congress voted to pass the #BitcoinLaw and El Salvador is the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. It was considered a supermajority, and many are surprised by the overwhelming outcome.

A woman in El Salvador withdraws money from an Athena Bitcoin ATM.Camilo Freedman | LightRocket | Getty Images

“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,” the law reads.

Initially a rumor, which was announced first during the Bitcoin 2021 Conference in Miami over the weekend, is now official. Since then, there have been rumblings on social media that Panama, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico will consider adopting Bitcoin as well.

Whether or not more developed countries adopt Bitcoin in the future will likely be based on the effects that we will see from El Salvador and others. Bitcoin's volatility could prove to be an issue for El Salvador, but it's unclear how they plan to utilize it as a currency. Their primary goal is to improve financial inclusion rather than maintain financial exclusion throughout the nation. Roughly 70% of the country does not have access to a traditional banking service and Bitcoin is seen to change this. Prior to this news, the official currency of El Salvador was the US Dollar. It's unlikely that the US Dollar ever becomes irrelevant in El Salvador, but we will see what unfolds.

Stay tuned for more as this exciting story develops.

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