San Salvador: El Salvador on Tuesday became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender, the supporters of real-world trials said they would reduce the costs of commissions for billions of dollars sent home from abroad but critics who were warned could trigger money laundering.
The plan was pioneered by young, charismatic, and popular President Nayib Bukele aimed to allow Salvador to save $ 400 million per year in the commission for money transfer, mostly sent from the United States.
CryptocurrencyLive Previousstlast this year alone remittances for El Salvador amounted to almost $ 6 billion, or 23% of gross domestic product, one of the highest ratios in the world.
Polling shows skeptical salvadors about using bitcoin and alert to the cryptocurrency volatility which is said to be criticism can increase the risk of regulations and finance for financial institutions.
However, some residents are optimistic.
“It will be useful …
We have a family in the United States and they can send money at no cost, while the bank charges a fee to send money from the United States to El Salvador,” Reina Isabel Aguilar said, shop owner in El Salvador.
Zonte Beach, about 49 km (30 mi) southwest of Capital San Salvador.
El Zonte is part of what Bitcoin coast is directed to make the city one of the first Bitcoin economies in the world.
In launch, the government has installed ATMs from its digital chivo wallet which will allow the cryptocurrency to be converted into dollars and withdrawn without commissions, but Bukele on Monday looked towards expectations with rapid results and asked for patience.
“Like all innovations, the Bitcoin El Salvador process has a learning curve.
Every way to the future is like this and not everything will be achieved in one day, or a month,” Bukele said on Twitter, a platform that often used to speak achieved his achievements or confuse your opponent.
On Monday, El Salvador bought 400 Cyrptocurrency first, while pushing prices for Bitcoin 1.49% higher to more than $ 52,680.
Cryptocurrency has been very fluctuating.
Only this spring, it rose more than $ 64,000 in April and fell by almost $ 30,000 in May.
Some analysts are afraid to move to make Bitcoin legal tenders next to the US dollar can muddy the search prospect of El Salvador to look for more than $ 1 billion in financing agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
After Bitcoin Law Bukele was approved, the Moody rating agency was reduced by El Salvador’s credit feasibility, while the country’s dollar denomination bond was also under pressure.
But Bukele, who did not avoid the controversy, on Monday Retweet videos that showed the face was superimposed to the actor Jaime Foxx in a scene from the unedested Django, the film Quentin Tarantino about American slavery.
The video described Bukele whipping slave traders who had an edited IMF emblem on his face.
Bukele then removed Retweet.
His own tweet said: “We must violate the past paradigm.
El Salvador has the right to advance towards the first world.”