Crypto Community Jubilant as El Salvador Passes Bitcoin Bill

The first country to officially make Bitcoin legal tender is El Salvador as the new law passed with a majority vote today.

On June 9, 2021, the President of the Republic of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, stated that the Bitcoin law has been approved by a “supermajority” in the Salvadoran Congress.

62 members of the legislature voted in favor of the bill, with 19 opposed and three abstentions.

The bill will mandate all businesses to accept Bitcoin and crypto payments for goods or services. However, the government will act as a backstop for entities that are not willing to take on the volatility risk.

A government trust will be set up at the Development Bank of El Salvador to instantly convert Bitcoin to U.S. dollars. This will act as a buffer against the risk and hold about $150 million in the trust fund, he said.

“If there’s an ice cream parlor, he doesn’t really want to take the risk, he has to accept bitcoin because it’s a mandated currency but he doesn’t want to take the risk of convertibility, so he wants dollars deposited in his banking account, when he sells the ice cream, he can ask the government to exchange his bitcoin to dollars. Of course he can do that in the markets also but he can ask the government to do it immediately.”

Crypto Community Reacts

Chart guru and founder of the stock-to-flow model, ‘PlanB’, added the national flag and tweeted:

“Congratulations Nayib and El Salvador!! El Savador is leading the world towards freedom. Nomen est omen. More countries will follow. The New Renaissance has started!”

Local press, meanwhile, splashed the headlines all over their front pages.

Altana Digital Currency Fund CIO, Alistair Milne, echoed the praise:

“This blows my mind. A handful of high-conviction people have changed the course of an entire country and therefore millions of people’s lives.”

Entrepreneur, Jeff Booth, told his 225K followers “El Savador just moved to the top of my list of places to visit.”

Bitcoin Price Reaction

The news was enough to give BTC prices a bit of a lift following heavily bearish weeks and Elon Musk FUD. At the time of publication, BTC was trading 5% higher on the day according to CoinGecko.

After hitting an intraday low of $31,100, Bitcoin was changing hands for $34,400 but it still has a long way to go to claw back recent losses.

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