El Salvador Passes the Bitcoin Law In Congress, President Nayib Bukele to Meet the IMF Soon

Latin American country El Salvador is scripting a new history today! El Salvador President Nayib Bukele recently announced that the Bitcoin Law has been officially passed in the Salvadoran Congress with a strong majority of 62 votes.

This makes El Salvador the first country to officially accept Bitcoin (BTC) as a legal tender alongside USD in the country’s financial system. The Bitcoin Law will come into effect in the next 90 days. In the Clubhouse Spaces room, President Nayib Bukele was sharing the room with some of the top Bitcoin proponents as the law was being signed.

The President said that he is planning to meet the IMF (International Monetary Fund) ahead of this week on Thursday, June 11. This will be a crucial meeting as it will decide the course of change in the global financial system. During the recent announcement, the El Salvador President said that making Bitcoin a legal tender will provide a major boost to the country’s economy and this is in no way the step taken for de-dollarization.

As said, El Salvador will take 90 days to implement the Bitcoin-based legal payment system. Once in place, all merchants operating in the country will have to accept Bitcoin payments. The El Salvador government will operate a Bitcoin wallet for the same. What’s more exciting is the permanent residency in El Salvador is now available for 3 BTC.

Details of El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bill

Since the Bitcoin Law is now being passed, all consumer goods prices shall now be available in BTC along with the U.S. Dollar. Similarly, tax contributions will be paid all in Bitcoin and the exchanges for BTC won’t be subjected to capital gains tax. As the law reads:

“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”.

As per the proposed law, the BTC exchange rate with the U.S. Dollar shall be freely established by the market. The law also notes that El Salvador will “promote the necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access bitcoin transactions.”

The Bitcoin Law states that BTC will serve the role of financial inclusion as 70% of the El Salvador population still uses cash.