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Bukele seeks that bitcoin can be used in El Salvador

2021-06-06T20:46:44.466Z


The Salvadoran president will present to Congress a proposal for the cryptocurrency to have legal tender in the country


Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, during a press conference.JOSE CABEZAS / Reuters

Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, has announced that he will seek to make bitcoin another currency in the country.

The president will present the bill to Congress next week, the Executive reported in a video presented at a conference on bitcoin in Miami.

The objective of this measure is to create jobs and also "give financial inclusion to thousands of people outside the formal economy," said Bukele.

"70% of the Salvadoran population does not have a bank account and works in the informal economy," added the president.

At the moment, the Salvadoran government has not provided further details on the proposed law regarding bitcoin that will be presented to Congress, dominated by the president's allies.

"Financial inclusion is not only a moral imperative, but also a way to grow the economy of the country, providing access to credit, savings, investments and secure transactions," said Bukele through his Twitter account, one of his greatest platforms.

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Due to the covid-19 pandemic, during 2020 the Salvadoran economy contracted by 7.9%, but the projection of the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) is that by the end of 2021 it will grow around 6%.

In the dollarized economy of El Salvador, the remittances that Salvadorans send from abroad are an important support and are equivalent to 22% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

In 2020, remittances totaled $ 5,918.6 million, an increase of 4.8% compared to 2019, according to official reports.

The entry of remittances to the country between the last months of January and March totaled more than 1,705 million dollars, according to the Central Reserve Bank.

Bukele said that bitcoin also represents "the fastest growing way to transfer" those billions of dollars in remittances and to prevent "millions of dollars" from being lost to intermediaries.

“Through the use of bitcoin, the amount received by more than a million low-income families will increase by the equivalent of billions of dollars each year.

This will improve the lives and the future of millions, "said the president.

Driven by interest from increasingly serious investors, the cryptocurrency market grew to more than $ 2.5 trillion in mid-May 2020, according to the Coinmarketcap page, which collects data on nearly 10,000 cryptocurrencies.

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Source: elparis

All business articles on 2021-06-06

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