Cryptocurrency Adoption in El Salvador: Congress Backs $150 Million Fund to Facilitate Bitcoin Conversions

El Salvador will be the first in the world to use Bitcoin as legal tender.

By Reuters | Updated: 1 September 2021 11:43 IST

Cryptocurrency Adoption in El Salvador: Congress Backs $150 Million Fund to Facilitate Bitcoin Conversions

El Salvador, which already uses the US dollar, prepares to officially adopt Bitcoin on September 7

Highlights

Money for fund will redirected from finance ministry's current budget
At least 200 ATMs and 50 consulting centres from "Chivo" are installed
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced the initiative in June

El Salvador's Congress approved a law to create a $150 million (roughly Rs. 1,095 crores) fund to facilitate conversions from Bitcoin to US dollars ahead of its planned adoption of the cryptocurrency as legal tender next week.

With 64 votes in favour and 14 votes against, Congress approved the fund as El Salvador, which already uses the US dollar, prepares to officially adopt Bitcoin on September 7. Bitcoin price in India stood at Rs. 36.7 lakhs as of 11:30am IST on September 1.

The Central American country will be the first in the world to use the cryptocurrency as legal tender.

Big Salvadoran Majority Sceptical of Bitcoin as Standard Currency: Poll

Money for the new fund will redirected from the finance ministry's current budget and administered by the state development bank of El Salvador (BANDESAL), lawmakers said.

"The purpose of this law is to financially support the alternatives that the state provides, without prejudice to private initiatives, that allow the user to carry out the automatic and instantaneous convertibility of Bitcoin to the United States dollar," a congressional document said.

At least 200 ATMs and 50 consulting centres from the government digital wallet app "Chivo" are being installed in different parts of the country where users can deposit and withdraw money without paying commissions, according to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, who announced the initiative in June.

Remittance Costs Key to Take-Up of Salvadoran Bitcoin Plan: Development Bank

© Thomson Reuters 2021

Interested in cryptocurrency? We discuss all things crypto with WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty and WeekendInvesting founder Alok Jain on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Cryptocurrency Prices across Indian exchanges

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.