El Salvador wants to make the cryptocurrency Bitcoin legal tender.
President Nayib Bukele said in a video message to the Bitcoin 2021 Conference in Miami on Saturday that he will introduce a corresponding bill to Congress.
"That will create jobs and integrate thousands of people into the formal economic cycle." According to the head of the payment service provider, Jack Mallers, El Salvador would be the first country in the world to allow Bitcoin as legal tender.
Bitcoin is the most popular digital currency. It is not controlled by a central bank, but created using a decentralized and extremely energy-intensive computer process - so-called mining. The cryptocurrency is considered an object of speculation and is subject to violent price fluctuations. Therefore, in the opinion of most experts, Bitcoin is actually quite unsuitable as a means of payment.
El Salvador's President Bukele likes to present himself as a modern and unconventional head of state. He is very present on social media and likes to give instructions to his ministers on Twitter. Critics see the 39-year-old's authoritarian style of government as a threat to democracy. For example, it caused horror that he had soldiers march in parliament in February 2020. He wanted to put the MPs under pressure to approve the financing of his security concept with a loan. In the recent parliamentary election, his party became the strongest force from scratch.