During this weekend’s Bitcoin 2021 conference, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced that he would be introducing legislation making his country the first in the world to accept bitcoin as legal tender. Interest in the cryptocurrency was evidently high in the Salvadoran Congress, as Bukele confirmed this morning that his proposal had quickly passed by a significant majority: 62 out of 84 votes. According to a copy of the legislation shared by Bukele, El Salvador’s new bitcoin law aims to regulate the premier cryptocurrency 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.”
The #BitcoinLaw has been approved by a supermajority in the Salvadoran Congress.
— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021
62 out of 84 votes!
History! #Btc🇸🇻
I’ve just sent the #BitcoinLaw to Congress 🇸🇻 pic.twitter.com/DljnxsXlyt
— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) June 9, 2021
Prices can now be shown in bitcoin, tax contributions can be paid with the digital currency, and exchanges in bitcoin will not be subject to capital gains tax. […] The exchange rate with the U.S. dollar “will be freely established by the market,” according to the proposed law. El Salvador’s current official currency is the U.S. dollar.
Sources: Nayib Bukele, CNBC