El Salvador becomes the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender

A bill seeking to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender has been passed by El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly.

As earlier reported by BTC PEERS, the Bitcoin law was announced by President Nayib Bukele during a live broadcast last week. He explained:

In the short term, this will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy. And in the medium and long term, we hope that this decision can help us push humanity, at least a tiny bit, into the right direction.

The proposal was forwarded to the country’s Congress on Tuesday night. And later today, Bukele announced on Twitter that 62 out of 84 lawmakers in the Legislative Assembly had agreed to adopt the leading cryptocurrency as legal tender, thus making El Salvador the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as a legal form of money.

Since the bill was announced, several other Latin American leaders have shown their support for Bitcoin. Politicians from Paraguay, Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia have all taken the news in a positive light. El Salvador’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender is undoubtedly one of the most significant events in the history of Bitcoin.