According to a report made by a former MP, Tonga could be the second country with Bitcoin as legal tender. It seems that Bitcoin will be legal tender first in small countries than in the developed ones.
Last year, El Salvador, a Central American nation that became the first in the world to have a law that consecrates Bitcoin as legal tender, as is the US dollar in that country, gave the surprise.
Now it seems that this will also happen in the Kingdom of Tonga, an island country in Oceania, located within Polynesia, made up of 171 islands (some uninhabited,) and that gets constituted as a parliamentary monarchy.
In a bill that shares many similarities with the El Salvador bill, Tongan politician and former parliamentarian Lord Fusitu’a anticipates that his country could adopt Bitcoin as early as November this year. It is worth noting that this politician is very fond of Bitcoin.
In a series of tweets, Lord Fusitu’a revealed a timetable for Bitcoin to become legal tender in Tonga. The decision could generate more than 100,000 Tongans into the Bitcoin network.
What Bitcoin Means for Tonga
The announcement sowed the seeds of predictions on Twitter before the Tongan politician set the record straight. The official responded that the timeline for BTC to become legal tender could happen in December of this year.
In 2021, Tonga would become one of the nations with BTC as legal tender. Speculation reached a maximum point after a podcast that Lord Fusitu’a made with bitcoin Peter McCormack.
During that encounter, the then-member of parliament highlighted the case for remittances to adopt BTC as legal tender. He said adoption would cause an increase in disposable income by at least 30%. It is a country whose inhabitants receive large amounts of remittances, as is also the case with El Salvador.
In addition, the politician said that Tonga could create a BTC circular economy, and it is one of the few cases where being an archipelago of a sparsely populated small island kingdom is an advantage.
And although the World Bank speaks of Internet penetration of 50% in the islands, which could be an obstacle to the use of Bitcoin, the former deputy assures that it exceeds 90%.
Bukele Optimistic, Salvadorans not so Much
The president of El Salvador is very optimistic about the price of Bitcoin, with the early construction of Ciudad Bitcoin and the volcanic crypto mining bonds, which he launched in November of last year. He also talks about two countries that will follow the example of El Salvador in adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, although he did not say which ones they were.
While Bukele expects Bitcoin to rise this year, some observers predict that cryptocurrencies associated with layer one blockchains like Ethereum, Avalanche, Fantom, Solana will be the real stars of the day.
Singapore-based QCP Capital has recommended diversifying Bitcoin into a basket of Layer 1 currencies as one of the best performing trades for 2022.
But while the president remains enthusiastic about Bitcoin in El Salvador, the responses from his Salvadoran supporters continue to include a lot of criticism about operational issues with the Chivo wallet.
By: Jenson Nuñez
