President Nayib Bukele celebrated the milestone and discussed the learning curve that it involves. El Salvador bought 400 bitcoins one day before the Bitcoin Law came into force.
Bitcoin (BTC) is already legal tender in El Salvador, the first country to adopt the first cryptocurrency. The Bitcoin Law entered into force on September 7th, converting BTC into currency within the Central American country.
After the legislation came into force, President Nayib Bukele said the Bitcoin process in El Salvador has a learning curve, like any innovation. He added that every road to the future is like that, and there will not be any achievement in a short period. He said that it is necessary to break the paradigms of the past.
The ruler previously announced that his country had purchased its first 200 bitcoins and then added another 200 coins to that amount. That means that El Salvador currently has 400 bitcoins under its belt, said the president.
Many bitcoiners had marked September 7th in their calendars as a world milestone in adopting the cryptocurrency. In early June, the Legislative Assembly of the country approved the Bitcoin Law previously announced by Bukele.
To make adopting the pioneering cryptocurrency in El Salvador easier, retailers will receive points of sale. The government also announced the installation of Bitcoin ATMs and the creation of its Chivo Wallet. Salvadorans can use the latter to make payments and convert their funds into US dollars, the other legal tender in the country.
President Bukele seeks to encourage the use of BTC by giving a USD 30 bonus with the cryptocurrency to those Salvadorans downloading the Chivo Wallet. Those incentives will come from a USD 150 million fund approved by the Assembly on August 31st.
Some People Accept Bitcoin While Others Reject It
Of course, the approval of the Bitcoin Law has encountered some opposition. From the beginning, the announcement provoked many and varying reactions. Among those who rejected the measure, there have been people from all areas of life. Deputies called for the reform of the Law while people demonstrated to demand its repeal. However, there has been no support for this measure in the Legislative Assembly.
Banks outside El Salvador expressed their rejection or cautious positions on adopting Bitcoin in that country. The International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, JP Morgan, and risk rating agencies were against it. Only the Bank of America stated that the Central American nation would benefit from that decision.
Before the Bitcoin Law entered into force, opinion polls conducted by local media revealed a high rejection of the cryptocurrency among Salvadorans. However, there is no turning back as BTC is a legal currency in El Salvador, the first country to adopt it worldwide.
Bitcoiners outside the Central American country encouraged a collective mass buying to express support for Salvadoran adoption. That seems to have led the cryptocurrency to trade at around USD 46.654,15 after dropping by 11.2% in the last 24 hours.
By Alexander Salazar
