Before El Salvador had made Bitcoin a legal tender, it was a relatively unknown small North American country. The decision to make bitcoin legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar had given it overnight fame and the world watched on to see how this will affect its economy. Now, more than six months after it was officially adopted, 44 countries are headed to the North American country to discuss Bitcoin, alongside other financial issues.
Discussing Bitcoin And The Economy
El Salvadorian President, Nayib Bukele, has announced that he would be receiving delegates from 44 countries to discuss a number of financial topics. These would range from financial inclusion to the use of Bitcoin as legal tender in the country. This meeting which is scheduled to happen tomorrow will see 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities from 44 countries come together to meet in the small nation to discuss these issues.
Tomorrow, 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities (44 countries) will meet in El Salvador to discuss financial inclusion, digital economy, banking the unbanked, the #Bitcoin rollout and its benefits in our country.
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 16, 2022
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El Salvador which is the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender will no doubt be the footprint of adoption for other countries interested in making such a move. It is still less than a year after the implementation but the president revealed that they would be discussing how beneficial using BTC as legal tender had been for the country and its citizens.
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His announcement tweet also included a list of countries that would be present at this meeting. One thing that stands out from this list is that the majority of central banks and financial institutions that will be in attendance look to be from African countries. Even the Central Bank of Nigeria, a country that has majorly pushed and backed against the acceptance of Bitcoin in the country, is listed to be in attendance.
Central Bank of Egypt
Central Bank of Jordan
Central Bank of Nigeria
Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et du Plan du Sénégal
Superintendencia de Bancos de la República Dominicana
Banque Centrale de Mauritanie
Banque Centrale du Congo
Central Bank of Armenia
Bangladesh Bank— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 16, 2022
Interestingly, El Salvador is no longer the only country that now uses Bitcoin as a legal tender. In late April, the Central African Republic (CAR) announced that BTC had been approved to serve as a legal tender in the country, making it the second country to make this move.
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Some see this as evidence that the rate of adoption of BTC by various countries will be rapid. Notably, it took more than 10 years for the first country to accept the cryptocurrency as a legal tender, and seven months for the next country to follow.
If this happens to be the case, then 2022 may very well see several countries accept the digital asset as a legal currency.
Featured image from BeInCrypto, chart from TradingView.com
