El Salvador's president says will send bill to make bitcoin legal tender

A big boost to bitcoin?

A banner that reads "We accept Bitcoin, free, fast and without contagion" is seen at a beach cafe on Punta Roca Beach in La Libertad, El Salvador April 25, 2021. Picture taken April 25, 2021. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas (REUTERS)

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said on Saturday that he will send a bill to Congress next week to make bitcoin legal tender in the country.

"In the short term this will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy," Bukele said in a video shown at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami.

Strike, a mobile payments app that launched in El Salvador in March, said in a statement that it welcomed the legislation and was working with the country to make using bitcoin technology a success.

“This is the shot heard 'round the world for bitcoin," Strike founder and CEO Jack Mallers was quoted as saying at the Miami conference.

Besides, a big chunk of those 6 billion dollars is lost to intermediaries.

By using #Bitcoin, the amount received by more than a million low income families will increase in the equivalent of billions of dollars every year.

This will improve lives and the future of millions.

— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) June 6, 2021

"Adopting a natively digital currency as legal tender provides El Salvador the most secure, efficient and globally integrated open payments network in the world," Mallers said.