El Salvador becomes first country to adopt Bitcoin as an official currency. The cryptocurrency will be legal tender alongside the US dollar.
At three minutes to midnight local time, the country’s populist president Nayid Bukele issued statement that the country was about to “make history” with the move, after previously confirming that it had purchased 400 Bitcoins, the equivalent of around $20.9 million at today’s prices.
Supporters argue the move will make it cheaper and easier for migrants to send money home to El Salvador, which is important given such remittances account for over 24 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, according to figures from the World Bank reported by CNBC. There are also hopes the move could improve citizens’ access to financial services.
The CEO of Strike, a digital finance company that helped with the logistics of the new law, told CNN that over 70 percent of the country’s “active population” do not currently have a bank account
