El Salvador is one step closer to making bitcoin legal tender after proposing new law

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has sent a law to the country’s congress proposing to make bitcoin legal tender. If approved by the legislative body, El Salvador would become the first nation in the world to give the cryptocurrency this status.

Bukele posted a screenshot of the “Bitcoin Law” in a tweet on Wednesday. “The purpose of this law is to regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender with liberating power, unlimited in any transaction, and to any title that public or private natural or legal persons require carrying out,” the law reads.

If the law is passed, prices can be shown in bitcoin, tax contributions can be paid with the digital currency, and exchanges in bitcoin will not be subject to capital gains tax. Bitcoin is known for wild price swings that have prompted critics to suggest it is not suitable to be an effective currency. It’s still unclear how El Salvador will ultimately roll out bitcoin as legal tender. The exchange rate with the U.S. dollar “will be freely established by the market,” according to the proposed law. El Salvador’s current official currency is the U.S. dollar.

El Salvador is one step closer to making bitcoin legal tender after proposing new law, CNBC, Jun 9