El Salvador has passed a bill that will make bitcoin legal tender in the country
UPDATE (June 8, 2:15 am ET): El Salvador has passed a bill that will make bitcoin legal tender in the country.
El Salvador's legislature members cleared the bill with a "supermajority" vote, receiving 62 votes for the bill out of a possible 84. Nineteen members opposed the bill and three abstained.
The bill now awaits president Nayib Bukele's signature, which will likely happen by Wednesday.
El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, submitted a proposed law to the country's national legislature that, if and when approved, will "regulate bitcoin as unrestricted legal tender."
Specifically, the proposed law covers a number of areas, according to an English translation of the bill posted on Twitter by Bukele on Tuesday evening.
Articles of the so-called Bitcoin law include the ability for bitcoin to be used to pay taxes, the exclusion of bitcoin from capital gains taxes and the use of the U.S. dollar as a "reference currency" when denominating prices.
What's more, the bill mandates that "every economic agent must accept bitcoin as payment when offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service."
According to the text, El Salvador's government will play a role in facilitating the use of bitcoin in the country alongside private-sector services.
As the bill notes:
"Without prejudice to the actions of the private sector, the State shall provide alternatives that allow the user to carry out transactions in bitcoin and have automatic and instant convertibility from bitcoin to USD if they wish. Furthermore, the State will promote the necessary training and mechanisms so that the population can access transactions."
Per the text, it appears that the Development Bank of El Salvador will play a role in this process via a trust.
Bukele's plan to have bitcoin declared as legal tender in El Salvador was announced over the weekend during the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, Florida.
The El Salvadorean president's office previously outlined plans to provide tax incentives to bitcoin-focused businesses following tweets from Bukele. Justin Sun said Monday that Tron would establish an office in the country.