AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
IND
_06_15_2026_08_31_29_563066.jpg)
Highlights
- EI Salvador became world’s first country to make Bitcoin its official currency.
- The country bought 400 bitcoins running ahead of the roll-out, planning to buy a lot more of them.
- Salvadoran Government launched its wallet app called Chivo to transact using Bitcoin.
- The prices crash on the day when El Salvador adopts it as legal tender
As EI Salvador became the first country that adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, the country bought around US$20.9 million worth Bitcoin before formally adopting the world’s most popular cryptocurrency as one of its official currencies.
Representative image Source: © Jirsak | Megapixl.com
EI Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele tweeted on Monday, that the country had purchased around 400 bitcoins. Based on the Bitcoin price at time of tweets, the purchase amount was estimated roughly around US$20.9 million.
RELATED READ - Can Bitcoin Reach the Half-a-Million Mark by 2023?
This announcement marked a major milestone for Bitcoin as EI Salvador is now the very first country to officially put the cryptocurrency as its official bill.
Prior this year in June, EI Salvador also passed its own Bitcoin Law, that took effect on Tuesday. In process of adopting bitcoin as the official currency, lawmakers in the Central American country’s Congress voted overwhelmingly in favour of the “Bitcoin Law”. The country’s law-making body received total 62 out of 84 legislature’s votes – almost three-fourth of the votes cast.
EI Salvador Bitcoin Law
As per the EI Salvador Bitcoin Law, the cryptocurrency “Bitcoin” will be regulated as an unrestricted legal tender along with a liberating power.
Now the Salvadorans will be allowed to save on US$400 million, which is spent annually in the commissions for the remittances, that are mostly sent from the USA. In the prior year, remittances to EI Salvador were estimated around US$6 billion or almost 23% of the Country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The Salvadorian government has been already establishing ATMs of its Chivo Digital wallet. This wallet will enable the cryptocurrency to be converted into dollars that can be withdrawn without commission.
Representative image Source: © Jirsak | Megapixl.com
According to President Bukele, EI Salvador’s crypto process is a learning curve, where everything can’t be achieved in a day or a month. When the Country bought its first 400 of the Bitcoin, the event temporarily pushed the cryptocurrency’s prices by 1.49%. However, despite El Salvador adopting it as legal tender, the Bitcoin prices at the time of filling this copy has tanked by 11.16%, in what experts call flash sale.
After the approval of Bitcoin law, some analysts have been doubtful over Salvador’s creditworthiness. This has caused strain in the dollar-denominations of the country.
With this move, both the enthusiastic and detractors of cryptocurrencies will be monitoring this experiment to check how many citizens want to transact with the Bitcoin after it circulates alongside the US Dollar. If successful, it may prompt other countries to follow the suit.
Salvadoran government’s Bitcoin Wallet Chivo comes pre-loaded with US$30 worth of the currency for the registered users with Salvadoran national ID number.
