Late on Sunday night, President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele revealed his plans to meet bankers from 44 countries first thing on Monday morning. The Central banks and financial authorities meeting on Monday will have one major topic of discussion, and that is Bitcoin.
Tomorrow, 32 central banks and 12 financial authorities (44 countries) will meet in El Salvador to discuss financial inclusion, digital economy, banking the unbanked, the #Bitcoin rollout and its benefits in our country.— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) May 16, 2022
The topic will be divided into several key sections:
- Financial inclusion.
- The digital economy.
- Crypto accessibility for the unbanked.
- The benefits of Bitcoin’s rollout in El Salvador.
Central bankers from Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Brundi, Congo, Costa Rica, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, India, Nambia, Senegal, Sundan, Uganda, Zambia and 25 other developing countries are getting on planes today to fly to #ElSalvador - Don't worry @IMFNews - it is probably nothingBTC’s Hard-Fought Battle for Legal Acknowledgment— Bitcoin Beach (@Bitcoinbeach) May 13, 2022
It took Bitcoin 12 years to be adopted as an official currency. El Salvador officially announced that it was making Bitcoin a legal tender on September 7th, 2021. More than half a year later, the Central African Republic became the second country in the world to do so. Both nations have been heavily criticized—El Salvador by international financial institutions, the IMF in particular, and the Central African Republic by its peers—6 neighboring countries with a mutual agreement.
- In El Salvador’s case, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeadtedly beseeched President Nayib Bukele to reverse his decision of making Bitcoin a legal tender, citing “large risks associated with the use of Bitcoin to financial stability, financial integrity and consumer protection.” Despite critique from international institutions, El Salvador has received praise from some of the neighbors. It could be fair to say El Salvador inspired Panama to be the next country adopting Bitcoin as legal tender.
- In CAR’s case, the backlash received from its neighboring countries is based on a decades old agreement among Central African nations to use only the CFA franc. Governor Abbas Mahamat Tolli sent a letter to the finance minister of the Central African Republic, claiming that “the new cryptocurrency law can be understood as calling into question the monetary cooperation of the Central African states”.
Crypto Regulation Becoming More Common
If Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo signs the crypto bill currently in process, Panama will become the third country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender, just one month after the Central African Republic passed its own legislation. The need for crypto regulation is becoming increasingly prominent, not only in developing countries, but very much in the Western world as well. Both Germany and the United Kingdom seem to believe this to be the case, and recently passed new regulations regarding crypto. As the crypto market continues to experience a turbulent period, it raises an important question: will the world see more benefits to the transparency of Bitcoin activities, and therefore make it more easily accessible for everyone?
