Bitcoin Forum

El Salvador may be the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, but recent developments suggest that it might not be the last. Politicians in several other countries in Latin America have already expressed an interest, with some even adding bitcoin laser eyes to their Twitter profiles as a symbol of support for the cryptocurrency.

One such lawmaker is Paraguay Congressman Carlos Rejala, who hopes to pass a bill next month aimed at attracting crypto businesses. If it passes, the next step would be to present a second bill that would officially recognise bitcoin as legal tender.

“As I was saying a long time ago, our country needs to advance hand in hand with the new generation,” he said this week. “The moment has come, our moment. This week we start with an important project to innovate Paraguay in front of the world.” Panama politician Gabriel Silva responded to the news from El Salvador by warning that his country risked falling behind its regional neighbour in terms of economic development if it did not follow suit.

The Congressman revealed on Monday that he is currently preparing a similar proposal to present at the nation’s Assembly. “This is important. And Panama cannot be left behind,” he tweeted. “If we want to be a true technology and entrepreneurship hub, we have to support cryptocurrencies.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/bitcoin-currency-legal-tender-salvador-b1862655.html

El Salvador became the first country in the world to use Bitcoin as a legal currency. It has to be said that the president of this country became the first mover.

I think many countries in the world will follow suit, especially those with the following conditions.

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  The first is that countries with clean and cheap power resources can set up joint ventures to deal with the dominance of the US dollar and loans from the International Monetary Fund, which can achieve the effect of improving people’s lives and the stability of the country
  
  
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  The second is the underdeveloped countries, these countries are subject to the economic constraints of the United States, because the global transaction settlement system is still dominated by SWIFT. For example, China may completely ban mining, the purpose is more like the establishment of its own global digital currency system.
  
  
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  The third is that countries that are more friendly to Bitcoin, such as Barbados, Singapore and Malta, are pursuing digital asset-friendly policies to attract wealth and human capital. The innate support and friendliness of Bitcoin may be more open and active after someone tries it.
  
  

I sincerely hope that more people and sovereign countries will participate and contribute to the cause of Bitcoin.

Probably the big countries like Russia, USA or China because they have the influence and the population to really make a big difference in the market whether it's good or bad, it doesn't matter. We can also benefit if other small countries that are a tax haven can make bitcoin a legal tender because that's more profit for them and for everyone using their country as a tax haven.

Coinmarketcap has released a list of countries with crypto as a Legal Tender (only El Salvador at this moment) and list named "Predict next country/region" where coinmarketcap community tries to guess the next country. So far Paraguay is top 1 with 73k votes. Next Venezuela (53k), Anguilla (31k), Panama (15k).
https://coinmarketcap.com/legal-tender-countries/

I think that Nigeria should be higher than top 13 since its country with the biggest crypto adoption in Africa. Dunno what their government says about crypto. Same with Philippines (top32)

Each user(*) has "up to" 3 votes. It's not CMC trying to guess, it's more like a guessing game.
And that (*) was because most probably there are ways to cheat the game and get more votes if you "want to prove" anything.
All in all, it has no value.


Get people vote them, if you think it makes any sense to spend time with that.  :)

I don't think that manipulating this ranking has any value for anyone. Its just fun game for users. I didn't said that CMC is trying to guess. I said that CMC community tries to guess. So far top1 (Paraguay) seems to be the most likely scenario.


As I said, manipulating this ranking has no value for anyone. I just think (my personal guess) that Nigeria, Philippines and maybe Cayman Islands are more likely than USA or India.

We're on same page here.


OK, you're right.


Yes and no. Imho this game has no value and the fact it got more votes it doesn't mean anything; hence it should not be seen as a most likely scenario.


After I was saying that it can be manipulated and this has no value, this last part was (by far) not meant to be taken serious.

And it's very hard to predict which country will be next. It doesn't relate that much to how big the community is, it is a political decision. I'd look for other countries with no own currency as possible candidates.
For example Marshall Islands were eyeing cryptocurrencies in the past (although not Bitcoin) or Malta ("Blockchain Island") now has Euro, but they can very well make a further step forward.
Of course, these are all speculations...

As we know the United States, one of the countries that has the largest trading volume on crypto, for now, there is no action or sign that leads and follows what the country of El Salvador is doing in adopting bitcoin.

This needs to be reviewed on bitcoin regulations which have an impact on future taxation, from one side the adoption of Bitcoin the enacted law in El Salvador has a positive impact this week, there was a 6% increase to $35,000, meaning that's a good sign, of course other countries should judge about this policy.

Of course, what El Salvador is doing will have a positive impact on Bitcoin users, especially those who make transactions between countries, Even though El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin, we need to also see responses from other countries such as the United States, of course, because that country is the largest country for Bitcoin trading.

Of course this is a special concern for other countries, the effects that arise are the pros and cons of current El Salvador policies, Various positive and negative comments will fill the pages of electronic and print media in the future, but I hope this will be a good sign for Bitcoin users in the future.

Good to see that at least there are other countries in the top list in which not totally struggling for their economy Not like El Salvador and Venezuela in which we already knew what is the reason why they are pushing or even made it to make bitcoin as legal tender.
But Indeed that Nigeria does deserve to be at least in top 10 not in 13.

Russia had already rejected the Dollar which the currencies they only use for trading these days are EUR, Rubble, and Yuan. I think they may not be using Bitcoin any moment. The country is richer and most likely Putin can get away with initiating dedollarization in their country. China as we know had its own Digital yuan.

We can see how every country reacts to inflation coming from the printing of USD and Bukele's action is just one. Cuba is I think will also respond the same way. It's going to start with countries from Central America.

That's why I said that they have the biggest influence because they won't outright accept bitcoin as a legal tender. Hopefully, you are right that Central America will follow suit with implementing bitcoin as a legal tender although with their low population, I think that they won't be that influential in the market unlike if Asian countries like Russia, China and Singapore does the same thing.

I think the Latin American countries like Paraguay and Panama are more likely to follow El Salvador's footsteps, Because it has strong support from its lawmakers, and also the tiny Pacific island nation of Tonga has also announced its plans to make Bitcoin a Legal tender, while in southeast Asia I can't see any act or attempt to recognized Bitcoin as legal tender, in fact, more Southeast Asian nation is pressing hard to regulate cryptocurrency use like trading, etc In my country, there is a designated zone for the crypto platform to operate, and currently, there are 12 Central Bank license crypto platforms in my country. 

Aren’t you aware that China banned crypto trading a few years ago and recently completely banned crypto mining? Don't you know that Russia is not a very democratic country, and Bitcoin is not something they want as a legal tender - because they need instruments to control people. In the end, do you think the US would ever admit that there is something better or at least about as good as their dollar? Your opinion that these countries will follow the example of El Salvador has no logic - these are the countries that will fight the most against such political decisions.

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When we talk about El Salvador and their decision to declare Bitcoin a legal tender, then one thing is very important - the president and his party that has a majority in parliament have very easily implemented such a decision - while in some other Central and South American countries it is proposed by some congressmen or members of parliament. This is a very big difference, because getting a majority for such a law is not easy - and I think everyone will first want to see what it will look like on the example of El Salvador.

I guess Japan could be close to make bitcoin as legal tender, in fact If I'm not mistaken, they already categorically recognized it already. In any case though, maybe some neighboring countries around El Salvador could copy what they have been done in the past month and could be looking right now to make bitcoin as legal tender to some Central and Latin american countries. And specially if El Salvador becomes successful, maybe in the next couple of years, countries in Africa and Asia too might adopt it as well.

Of course I am aware but I am trying to weigh in the countries that will make bitcoin more relevant and influential and this nuclear powers are going to be the biggest ones if they were to hypothetically accept bitcoin as a legal tender. I mean OP didn't exactly have any criteria for the next country to accept bitcoin as a legal tender so I might as well go choose the most influential right?

It's not that you can't think in that direction, but if you want to be realistic then such thinking is baseless if you consider that all these countries you are talking about are world superpowers that fanatically protect their borders, political interests, and their currency. Bitcoin is interesting and acceptable to those countries that are in a situation where they have nothing to lose, and maybe they can gain something - and fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how we look at it) there are a lot of such countries.

I think a safe bet would be that the next country will be in the rank of El Salvador (economically), and many others that will follow their example.

I think many countries.will follow el salvadol to.adopt bitcoin in.their country, maybe these.countries are Paraguay Colombia and some other latin countries.will adopt.bitcoin for legal payments.in their country and even that is.not impossible adoption.by countries.in Africa for the next few.years that will follow in.the footsteps.of countries.in Latin America and Central.America

Small countries first because they are more flexible with their policies. With big nations, everything are more complex and policy-makers can not make such big policy adaption too fast and surprisingly.

The issues for small nations are whether World Bank, IMF and big nations (G7, G20) will accept legal tender from small nations. They will create pressure on small nations to reverse their legal tender policy.

Actually, there are many countries that want to enter the crypto world, we will see that so far there are many countries that have open arms to legalize bitcoin, such as Japan, Paraguay, Finland and many other countries, we will see in the future whether countries that have given space to crypto currency, in the future will follow the steps of el salvador..

Paraguay just took one huge step back:
https://decrypt.co/75887/leaked-draft-bill-shows-whats-inside-paraguay-bitcoin-law

Besides, even the creator of the bill said he doesn't push for it as a legal tender:


Those probably will be the last, I can see even the Vatican adopting Bitcoin before China. Be real, a country that relies heavily on manipulating the exchange rate of its currency to give that up and play by the rules? Do you think they would want to destroy their economy...for what?


That Blockchain Island just got raided by pirates  ;D
It went downhill from last April (https://cointelegraph.com/news/as-malta-delays-regulatory-clarity-fewer-firms-remain-on-blockchain-island):

Ouch. Somehow I've missed that bit  :(

Eh, I found about that just a few weeks ago when searching for news about Binance, news that is for real not good for bitcoin doesn't usually make the headlines around here.

Btw that poll is quite funny, it's obviously heavily biased due to demographics but I love the fact that Germany, which is on par with Russia and Pakistan, damn, what the hell do these 3 have in common to rank them like that, is still up 5x times compared to Estonia. Not that anything makes any sense since no country in the Eurozone could make a currency legal tender without a unanimous vote, so it's not like one country could get it before others.

102   Czechia lol...with Prague been labeled the capital of Bitcoin back in 2019, how the mighty have fallen  :D

Anyhow, it makes sense just as the Eurovision competition does.

If I had to guess, I'd say Venezuela...

✔ High inflation rate
✔ High cryptocurrency usage

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Having said that, I enjoyed reading the latter part of that article about "forming an economic alliance" and it makes perfect sense for El Salvador's neighboring countries to follow and do such a thing.

I'm not sure that there is the political will for such a drastic change, and besides, with such a move, they would practically admit that their cryptocurrency (Petro (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro_(cryptocurrency))) did not meet their expectations. So I think Venezuela may be the last of the Central and South American countries to declare Bitcoin a legal tender - even though we live in strange times, and the government there makes really strange decisions.

Will not happen or at least these 3 countries will not make any move to make Bitcoin their legal tender especially China and we know already why right? :)

Paraguay is the first choice because their are some rumors that they want to follow what El Salvador did. If there will be a country that will do the same, for me it will be another low incomed country or at least not a first world or a second world country. I don't think that these huge countries will make it as a legal tender. Venezuela would be good too but base on their current status and the government, there are no signs or moves from them that they are doing it.

I've been hearing about some Latin American countries like Brazil, Paraguay etc. thinking about following El Salvador also. And if El Salvador makes a really good use of making Bitcoin legal tender in the future, then many countries may join it also.

I agree. Most countries you have mentioned exhibit a high probability of adopting bitcoin and even making it their legal tender since their government officials are not really against it in the first place. Unlike those of countries that really seem like they abhor bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency community in general. A country can consider bitcoin as a legal tender cannot happen overnight. Thorough research about its advantages and disadvantages is definitely needed so that they can create a roadmap of the things they want to achieve by establishing it.

With El Salvador worked things up about their new implementation system about Bitcoin, other countries have their eyes on them to see if they will have some positive progress regarding it. despite their country would not make any difference on the crypto market, they still pursue to give their citizens some options to invest on cryptocurrencies which might be the answer to give their economy a boost if ever they succeed on trying to make bitcoin legal in their country.

seeing the development of bitcoin, and bitcoin being the main topic in almost all news, and bitcoin is widely known by all circles, even some countries are discussing bitcoin to take the best steps, bitcoin is now trending everywhere, it is certain that many countries are want to take this opportunity, maybe paraguay will follow the steps of el salvador, because we know the paraguayan government never posts negative things about bitcoin..

which country will follow el salvador's steps, I think it is most likely that paraguay will follow el salvador's next step, because we see the seriousness of their government about bitcoin, which always discusses bitcoin, and never prohibits their people from using crypto money, and banks Even there it doesn't prohibit crypto exchange... that's my opinion, if I'm wrong, please correct it, don't criticize it because I'm still new to this forum..

Currently.there are quite a number of countries.that want to follow El Salvador's.steps to make bitcoin.transactions as a legal currency, maybe this is also very good and.most likely.will also be followed by the United States.as a country where the majority.of its.citizens also use crypto currency as a currency. one of their investments.in addition.to Paraguay who will also start their plan to use bitcoin as a legal currency, can't.this be the beginning of the revival of the cypto world in.the stock.market, this is very interesting for us.to wait for the continuation.process

This is shocking to me to find only  El Salvador on that list, thought we had more than this when we had some countries recognize crypto to be legal tender a couple of years back.
Today you telling the world only has one to be legal...Afaik Countries such has Venezuela , singapore, Japan are/should be  on that list if not then they are next in line.

There is a difference to be legal to trade, legal to obtain (most of coutries) vs being legal tender (El salvador only). Being Legal Tender means that every person that accept payments (every single merchant, hairdresser, restaurant ... everything) have to have BTC wallet and accept BTC no matter if he likes it or not because... Its a legal tender. If he does not accept BTC - he is breaking the law.

"the act of tendering the payment in legal tender discharges the debt."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender

Legal tenders in El Salvador - USD and BTC

https://i.imgur.com/PctIfaP.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Salvador

I am not following these news and if other countries are planning to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender it is good for the market and it will legitimize for countries that are in two minds.

Attracting cryptocurrency business will bring huge changes for their economy and the countries that are able to identity that will pass the bill so that they could attract business that will increase job opportunities and good for their economy.

^ It mentioned above, those countries that have a high inflation rate aginst dollar since BTC is backed on the dollar.
Most likely adoption and becomes legalization have come from a country that has a small community or even those from third-world countries.
Considering as a legal tender is very difficult and that is the reason, not all countries have decided about this. Because how can you force people to simplify paying tax since if they used crypto it is non-taxable. Nevertheless, let us better see and wait for what will happen next.

There are plenty of countries that could potentially follow El Salvador's footsteps of regulating the use of bitcoin within their country. Nevertheless, there are a lot of things that is needed to be considered first before it could take place. Considering the damage the pandemic has brought to many countries economy, it might be difficult for one to suffice the requirements to allow the use of crypto. One of which is having a clean renewable energy source that could be very useful in mining. Another is the fear and doubt the citizens and the government might have which will make them afraid of taking a risk as they hear bad news about crypto all over the world.

China? I don't think that this will be one of the recent lists.
We know how China treatment to the crypto world. And how the countries look like playing with the crypto world. We even don't know what ban information will that country give again to Bitcoin and the crypto world.
And maybe another small country will be following?  :D

very true as you said my friend, maybe many countries will accept bitcoin like el salvador did, but before they accept bitcoin in their country, they will definitely negotiate first with their cabinet, because the country definitely doesn't want to suffer losses and failure, because considering the risks that will be faced..

Small countries will probably follow in El Salvador's footsteps since they have more to gain than to lose by approving BTC as legal tender when compared to big countries which would adamantly oppose such a move for obvious reasons.

Also, proposals need to be approved to become laws which is a complicated process(Especially in the case of approving cryptocurrencies as legal tender).

In my own opinion, I think the best countries that might be fully supportive of cryptocurrencies would be the smaller cash-strapped countries of Africa and Central Americas. And we are talking about millions and millions of people in these territories. Still, the only problem that I see is that all the supporters of cryptocurrency would be biased in favor of Bitcoin and would be hesitant in supporting other coins. But I think that is the job of the private crypto companies to ensure that all the other cryptos are covered.

I agree.

And as well as those countries that also have their fiat in USD. There are some countries that have their fiat in USD and I think it will be a bold move if their lawmakers will also make bitcoin as a legal tender.

They should learn from El Salvador.

I agree with your opinion, friend, most of what we see and read from the news, most small countries are very supportive of legalizing bitcoin, such as el salvador, and tanzania, big countries actually support bitcoin, but they are afraid of the risk, and afraid of losses, while small countries are indeed their economies are not so good, so they really support bitcoin, to advance their economy, hopefully bitcoin can make their country's economy more advanced going forward..

I agree. Countries like in South Africa have always embraced cryptocurrency and it would not be surprising if many of these counties will copy El Salvador's action towards crypto. It is with these countries where the changes will be easiest to implement before seeing North America or European counties adopting a similar strategy.

USA and Russia might grab in to it but China? wait haven't you realized their fight against bitcoin for long now
then why in the world that they will put an entry adopting this when they are pushing their own digital currency?
I'm afraid that they are not part of the listing .

I'll go for singapore or at least Venezuela .

these 2 countries are what i am seeing to be very friendly and helpful to the crypto world so by many chances they will legalized and adopt bitcoin second to El Savador.

Yeah that's same as i think , because it is easy to encourage smaller countries to understand the value of Bitcoin than big countries .

You are not reading the news lately no? Trump is against Bitcoin, so pretty sure Biden might not approve of it as well (well the Feds don't like it anyway). China has been banning Bitcoin related activity and have seen a mass exodus of Bitcoin miners to other countries. Russia has mixed feelings about cryptocurrency so this might be possible. Besides Vitalik even though an American might have some Russian contacts as well to promote Ethereum in Russia.

It is very unlikely that major countries such as Russia, the USA and China will follow in El Salvador's footsteps. Because usually big countries are
too selfish to recognize Bitcoin, they still believe in bank system, which of course bank system is more profitable for big countries. So what you
have explained is true, it is very unlikely that a big country will make Bitcoin a legal tender. I believe third world countries will follow in
El Salvador's footsteps, because small countries do need new methods like Bitcoin to help boost the economy. I hope there is one country from
Southeast Asia that will make Bitcoin a legal tender.

after I read some articles, I think small countries will follow El Salvador's steps to accept bitcoin, because their currency is small, and their economy can be said to be weak, so they want to make new breakthroughs to make their economy improve again, one of them by adopting bitcoin, and making their own mining in their country, maybe a small country like paraguay, tanzania, which will most likely follow the next step of el salvador..

I think that Nigeria should be the next one to make bitcoin legal tender as crypto and bitcoin has been really popular thing and people are using it between each other and there are actually shops who accept it, but my hope is for far bigger countries like Germany to implement it more and more into their economy and use it as a legal currency, because if other countries see that big powers invest in it crypto and it has a good impact they will follow their lead and we start seeing it being used more and more.

Some news in Paraguay says that they're going to be the next one. And I agree with those that have said with countries that have high inflation or hyper inflation like Venezuela.

It's popular there but AFAIK, their government doesn't look friendly on it.

It looks like El Salvador doing everything in a much organised manner than Venezuela which looks like a failed nation in terms of effective implementation. Nigeria has got more users, but it hasn't been recognised/supported by the government. However Nigeria is one among the leading country that holds increased number of cryptocurrency users.