Bitcoin Forum

It has been 3 months since El Salvador made history by making Bitcoin legal tender in their country, alongside the USD(September 7th, 2021).

The world has reacted in different ways. For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recommended El Salvador to not use Bitcoin as a legal tender (https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/imf-recommends-el-salvador-not-use-bitcoin-as-legal-tender):


Other countries are starting to think about making the same move that El Salvador just did, such as Paraguay (https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/06/22/is-paraguay-set-to-become-the-second-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender-after-el-salvado), and many others (https://investorplace.com/hypergrowthinvesting/2021/09/after-el-salvador-bitcoin-could-become-legal-tender-in-these-10-countries-next/). The main motivations behind this are high fees of remittances, increasing inflation, and not having access to traditional banks. After reading a bit more in detail about the actual situation in each country I realized some countries are not really putting any actual laws into parliament, others are considering using different cryptos, etc. I think Tonga is probably the closest to actually achieve Bitcoin as a legal tender:

"Tonga’s Parliamentary Representative Wants Bitcoin To Become Legal Tender" (https://cryptonewsfarm.com/tongas-mp-wants-bitcoin-to-become-legal-tender/)

People in this small island use Western Union for remittances, and they have to pay up to 30% in fees. Making Bitcoin legal tender, alongside the Tongan Pa’anga, would immediately help people save a lot in money transfers. MP Lord Fusitu’a will be presenting a Bitcoin bill, similar to the one from El Salvador, to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Tonga by May 2022. We will have to wait and see if it passes.

Pending the passing of the law that will hopefully make Bitcoin a legal tender of the beautiful yet isolated kingdom of Tonga, why doesn't the government just declare Bitcoin as an acceptable currency? I guess a mere executive order or something like that would be enough to make the ball rolling for this tiny country.

I think this Bitcoin-as-a-legal-tender experiment would be much easier to manage and probably faster to earn success in this very small Polynesian island nation than in El Salvador considering that Tonga is very small both in area and population.

The biggest challenge, however, would be technological and basic infrastructures that would provide the population reliable electricity and internet connection as well as the access to smart phones. This is particularly more challenging because the country is archipelagic and that a number of small inhabited islands are living off the grid.

That's a good point.

In 2019 Tonga didn't have Internet access for a couple of weeks because one underwater cable was damaged (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/1/23/tonga-facing-absolute-disaster-after-internet-cable-blackout). On the positive side, that same year the government started to prepare a satellite internet connection (https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/387124/tonga-to-set-up-satellite-internet-connection) to provide internet access to most of the islands of the kingdom.

Also something to note, even though there are hundreds of islands in Tonga, about 70% of the population live on the main island (https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/tonga-population).

Given that the article is based on thoughts of one Tonga MP, I think it's not particularly likely that they'll make Bitcoin legal tender there. I looked up the information about their economy, and it's not doing well, so they might consider taking a risk, similarly to what El Salvador did, but there we saw a strong hand of a young dictator (president), whereas here it's only words of an MP for now. Also, Internet penetration is at 40% (https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-tonga#:~:text=There%20were%2043.8%20thousand%20internet,at%2041.3%25%20in%20January%202021.) there, which seems lower than in El Salvador which has around 50% penetration (https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-el-salvador). Maybe it's not a huge difference, but the majority not having internet access sounds problematic for adoption of Bitcoin to me.

I wonder what the economic impact of investors and finance demographics immigrating from the united states to the carribean, puerto rico and regions with more crypto friendly regulation is.

What is the opposite of capital flight? I think el salvador might have a clue on this. Smaller nations like tonga may not. It would be very interesting to know what percentage of residents are aware of the western union fees they pay in contrast to fees, the rest of the world. Or even fees bitcoin users might expect to pay.

Around 2007, I visited an island which mostly lacked internet support. There was an internet cafe there which charged $60 an hour to use the internet. Tonga's native internet infrastructure could be better or worse than this precedent.



To answer that, it may help to remember the era from 2016 to 2020 when Donald Trump was called a dictator due to him issuing executive orders.

Apparently, that type of behavior is...  what dictators do?    ???

Is that how it works?

If we take into account the political support that Bitcoin had in El Salvador, and compare it with Tonga - then it is a huge difference, because this is a member of parliament who has a proposal that is completely unknown how it will be accepted by parliament, government and all who should agree with that proposal. What's interesting is that Strike is included in the story again, and that Bitcoin can become a way to transfer money even if Bitcoin is not a legal tender.

According to the news the MP decided it would be a good idea to make bitcoins legal tender back in November, starting of the month. But we have not yet received anything regarding that matter which does mean that, it's not that solid right now.

It would not need just one MP but many taking the vote therefore we can just hope. But then again the parliament member decided that it would be a good idea to do it in 2022 which does mean that we have to still wait a lot.

What we can see is that small countries are more accepting towards cryptocurrencies like bitcoins. Big countries, I doubt it. US was already taking major hits and UK is also bothered about the Bitcoin gambling sites corrupting the politicians. I do think it would make a major impact once most of the countries do that, especially the strong ones. I think Ukraine must be close to thinking about it in that direction as well.

For the population there and for nationals abroad there is an obvious benefit
to them by saving on the cost of transferring funds to an from the island,
this was also one of the key reasons El Salvador adopted Bitcoin.

Even if you didnt want to fully adopt Bitcoin on a personal level, ditching Western
Union for Bitcoin is a no-brainer.

If those are the proper channels on Tonga then it is better that it is done this way even if it takes longer, after all if whoever is the head of state there did something like that what is stopping the next head of state of turning back that decision? It is better that this is talked about and voted by the representatives of the country, after all having to pay 30% on fees for a remittance service is ridiculous when bitcoin can probably offer better performance for any transaction above 10 dollars or so.

When El Salvador did make the first move then it did really give out some insights on other countries which are suffering on some problems like this

money remittance huge deductions and i couldnt really blame them off if there would be some probability that they would go for a change which Bitcoin

could give.If El Salvador did able to do so then why cant they? Any news something connected to this is always a positive one.

Perhaps we should differentiate a direct abuse of power and the mere use of what's legally provided for by the constitution. Executive order is there made available as a legal means to issue policies. At the end of the day, an executive order does not really give order to the country's population.

In the case of Tonga, an executive order doesn't really order each and every Tongan to accept Bitcoin. I think it will only order executive agencies of the government to allow transactions made in Bitcoin. I was just thinking this is a convenient way to provide the people the alternative, a cheaper and more convenient one at that, while the actual bill is yet to be filed, deliberated upon, reviewed and hopefully approved.

Legal tender means people MUST pay with Bitcoin, and that I disagree. I agree with a simple law that states people can freely use Bitcoin as cash or whatever means of payment. People should be free to use what currency they want to use or reject, but that's only exists in an imaginary country... Well, I'd like to see what the law really said before making further comment.

I would say that it all starts with one MP, then it would get bigger and bigger and bigger. Why do you think politicians end up taking a stance on some policies all of a sudden? Something that wasn't talked for decades, suddenly becomes a very big talking point? That is because if the MP that says something ends up getting a ton of votes, that usually results with a great deal of other MP's to change their view in order to get more votes as well. That is what we are talking about here, we want to see people get a great deal of profit with the help of their government and politicians will realize supporting this will get them votes.

I have to be honest I never heard of Tonga before, but I believe that wherever that place is, the same logic of getting popular equals more love from voters probably is still the same with every other nation in the world.

Honestly, I just read about the country namely Tonga. So after searching on the internet that the data shows us that the condition of people is suitable to implemented crypto as legal tender. Crypto has various advantages that can meet their needs such as easy access, cheap and can improve the welfare of its people through convenience and comfort.

Yeah, I also have never heard of this name before, this is my very first time of getting to know about this, that there is a country that goes by that name. That’s quite nice, and also getting to know that they are interested in Bitcoin is something else. Really nice how there are countries that are now looking forward to adopt Bitcoin as a legal, although I know that it is not going to be that way for every country, but at least there are some that values it that much, and it makes me quite happy.

Everything has their own choice, and some has chosen to create their own digital currencies, which is not bad; all were inspired by bitcoin, because if there wasn’t bitcoin in the first place, there wouldn’t be any digital currency. So when you look at the history, it’s still all about BTC.

They are somewhat a good country to implement this since they are open on various opportunities which can help them boost their economy. Provably this will be the best option they do if they fully implement this plan and once they totally make bitcoin as their legal tender for sure the two countries announce it will be lucky if more countries will also do it since for sure the price will boost up and so lucky for them to buy at good rate. This could also help their people in economical aspect or in their digital transaction since we know bitcoin gives both convenience and opportunity.

Didn't know that they're paying that much fee for transfers using Western Union. Well, if they're already on the plans of making it as a legal tender, that's an absolute delight to them and that's a lot of money that they can save. These remittances are taking advantage of the people probably not only from Tonga but also in other small countries that don't have much competition for their service.

Not only if they are open to this concept but because they have small population and you can easily implement this switch of financial system. If in general, this move will be favorable on them, I guess, it now depends on their government officials if they will follow the path of El Salvador. And the good thing here is that with small population, it would be easier to implement this system. So let's wait if indeed the Tongans can enjoy the benefits of being crypto-dominated country.

This should have been done long back. I don't even understand the point in these Pacific microstates having their own currency. The cost of printing the banknotes may carve up a sizable fraction of the GDP. Either they should use a decentralized currency such as Bitcoin, or they should go for some foreign currency such as the AUD or the USD. I checked the historical exchange rates of Tongan Pa’anga, and I noticed that it is very stable. But still, the central bank maybe spending a lot of resources in maintaining stability in exchange rate.

Every country that cares about its sovereignty and national identity needs a national currency - and I would dare to say that every country that does not have a national currency has a big problem because it depends on the currency of another country. El Salvador is a good example because they were completely dependent on US $, and now they have decided to try Bitcoin because they have nothing to lose.

The importance of having a national currency is best illustrated by the example of the EU and the crisis that began in 2007-2008. While the UK immediately took the necessary measures because it was outside the eurozone, the rest of the EU did virtually nothing until 2015 and everyone more or less shared the same fate.

Every Bitcoin adoption like this needs adjustment to pursue its legalization. If a country couldn't provide the adjustments needed, the legalization plan will surely fail. As we all know, electricity and the internet are needed to successfully adopt Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, this kind of adoption is a good sign that more countries even the small ones are willing to accept cryptocurrency for their innovation and technology development.

the only impact that tonga would have if they agreed to use bitcoin as the main currency in the country would be that all the news channels would be talking about it, the small number of people who have tonga is something that would not affect the price, i say this because not everyone would buy bitcoin and also have a question to see what is the purchasing power of each person in Tonga

Just a little point of disagreement. Not even the small ones but especially the small ones. And I am not only referring to land area or population, I am referring to small economies especially. Those that are disadvantaged by the global fiat system. Those that are not attended to by the global financial institutions. These are the discriminated countries where most citizens are deprived of banking services, preyed upon by traditional money transmitters, and who are the receiving end of intolerable inflation rates.

Unless these oppressed are going to give up thier resources and use the money of thier oppressor, that's when they can have developments but no freedom.

It just needs another country to try what El Salvador had done for more countries to consider BTC as legal tender as well. IMF is now reacting crazy. They are imposing sanctions on countries like cutting them off from trading by not allowing countries to use the SWIFT network and then just letting the country dry out of money not able to trade with others.

But now there is just a way to get around with it like what Russia had done which they have thier own System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS). With Bitcoin, any small country like Tonga can be financially independent.  

This is good that, small countries are starting to get into the market and tries to adapt bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. Let's hope that it's going to be the case, with more people in the network means that the network becomes more congested which is going to be a problem for the market.

1.This seems like another clickbait article.Bitcoin still hasn't been accepted as legal tender in Tonga.There's a proposal in the parliament,but that proposal might be denied.
2.Countries like Tonga can have liberal Bitcoin regulation without the necessity of declaring Bitcoin a legal tender.What's the problem of accepting BTC payments in Tonga without Bitcoin being a legal tender?
Is Bitcoin illegal in Tonga?

3.The international monetary fund will always be a pro-fiat and anti-crypto organization.
The whole purpose of IMF is to protect fiat currencies and the global fiat financial system from any threat that arrives.

Yes. The title given to the thread by the OP is quite clickbait, as it is based on the initiative of an MP.

I'm not too excited about the news myself, at least I'm not as excited as the OP seems to be. Even if in the end what the MP proposes was approved, we are talking about a set of small islands in the middle of the ocean, far from everything basically.

Although I welcome any country that wants to pass Bitcoin friendly regulation. It is likely that little by little it will be this kind of countries, and not the big ones with strong currencies, that will do it.

IMF can recommend El Salvador not to use bitcoin for legal tender but that will be to their government because they know what the real thing that happens to their country. If El Salvador can manage the risk of bitcoin price volatility and know how to benefit them, the IMF can not do anything.

If Tonga finally uses bitcoin as Legal Tender, it will give more support for bitcoin to become globally in a short time because more countries will see the potential of bitcoin for their country and their people.

People do not want to pay up to 30% in fees by using Western Union because that can save their money for another thing and maybe that country will develop better in the future. Hopefully, that plan can do smoothly so bitcoin can be accepted as a legal tender in Tonga.

How is something clickbait if the title says "Tonga will probably be the next country to make Bitcoin legal tender"? This means that there is a possibility that this will happen, although the situation is not even close to what happened in El Salvador. A member of parliament who proposes this law may have feedback from other members of parliament who are prone to a positive decision, but we will not find out until the final decision.

Yet whichever country is next, it is more important that someone follows the example of the first country and shows that this was no exception.

Well, the president of El Salvador said that the main reason why they started to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, was for remittance purposes. The Money transmitters are making a killing by charging people crazy high fees and that is not helping these citizens. (Most of them are working in other countries and sending money home to their kids and family)

It will also open new tourism opportunities for "Bitcoin" tourists...because some people earn bitcoins and they cannot spend it in their own countries. They then go on Bitcoin holidays in countries where they can spend it.  ;D ;D ;D

Never heard of this country op. I understand why you are assuming that Tonga will accept BTC as legal tender due to financial difficulties, but you need to remember the fact that most of these proposals get rejected by their respective governments.

Why? Because cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH etc basically take away some of the power from the government and shift it to the common people which is why most government officials hate them and oppose them ardently.

Cases like El Salvador accepting BTC as legal tender are rare to be honest.

Whatever it is, the point is to think of all of this as a form of adding information and knowledge because this will not have a significant effect on the market.  There is no one big country that will make Bitcoin a legal tender in their country because it will threaten the existence of their own country's fiat.  How can fiat coexist with BTC with contradictory characteristics?  This is like a joke in broad daylight but still has the potential to happen if there are extreme leaders in their policies.

what a happy feeling to hear one more country that Bitcoin will save

bitcoin has made el salvador a strong and independent country, surely Tonga will be like el salvador if tonga follow in el salvador footsteps

in 2022 I really believe there will be more and more small countries that make bitcoin as a legal tender in their country

Well not everything should revolve around whether a news is going to have a positive effect on the price of bitcoin, this is just about adoption, the people of Tonga need something like bitcoin, paying 30% on fees is simply not acceptable, Western Union and other remittance services charge huge fees all over the world when bitcoin offers the same service at ridiculous low prices, so it makes sense for the government of Tonga to be interested in integrating bitcoin to their small economy as it will bring to them huge benefits almost immediately.

30%in fees is an indirect robbery. I magine 30% of $1,000,000 that would be $300k I undersatnd there should be a cap though and it's still way too expensive. My brother in Italy sends money to me via crypto almost at no cost. This is what the banks fear. The days of visiting their iniquidity is near.

No, it doesn't mean that they MUST pay with bitcoin. They also have fiat currency which is also a legal tender. So it means they can also pay with fiat money. But this means that they receiver must accept bitcoin or fiat money because both are legal tender. But I don't see any issue over here. There are many gateway payment processor that will instantly convert the bitcoin to receive to fiat currency of your choice. The fees are also very reasonable (all POS also have fees, but customers aren't charged by the sellers) and easy to setup. Good to see more countries wiling to turn bitcoin into a legal tender.

I am not really familiar with Tonga... what the heck... is there anyone here familiar with Tonga? But I do applaud those countries that are willing to accept bitcoin as legal tender. I think they are making a good bet for the future. However, that is only as long as they are also able to keep their local coins. Bitcoin is, till now, deflationary and that is a very poor characteristic for a countries' coin as it does not allow to use any monetary policy when the situation calls for it.

Tonga seem a bit beyond that, so it is ok.

   ... such a clear use case.

You will hardly find anyone on the forum who has anything to do with Tonga, because it is a fairly isolated group of islands located in Polynesia, some would say in the middle of nowhere. According to the 2016 census, they have just over 100 000 inhabitants, and some estimates say there are at least as many abroad, mostly in the US, Australia, and New Zealand.

When we compare this to El Salvador which has over 6 million inhabitants, then the influence of Tonga even if they accept Bitcoin as a legal tender would be only symbolic.

And while this is symbolic for us it would not for the people of Tonga, if this comes to happen and bitcoin becomes a legal tender there and people can send and receive money with bitcoin for much lesser fees then there will be a direct positive impact on their lives, showing once again that all of those that criticize bitcoin as just another tool to speculate are mistaken, bitcoin has use cases and this is clearly one of them.

Getting the first 2-3 countries on board is going to be the toughest task. El Salvador has already made Bitcoin the legal tender and a few other countries may do so in 2022. Personally I wasn't expecting this much progress before 2024-25. The multi-trillion dollar stimulus measures announced by the US government has horrified a lot of people, both within the States and outside. They are now seriously thinking about a currency which is protected against inflation and Bitcoin is the best choice right now (especially since gold is performing poorly).

People need to be very careful about the underlying reasons that drive this sort of activity. While it has a commendable undertone - he claims western union costs 30-50% in fees (this seems ridiculously high?) I just wonder what their banking companies are charging to make Western Union the money exchanger of choice? Do they not have a single commercial bank that can offer much more favorable rates? It would seem like a much easier and straight forward action to get the government to force the rates of these companies down to a much fairer level rather than forcing companies to accept a whole new currency. I always wonder how financially invested these particular MP's are in Bitcoin when they start going this route, because it could help make them very rich if it boosts the price a little.

Well you might be right, if governments around the world will really have to look at better options right now to hedge against inflation, then bitcoin will be the best choice as opposed to gold. But the problem is that they are really afraid of bitcoin and definitely because of what they heard and it's volatility. So for me it might take more time, like 10 years to allow it to slowly sip and make a progress. Government in Asia and Latin and Central America might be the first one to make a move like what El Salvador did this year.

I also wouldn't be too surprised if in 2022 there will be other countries following in El Salvador's footsteps. This has definitely been a well-thought-out plan. Let's wait and see which country will first announce the adoption of Bitcoin in 2022.
There will be a country that will reflect on the achievements of El Salvador, strictly speaking here El Salvador must really show a positive output.

Volatility is definitely an issue with cryptocurrencies (including Bitcoin). But look at the investment from the government of El Salvador. In the end, it benefitted them greatly. The investment in cryptocurrency can never be compared to forex reserves. Rather, it should be compared to the Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs). Most of the SWFs are comprised of volatile assets such as stocks and mutual funds. And I don't think that Bitcoin is anymore volatile than mid-cap and small-cap stocks at this moment.

The question is - haven't you all noticed one interesting trend? Only those countries where, to put it mildly, a low standard of living, not a very successful / skillful / adequate government, are "introducing the official means of payment" cryptocurrency "100%? You will not find a single country with a functioning economy, local currency, industry or manufacturing in the news. And what is important - they, those who introduce cryptocurrency as a means of payment, do not understand that this is not a solution, this is an attempt to use the hype and "fashion trend", to give a "solution to all problems" type.

Utter bullshit.

The arguments are completely nonsensical. How does volatility have to do with BTC's ability to be legal tender?

It's all a matter of what the mainstream perception of BTC is. If a lot of people denominate their purchases in BTC as a native asset, then there will be no issues with volatility.

In addition of that on which if this one had become the main issue then why we are seeing that El Salvador doesnt really care that all when it comes to volatility?
It cant really be denied that this one is really a big problem when it comes to or do talks about overall acceptance because it will surely be part of it
and a certain country would consider out first before making such decision in the end.If there are other countries who had been eyeing for this
one then so be it and thats an another good news.

I see this as a completely normal thing, because if I take the example of El Salvador, then Bitcoin was initially emphasized as a means to enable their emigrants to send money home in a cheaper and faster way. This goal was achieved by setting up a large number of crypto ATMs in El Salvador, but also in all major US cities - the goal was achieved.

Of course, this was not the end, but only the beginning of what their president is trying to do for his compatriots. Nonetheless, it was a bold move that put the country in the focus of the whole world, and if the project succeeds, people will look at Bitcoin in a completely different light.


Every sovereign country protects its national currency in all possible ways, so it is logical that we cannot expect to read about how the UK or US have the same approach to Bitcoin as El Salvador which has not had its national currency for 20 years. Bitcoin has always been an alternative for me, the world we live in will not allow anything more than that in the near future  - despite the illusions that some have about how Bitcoin will become a global currency.

More countries were discussed of being on the next list of bitcoin adoption. Few of the countries include Vietnam, Paraguay, Kenya, South Africa. But, there is no official statement from any of the respective government. Everything is listed based on some speculation. Apart from these countries, on a survey taken in USA 27% of people showed interest of making bitcoin legal tender. I don't know how far this is true, but every country is watching El Salvador closely. Soon we can see more countries legally adopting bitcoin.

From where did you got this list? I am surprised with the inclusion of Vietnam, because until very recently, Bitcoin was explicitly banned there and there were reports of users getting arrested. I have heard about countries like Paraguay, Panama, Malta and Cyprus. But the inclusion of Kenya, South Africa.etc surprises me. Anyway, El Salvador was the first and that country (along with the president Nayib Bukele) will be having a special place with each of us. And the people of El Salvador have benefitted greatly from the Bitcoin adoption.

I think that many countries are waiting to see how the IMF will react to El Salvador.

It's been reported that El Salvador is still looking to get money from the IMF. It is unclear how they will work with them, given they are doing something the IMF warned them about. The IMF has made it clear to them that their bitcoin legal tender law could be dangerous and thus advised against it.

I will be interested to see if El Salvador gets the money they are looking for. If they do, I think we see a lot of governments make the leap.

Well, you can see for yourself - bitcoin doesn’t save anyone, everyone needs real money for real sectors of the economy! Until the crypt becomes full-fledged, it is accepted by the whole world as a payment currency, for ANY purposes, it will only be a crypto asset, but nothing more

They are trying to sell the idea that bitcoin is bad because of its  price swings, but what they are not telling the population is that even if the price can be volatile the price of bitcoin has the tendency to go up so it is a great way to invest and save their money, however when it comes to fiat I think we can recognize that it is more stable than bitcoin, but its overall purchasing value goes down every single year and over the long term it is a bad way to save.

Rather than adoption we can expect more countries to accept and legalize cryptocurrency. Countries fear of losing the financial control if bitcoin is made legal. In reality this isn't the truth, and people and rulers have started to realise it.

Following the growth difference before and after the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender we can see more small countries as El Salvador to adopt and accept bitcoin directly than through third party services.

Refering the below two articles published on different news sources I've added these countries. How far this is true is unknown. As you mentioned there is series opposition from Vietnam, but the usage index seems high compared to more other countries.

El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as official legal tender - but will other countries follow? (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/el-salvador-officially-adopts-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-but-will-other-countries-follow)
The world’s fastest crypto adopting countries (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.trtworld.com/magazine/the-world-s-fastest-crypto-adopting-countries-49410/amp)

Attempts to transfer the vector of solutions from a practical plane to a technologically fabulous one, in the near future will create huge problems in countries such as El Salvador. Let me explain - instead of modernizing the real economy and replacing an inadequate government, which is the primary cause of real problems in the country, they are trying to play on trends and talk about bitcoin the savior. It will not happen. This is analogous to the fact that instead of treating a complex disease, an antiseptic would be applied to the surface manifestations of this disease. And while everyone is cheerfully and cheerfully smearing spots on the skin with spunzhiks, the disease irreversibly kills the body from the inside.

Finally, someone talking some sense. This is basically that meme of a water tank having a leak, and the guy slapping a bandage (or something of the sort) on it. I am not questioning El Salvador doing this, their situation is that they are grasping at straws, but, In a global sense, them adopting BTC will do little for them (for the reasons you mentioned above), and nothing for BTC in the long run. Drastic moves like this rarely pan out as they should, it's rather the gradual and organic evolution that makes for a longer lifespan. It just worries me that, if it backfires, the critics will point to it as being definitive proof that crypto just doesn't work.

You can be sure that if something goes wrong at El Salvador and their adoption of bitcoin this is going to be used as ammunition against bitcoin and all cryptocurrencies, also I do not think that other governments are just waiting patiently for this and instead are actively trying to sabotage bitcoin adoption at El Salvador, as we saw protests against bitcoin in that country that most likely were sponsored by foreign powers, still even if that happens at the end it does not change anything at a fundamental level about bitcoin, and slowly but surely it will begin to be adopted independently by the people that have a use for it.

I wouldn't be surprised if they'll legalize bitcoin.  A country that is not good economically has all the freedom to try to make to develop their country and they see that opportunity in crypto, it just has to be regulated so everything will be under control and us investors seeing countries adopting bitcoin as their legal tender would boost confidence in investing and holding it for long term.

Looking forward to further development and great news, I hope this will work out effectively.

I believe that Bitcoin is already legal there. Recognizing as the legal tender is one thing, and regulating the asset and making it legal to deal is another. So far we haven't heard anything concrete about countries other than El Salvador. I have heard rumors about Malta, Panama and Paraguay, but the effort to award the status of legal tender has run in to roadblocks and obstacles in all these countries. Anyway, we were not expecting everything to proceed smoothly. Within the next 2-3 years, we are going to witness a big jump in acceptance.

Small countries have all the incentives to move forward with this, after all there are many countries that do not use their own currency and instead use a foreign one to conduct their economy, so they are not held back by any kind of desire to protect their own fiat currency as they do not have one.

So in those countries if they can find a reason to adopt bitcoin then they will do so, which is great as the more countries adopt bitcoin the more legitimacy will win in the eyes of the average person.

Lord Fusitu’a tweeted an estimated date when Tonga would theoretically make Bitcoin legal tender, if everything goes right:

https://twitter.com/LordFusitua/status/1481101011506774016


Basically he's estimating that Tonga will have Bitcoin as legal tender by the end of 2022, a few months later than originally expected.

Too many clearances are needed and I expect further delays. I am residing in a third world country and I know a thing or two about bureaucracy and red tape in such countries. And I don't expect everything to go smoothly. In case of El Salvador, the president was able to efficiently deal with the threats and bullying from the external actors. But can a small island nation like Tonga behave in the same way? As far as I know, this nation is still heavily dependent on foreign grants and loans, for a large part of its GDP.

Tonga does seem like a mentionworthy candidate for making Bitcoin legal tender but I have also heard more rumors from the southern Americas, especially Mexico. Whatever happened to that? For sure we had been hearing a great many rumors about mexico finally legalizing Bitcoin as legal tender?

Tonga with a population of around 105k won't really compare much to El Salvador with a population over 6 million. How many people in Tonga even have access to the internet and are interested in Bitcoin? I don't see a huge impact. :-\

Mexico doesn't seem to be anywhere near making Bitcoin legal tender:


source: https://decrypt.co/83472/mexico-bitcoin-legal-tender-president

Tonga has an Internet penetration of about 41%, although it's also reported to have 72.5% of it's population in social media. Not very trustworthy number I reckon.

source: https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-tonga

Well, add to that the fact that Tonga only have a total population of about 105,697  people in (2020) ...so based on your active Social media statistics about 31 000 people will probably not use Bitcoin.  ::)

If about 60% of the people does not have access to the internet, then the statistics are even worst... (About 42 000 people will have Internet and they will be able to use Bitcoin as legal tender)   :(

No legal tender means people can pay with Bitcoin it's not a must it's only a reflection of general acceptance and since they still have other options such as fiat currency they can decide between the two on which currency to use.

I think that would be the same case as Tonga after all El Salvador never made Bitcoin as their major currency it was only accepted as an alternative means of payment option. Bitcoin for now Is facing instability issues but many still prefer to earn in Bitcoin despite it's price fluctuation

There is no doubt that Bitcoin is volatile. Even now, the prices can easily go up or down by 10% or more in a single day. But the problem is that people always compare the exchange rate of Bitcoin with that of fiat currencies such as the United States Dollar. The purchasing power of USD is going down with every passing day, but very few people realize it. And with inflation rate in the United States going above the 6% level, we can expect a faster erosion in the purchasing power within the next few years.

Here are some comments from Lord Fusitu'a. He thinks the Bitcoin bill has a 80% chance to pass:

https://i.imgur.com/legMmnj.jpg

This is the best part:
"The WB IMF these ppl have not been so nice to us over the years so why should we worry about them"

Has the IMF ever been good for anyone other than being good for themselves? We have been talking about this for years, bank as a bank, all they think about is how to fill their pockets, and we little people who work earn less and less because of their games...

I am glad that Tonga has gone this way, I like how Lord Fusitu thinks and talks about it and I wish them all the best! It's a small country, and for this fight against "big ones" they deserve respect!

He himself mentioned that it is going to take another year or so, if everything works as per the plan. Personally I don't expect anything concrete this year. So Tonga is not in my radar right now and I guess a few other countries will be having higher chances to make Bitcoin as the legal tender before that ever becomes a reality in Tonga. I am talking about Malta, Panama, Paraguay.etc. At this point it is not even certain whether the private bill to make Bitcoin as the legal tender will be tabled before the parliament.

I had no idea where Tonga was but saw it this morning in the news with the eruption of an underwater volcano. Accepting bitcoins as a legal tender can bring a lot of benefits for such a small island country. First of all not being dependant anymore on westernunion is a big plus. Being the largest financial institution that sends money around the world enables them to charge very high fees. The pressure from the crypto market should help lower these fees. Secondly bitcoins can make it easier for Tonga to collect some international funds to help rebuild the country. The tsunami will require an international relief fund which could in bitcoins instead of USD.

Yeah, it's the first thing that came to my mind when I've seen the news that have been posted in the forum about Tonga.
It is an advantage for them and it has to pass through several screening and reviews of their own government committee that's assigned for passing the law about it for being a legal tender. I think within less than a year for the projection of it for being a legal tender, that seems to be quick just as what El Salvador's.

Protesting against those you don't like is it. But the real benefit of just such a solution is different. Know what's the problem? You will amuse your pride that "Tonga has shown the fact to the Pindos", and as a result, the economic situation in this country will worsen even more, because. neither cue ball, nor ether, nor even dogcoin will save them! For some reason, you don’t want to understand that the economy is a complex mechanism that cannot be improved by adding a new payment system, in fact. Everything is much more complicated there. And it is necessary to correct the situation not by adding a new payment system, but to study the problems and look for ways of a real solution, and not this circus for the public.

Answer 1 simple question by describing the logical chain - how the introduction of bitcoin as a means of payment will help the economy of the country of Tonga. ? :)

It's not just because I don't like them... it's more because they are taking too much, and giving back so little, and I guess they are doing it with a "complex mechanism" that I don't understand! :)


You say "study the problems and look for ways of a real solution", and in my opinion, the current economic system is one of the problems! It's a good thing when you standing on your feet and you don't depend on anyone! I agree with you, just the introduction of new means of payment can't help, they have to do many other things as well, but this can be like the first step out from debt slavery and start relying on what you have and what you can offer! In the long term that can be helpful for the economy of Tonga...

This is the market. If you do not like the service of a provider - choose another! Is someone forcing you to take money from the IMF? NO ! Take from China, take from Japan, take from Russia, take from international financial companies. What's stopping you? Oh, there are even less favorable conditions? And why is no one shouting about them, but only about the IMF? :) Why do you think the IMF should take little from you and give you a lot? It all looks to me like a biased, purposeful "spreading" of the IMF, despite the fact that everything around is even "worse" ... Are there any arguments against it?

It’s high time that all these people who keep saying this accepts the fact that they can’t tell which country is going to make Bitcoin a legal tender. Nobody knows at all which country is going to do that, except that they come out and say it. If the government of a country has not said it yet, then there is no need for us to be speculating on that or even talking about it.

We don’t know the countries that are going to make it the legal tender next, for now we only know about El Salvador which has made Bitcoin a legal tender. If there is any other country that would follow, then it is best for us to wait till then and see.

I will take this as a fact: "If you do not like the service or a provider - choose another"! And I guess Tonga doesn't like IMF and they chose Bitcoin! They didn't want to take from Russia, China, and other countries, fiat as fiat, they are all the same, Tonga decided to try an alternative, and I say good for them! Maybe they will have success with that, they can focus on some other things like making Tonga a good place for crypto investors, relying on their products more than on loans... if the crypto market rises meanwhile they will benefit even more!

Your words "Why do you think the IMF should take little from you and give you a lot?" I think that some services should exist to help people, and not some group of people to get rich on people's backs! It's like paying tax... tax is ok and should be used to help the country and all the people who live in that country, not individuals to get rich!

I would say that it is just a way for poorer nations to leverage themselves against dollar. I mean this is what crypto can do to the USA or the UK or any other big nation. We are talking about nations switching to bitcoin and then big nations will want to deal business so these poorer nations will ask for bitcoin, then bitcoin price will go up, these poorer nations will sell it back to Americans and then use that money to improve and slowly they will get better and better.

The only problem is that even if you give 100 billion dollars today to some corrupt bad small nation, that money will not be fully used for the nation, it will be used to enrich the presidents and their surroundings and their party members, which will trickle down to the citizens a bit, but not all of it. So crypto could save some nations, but it will not save them right away.

Well, ok, we chose bitcoin, let it be bitcoin! There is only one caveat - bitcoin does not give money, bitcoin does not increase GDP, bitcoin does not increase the income level of the population, does not increase the social level. Truth ? And you can't just GET Bitcoin. It must be bought! And that means giving away a lot of money. At the same time, tomorrow, the cost of bitcoin may become 2 times less. And the demand for it will fall. And for example, the dollar, for the economy, will remain a dollar, which will be accepted everywhere and at any time.

About services, for help - ok, I also agree. Tomorrow you will go out to work in such a service, for food. They will not pay you money, everything should be free? Just be honest - will you go to work, bring happiness to others for free? Well, so that you do not cash in on anyone? :)

And the mystery about why September October has been cleared too
https://twitter.com/LordFusitua/status/1481135719594745859


I was really curious why would you announce a bill for October right now and not earlier, well, seems like being a member of Parliament in Tonga is an easy life, they are going to take their time, no wonder since in 2021 they've managed to vote under 20 bills in the whole year.
Salvador rushed this one way too much, these guys go the other extreme.

While Tonga is a small country it is a good thing that finally politicians are thinking by themselves instead of just following the formulas being ordered by the IMF.

It is obvious that the IMF will always recommend policies that plays on their favor, and I do not blame them, after all anyone with that kind of power will do what they can to keep it and if possible to increase it, however the advantages the people of Tonga will get by adopting bitcoin as legal tender are huge and I do not think they will be able to stop them.

You don't have to buy Bitcoins, you can earn them! :)

Simply said... we have a traditional economy and crypto as some alternative! I think that crypto can be a lot better, like zillion times better, because the current system sucks big time, it's a deep rabbit hole and nothing can save us in long run! As alternative crypto offers something unique, it's on us people to support it and use it in a good way...

You are missing a point... the system is fucked up, and many services simply don't work! Not because there's no money, it's because there's too much corruption! So we need some changes, and I simply don't see any alternatives except crypto!

Maybe that would be plausible before the catastrophe that the island suffered, but now they will most certainly welcome monetary help from other countries, and most of that help will come in the form of dollars. So I doubt they just bite the hand that helps and goes full-on crypto while dollars are coming in as help. It0s not like the USA is banning crypto, but they are currently competing with it, and wouldn't like free-for-all on crypto. Just my 2 cents.

Could it give out some bad impressions which might result into decline of those help that will be given on considering that not all government do looks positive towards crypto? Possibly be but i

doubt that they would really be that childish on making such act but who knows right? We dont know on whats up into their mind and as long it do opposes up into their interest
then you do know on what would happen next.

Bitcoin would be a legal tender in Tonga? Good thing if it does happen but if not ten i wont be surprised.

This will become another good news again toward the adoption or legal tender of Bitcoin to many more countries. Although it may not be a big country, at least, there is some good progress.
Oh, I read about donations for Tonga with Bitcoin. Does it mean that the country exactly confirms that they legalize Bitcoin? But we need also to consider whether the news is true or not. To tell the truth, I may not think that it will give any big influence on the price of Bitcoin itself because this is only for a small country.