Bitcoin Forum

Is there any other country with a serious plan to choose BTC as legal tender?


More countries are on the queue, but we haven't got any official information regarding the same. Quite often there used to be some proposals of considering bitcoin as legal tender. The recent one being the proposal from Malaysia and Honduras.

More other countries are into legalizing the usage of cryptocurrencies and haven't come up with plans of considering it legal tender. In such a way Vietnam which has been showing interest on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies since 2017 have started to create framework of cryptocurrencies usage.

Malaysian Ministry Proposes Legal Tender of Crypto Currency (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-21/malaysian-ministry-proposes-legal-tender-of-crypto-currency)
Honduras’ Central Bank Debunks Bitcoin as Legal Tender Rumors (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/03/23/honduras-central-bank-debunks-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-rumors/%3foutputType=amp)
Vietnam takes steps to launch legal framework for cryptocurrencies (https://www.google.com/amp/s/seekingalpha.com/amp/news/3818543-vietnam-takes-steps-to-to-launch-legal-framework-for-cryptocurrencies)

Yes, there are countries that do consider it. With those countries mentioned above, and still, some of them are still rumors. We don't know yet the actual plans if they're into it.
We'll just know it until it's already been pushed and already made a law for being a legal tender. So aside from those countries given above, I think Mexico is also part of the list.
(https://www.cityam.com/mexico-being-lined-up-as-next-nation-for-full-bitcoin-adoption/)

Recent update 1 day ago
Malaysia says country will not accept Bitcoin as legal tender Source (https://www.businesstoday.in/crypto/story/malaysia-says-country-will-not-accept-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-327559-2022-03-28)

Dont know if this one is already official.
Lugano, Switzerland Will Make Bitcoin Legal Tender
Link: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/lugano-switzerland-will-make-bitcoin-legal-tender

Lots of countries now making out some possible recognition on making it a legal tender but not an assurance that it would happen though.

There are a few countries that are considering it.

In my opinion, Tonga was the closest to doing it, as you can read here:

Tonga will probably be the next country to make Bitcoin legal tender (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5375884.0)

But this was delayed because there was a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami there (https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/17/asia/tonga-volcanic-eruption-tsunami-explainer-intl-hnk/index.html)

There's definitely some traction around the world lately. Have a look at this topic for example:

Governments that accept Bitcoin for public services (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5388237.msg59418935#msg59418935)

I can see why people might conclude it's going to be some sort of "domino effect", where because El Salvador have done it, that the next countries in line are now inevitable.  But it's worth considering if the political and economic situation there might be somewhat atypical.  It's probably fair to say El Salvador was quite unique in that the move to adopt Bitcoin was spearheaded by their president.  In most other countries, it's been a lower-ranked politician pushing for it and they naturally have a much more challenging fight on their hands to enact change. 

It's certainly possible a few more nations might join the club, but I honestly don't think there will be too many in the near future.  The recent hype around Malaysia and Honduras seems to have been misplaced.

Russia is still one of the countries to put in consideration although no official statement yet was made on the adoption but reports shows that Russia is looking for crypto (Bitcoin) to byepass sanction, and of which with all indications the only available means to that is in making bitcoin a legal tender. Also many countries make make the moves and pass the bill but none is set to approve it while we have some other countries as well going against bitcoin placing a ban.

As long as no official announcement, all the plan is just a plan and nothing more. Perhaps if the president is really support Bitcoin, it will have higher chance to be accepted as legal tender. However Bitcoin doesn't really need to be accepted as legal tender, at least it shouldn't be banned. So anyone free to use Bitcoin whatever they want and government wouldn't stop them to use it.

Even it's been accepted as legal tender, there's a chance the country might to stop accept Bitcoin as legal tender. You can't predict government, the same way how China and India repeat to ban and accept Bitcoin.

Maybe not legal tender in a sense of fully making Bitcoin equally accepted with local fiat, but Ukraine does intend (long-term) to adopt Bitcoin as a form of payment and make it possible to use it to pay for groceries and stuff. It was discussed in 2021 here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5350907.msg57540252#msg57540252).
Another country which wasn't mentioned in the thread yet is Japan. While Bitcoin is NOT legal tender there, it IS, it seems, allowed to be accepted (https://www.reuters.com/article/idUKL3N1OD35L) as a means of payment, and has been so for many years.
So if it's about legal tender, El Salvador is exceptional. If it's about allowing Bitcoin to be accepted as a means of payment, some are doing it and some more intend to do that.

Currently full of rumours and plan announcements, though El Salvador doesn't have a predecessor for the latest bitcoin-adopted country yet. With that said, I really wouldn't be surprised if we don't have another legalization this year.

I personally think that for now there is no country that wants to accept bitcoin as a legal tender, no country has followed El Salvador's steps, but rumors are circulating about many countries that want to legalize bitcoin and accept bitcoin as a legal currency, and can be a lot of legal tender, but they haven't implemented any policies, although there are rumors that Malaysia is willing to accept bitcoin as a legal currency, but I personally think the rumors about all of that are not true, because many of their citizens don't understand bitcoin.

as of now there are no such news that bitcoin become a legal tender again in order countries after El Salvador successfully implemented it on their country.. For me probably it's not that so easy to implement within the country since not all people are fans of decentralized  currency , which is reason mostly  countries choose to legalize it  than to force it as a legal tender..

I think on the contrary, Russia is trying to find some solution to avert the economic collapse in the country and crypto is just a small one of them. Before the war, Russia proposed banning crypto-related activities such as using and mining crypto in their country.

If the war ends and sanctions are lifted, I'm not sure if Russia will continue to use crypto. IMO, Russia is using crypto this is a must look like they are not sympathetic to crypto.

As a whole country, no, but if I'm not wrong Lugano, a city in Switzerland, should accept it soon. Regarding future countries from time to time I read some news about Paraguay and Uruguay, but we still a long way to go, I guess probably many countries are looking with interest El Salvador situation, if things go well they'll probably follow the same path. El Salvador is a bitcoin Guinea pig ;D

So far  the answer to that is no, but as it has been stated there are several countries considering doing something like that as they are evaluating how beneficial it would be for their countries to do a move like it.

As you may guess most of the countries that are looking into bitcoin as a legal tender are on the small side or have specific circumstances unique to them that makes adopting bitcoin as a legal tender as a good option for them, but powerful countries like the US are not looking at this possibility as they think of bitcoin as a rival and as such they are just trying to regulate it as much as they can.

Nothing, but what's the point of you waiting for a legality decision while the government doesn't prohibit it (doesn't regulate it)? Take for example the recent news from the UAE, bitcoin is starting to be used by educational institutions. Maybe you also want to see some banks (https://www.banks.com/articles/investing/cryptocurrency/banks-that-accept-bitcoin/) that are actually under government supervision accepting bitcoin.

The United Arab Emirates is one of the countries that want to be forefront all the time, and I heard they are going to license Binance too.

They can adopt but not on the sense on making it as a legal tender but rather would really be just staying as an optional but not as their main currency thats why we arent seeing next countries who would took the same

step on what El Salvador had done but there are rumors circling around for some countries which might consider on the same thing too but all of them would stay up to be rumors
until it would really be announced officially but for sure such decisions wont be something simple to commit on.

El Salvador will be an encouraging factor to others in the future, although nothing major has happened yet, there's been too little time that has passed since. So, really this question of whether countries will start making it legal tender in the future, I think really depends how much El Salvador benefits from it. If they don't, it could potentially have a negative effect on countries considering making it legal tender, which could potentially hurt Bitcoin adoption in the short to medium term.

Well, countries making it legal tender, rather than banning it obviously benefits us. I think most users fears are that Bitcoin will be banned en mass, which despite some of the counter arguments would be overall pretty bad for Bitcoin. While they can't prevent its use technically, most users will be law abiding, and therefore wouldn't want to risk repercussions, which reduces the total users using Bitcoin. Do I think it will be banned on mass? No. Although, that doesn't mean they'll make it legal tender either.

Other than El Salvador, there is no country that accepts Bitcoin as a legal tender. There are many countries, though, which are reported to have already considered recognizing Bitcoin as a legal tender. How serious they are, I'm not sure. I have read that bills are already planned or proposed in countries like Panama and Paraguay and others. But plans don't mean anything. Until and unless a bill is actually filed before congress or the parliament, there's no reason to jump into conclusion that another country will definitely follow El Salvador's step soon.

There are dozen of nation which are readily to launch their CBDCs. Follow up CBDC growth with https://cbdctracker.org/

I could be wrong but I do believe that those nations that have their CBDCs will have legal tender for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. I know governments don't like Bitcoin and cryptocurrency but if they launch their CBDCs, they don't have convincing reasons to not give Bitcoin and cryptocurrency legal tender.

I’d vouch for the opposite: Launching a CBDC, whilst setting a foot in the crypto playing field, is really an extension of the FIAT system and the currency within the country. Adapting bitcoin as legal tender from there is still a very big leap, as it represents losing government power and grip over the currency (i.e. no printing machine in bitcoin).

There are likely a bunch of countries looking into the possibility of doing it, but the question they keep asking themselves, I figure, is whether the benefit to their economy is substantial enough (and ensured) to change the control paradigm over their legal tender.

I'd probably phrase it even more strongly than that.  Various governments have been talking about the supposed benefits of CBDCs, like increased financial inclusion for the unbanked and such.  However, I'm far from convinced that any of that is actually true and strongly suspect they just want far greater surveillance and control over peoples' spending habits.  I don't believe for a second that they would invest time, money and effort into creating their perfect spyglass/intercept/expropriation tool, just to then undo a large part of their new-found gains in power by handing greater autonomy back to the people by encouraging them to use peer-to-peer money.  It's just not realistic.

I think the primary cohort of nations adopting crypto will be the ones openly waving their middle finger at the IMF/US/general Western hegemony/etc.

Hi, Op.
It is a recurring question on the forum, every so often it happens after September 7, 2021.

Candidates: Yes, No. Always the applicants are created mainly based on rumours, these rumors are based on some law, a president who mentions his sympathy for Bukelee, sorry for Bitcoin and social networks, mainly Twitter, the main viral source of countries that could accept bitcoin, a recent example;
The Honduran flag.

Then there are the specialists who are mainly based on the previous point and create blogs or digital news, some are true, others are half-truths and others are fake news.

Is There any other country except El Salvador using BTC as legal tender?

No.

Legal Tender is something we do not need, that is the top level that bitcoin could reach in the world and that is great but not really needed. If we could have the whole world using bitcoin as a legal tender, then the adoption would be through the roof and the price would be over a million dollars in a single day.

However, in order to grow, just getting favorable laws that support it with minimal regulations could be done and it would be great. Even if nations removed KYC today, the price of bitcoin would reach to 100k+ in a few hours very easily. This means that instead of legal tender, we should just hope for a great supportive law for cyrpto all over the world. Not just making it legal, but making it legal in a good way.

Following El Salvador’s lead, a number of countries and jurisdictions are now planning to make Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender as well. However, doing so might be a bit more difficult in some areas such as Mexico, according to the country’s third-richest man, billionaire Ricardo Salinas.

Based on the essence of the question, I do not think that it is put correctly. Now there are many states that use bitcoin as legal tender. The first among them was probably Japan, which legalized bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in this capacity in April 2017. A feature of El Salvador is that this state uses bitcoin as a national currency. Until that time, El Salvador did not have its own national currency, and the country used the dollar as the currency. The example of El Salvador may be followed by similar underdeveloped states, but so far there are only rumors about this.

Well, already in Brazil, the congress approved the entry of BTC through a project to regulate it, this clearly shows that BTC will enter Brazil and this is very good, we know very well that Brazil is one of the countries that has the most open path to become a developed country in South America, therefore it is a country that cannot be left behind with respect to cryptocurrency technology and especially regarding BTC, the most positive of all this is that much more demand will enter the market, making that the price of btc tends to rise, a good option for now is to buy, I don't see it unreasonable, it doesn't matter if it goes down a bit, but it is a good time to buy.

You know, when I actually found out about the second country that adopted BTC as a legal tender, I was in total shock :o :o. The country happens to be one of the world’s poorest but actually rich in diamonds, gold and uranium. But surprisingly, Lawmakers voted unanimously to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender in this country and now they have become one of the world’s boldest and most visionary countries.

El Salvador became the first country to adopt it, then after the Central African Republic became the second country to adopt BTC as a legal tender.. Now you know there is another country in line with El Salvador!!

The Central African Republic has adopted bitcoin as legal tender, the president's office said Wednesday, becoming the second country in the world to do so after El Salvador.