El Salvador Hosts 44 Countries To Discuss Bitcoin
On Sunday, the President of El Salvador tweeted plans to host representatives from 44 countries to discuss financial inclusion, the digital economy, banking the unbanked, the Bitcoin rollout, and its benefits.
In a series of tweets, President Bukele detailed that attending representatives are from: the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe, Central Bank of Paraguay, National Bank of Angola, Bank of Ghana, Bank of Namibia, Bank of Uganda, Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea, Central Bank of Madagascar, Bank of the Republic of Haiti, Bank of the Republic of Burundi, Central Bank of Eswatini and its Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Jordan, Central Bank of The Gambia, National Committee of Banks and Seguros of Honduras, Directorate General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance and Budget, Madagascar, and Maldives Monetary Authority.
Bukele later added: the National Bank of Rwanda, Nepal Rastra Bank, Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA), Kenya State Bank of Pakistan, Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras de Costa Rica, Superintendencia de la Economía Popular y Solidaria de Ecuador, Banco Central de El Salvador, Central Bank of Egypt, Central Bank of Jordan, Central Bank of Nigeria, Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et du Plan du Sénégal, Superintendencia de Bancos de la República Dominicana, Banque Centrale de Mauritanie, Banque Centrale du Congo, Central Bank of Armenia, and Bangladesh Bank.
In a followup tweet, Bukele included that representatives from the following will also attend: Banco de Moçambique, Bank Al-Maghrib (Morocco), Bank of Sierra, Leone Bank of Zambia, Central Bank of Lesotho, Central Bank of Liberia, Central Bank of Sudan, Financial Regulatory Commission of Mongolia, Ministry of Finance of Zambia, Palestine Monetary Authority, and the Reserve Bank of Malawi.
Then and Now
In 2017, the US Federal Reserve chair said Bitcoin was a “highly speculative asset” and “not a stable source of value.”
In 2021, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. The country now allows Bitcoin to be accepted in any transaction, which also includes paying taxes. In April of 2022, the Central African Republic became the second country in the world to adopt Bitcoin.
It took 12 years for the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender but in less than one year after that historical development, a second country also adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.
With the continued adoption and rise of Bitcoin, many may consider the possibility that their own country might adopt Bitcoin in the near future.