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Jun 23, 2021

Paraguay set to make Bitcoin legal tender after El Salvador

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FA Correspondent
Bitcoin Photo: AP file photo
Bitcoin Photo: AP file photo

Following El Salvador’s landmark vote to adopt Bitcoin as an official currency earlier this month, another domino in Latin America looks set to fall.

The Central American country made history when it voted to make Bitcoin legal tender on June 8, a decision that was applauded by politicians in a slew of Latin American countries, including Panama, Argentina and Brazil, reported David Walsh in euro news.

Paraguayan Lawmaker Carlos Rejala is now leading a bid to implement legislation to make Paraguay the second country to do so.

Paraguay could become the second country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. Canva

Introducing measures to make Paraguay a hub for foreign crypto investors on his social media accounts, Rejala outlined his vision for Bitcoin use in Paraguay, saying he was working with “the Paraguayan crypto community in order for Paraguay to become a hub for the crypto investors of the world and subsequently to be placed among the ones on the cutting edge of digital technology”.

Bitcoin has been widely criticized by environmentalists because of the energy-intensive computer farms used to mine it.

Nearly 100 per cent of the country’s electricity needs are served by hydroelectric plants while 90 per cent of all energy it produces is exported to neighbors Brazil and Argentina.

The El Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele introduced and passed legislation to recognize Bitcoin as an official currency alongside the US dollar just three days after announcing his intention to do so on June 5 at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami.

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