Malaysia May Be The Next Country To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender, Following El Salvador’s Lead

Malaysia May Be The Next Country To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender, Following El Salvador’s Lead

Malaysia could just be in line to be the next nation to make Bitcoin a legal tender. In the same line as El Salvador, at least one Malaysian government official has publicly said his nation should adopt not just Bitcoin but also other cryptocurrencies, such as Compound.

The world’s biggest ocean separates these two countries, but the Southeast Asian nation is considering doing what El Salvador already did in making cryptocurrencies. One advocate for this is Zahidi Zainul Abidin, a deputy minister in the ministry of communications and multimedia.

Not only has El Salvador legalized cryptocurrency as legal tender but Ukraine has also passed legislation laying out a legal framework for a crypto market that is regulated. Many crypto advocates are starting to see this as dominos bound to fall across the global map.

Legal tender is just another name for money that citizens and businesses must accept if they are offered to pay a debt. Most nations have coins and banknotes for this. Many use their own currencies, but some also just use the currencies of larger nations.

The central bank of Malaysia hasn’t officially announced a formal position on this issue just yet. However, it has started looking into the possibility of a central bank digital currency, also known as a CBDC.

A deputy minister for the finance ministry has gone on record saying that cryptocurrency isn’t going to be a suitable payment method in Malaysia. The sheer volatility involved with digital currencies is a specific note of concern.

El Salvador made a name for itself by being the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin. In fact, the government there gave citizens $30 worth of free Bitcoins if they signed up for “Chivo”, the national digital wallet.

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Originally, legislation implied that all economic agents would have to accept Bitcoin as legal payment if offered for their goods and services. Protests resulted in a change where the president of El Salvador said businesses wouldn’t be required to actually do this.

The president of the country did say that the nation was going to build a “Bitcoin City” between the ocean and a volcano base. He expects this city to have a circular shape representing a large coin. The southeastern region named La Union is likely to be home to this city.

The ministry of tourism in El Salvador has reported that adopting Bitcoin has boosted tourism in the Central American country.

While El Salvador has enjoyed benefits, the protests against the adoption weren’t just local. The International Monetary Fund’s executive board has actually urged El Salvador to reverse the legal tender status of Bitcoin saying that they had worries about consumer protections, fiscal integrity, and financial stability.

Over 85% of businesses in El Salvador have yet to do any transactions involving Bitcoin. More than that reported not expecting the adoption of crypto to impact their operations at any point in time. Less than 4% reported Bitcoin helping grow their business.

It’s reported that Honduras will soon accept Bitcoin. Ukraine has already raised a lot of money for volunteer groups in the fight against Russia by using Bitcoin crowdfunding.

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