El Salvador has surprised everyone and set a precedent in terms of cryptocurrencies by legalizing Bitcoin as legal tender. This means that Salvadoran citizens will be able to use Bitcoin to buy anything as if it were a dollar, the other national currency.
This move towards positive legal regularization of cryptos has inspired other countries that could follow in the footsteps of the small Central American nation. These are the countries that are closest to legalizing the use of Bitcoin as legal tender.
Panama. One of the countries that have taken most notice of the Salvadoran movement has been Panama. Thus, the Panamanian congressman Gabriel Silva has assured on his Twitter account that he will propose a law similar to that of El Salvador to introduce cryptocurrencies in the Panamanian economy.
The objective is clear, as Silva himself says on Twitter, to turn Panama into a technological and digital innovation center. And this is a formula that seems to work perfectly in small countries, such as Singapore (birthplace of exchanges like Bybit).
Paraguay. In the same way, as in Panama, Congressman Carlos Rejala, and Paraguay also advocates for benign legislation with Bitcoin and other cryptos claiming that, if it manages to attract the investment of a sector that moves billions of dollars, Paraguay's GDP can increase enormously.
Other initiatives
These are just the first pieces of the ripple effect caused by El Salvador earlier this week, so expect similar initiatives to emerge across the globe.
This is certainly not the first time that national initiatives related to cryptocurrencies have been promoted, as already happened in India just a few months ago.
Venezuela tried it with its crypto, the failed Petro, which although it came to nothing, showed the Latin American willingness to adapt to the cryptocurrency market, something they have also demonstrated by creating their cryptos.
Also, in 2019, it was proposed to Argentina (by financial tycoon Tim Draper) the possibility of adopting Bitcoin in the same way as El Salvador as a way to mitigate the international distrust that caused (and causes) the Argentine peso as a currency. The proposal was dismissed, but it may now land again in the offices.
In the case of Venezuela and Argentina Bitcoin Cash is flourishing there not Bitcoin, but in those two countries it is not law just volunteers willing to accept BCH as payment, Salvadorians will have the chance to get into the crypto market by using custodian services, they will have the options to exchange into USD right away keep on BTC if they trust Chivo or move into other altcoins.
Because the minimum wage is only around $10 that will mean that Salvadorians will find a marketplace that meets their income by using Chivo they could buy into other altcoins that may or may not have more potential for growth other than BTC.
If Salvadorians were to try to save $1 a day they could not invest in the stock market because those $30 won't be enough to even pay for the brokers' fees with BTC custodian accounts they could participate in the altcoins market and actually invest as low as $1 a day by buying other coins like XRP, LTC, BCH and many other coins with very low fees and high probability of growth. And I am pretty sure others countries will see that and would want for their citizens to have the same possibilities as Salvadorians will have.
It is unfortunate that Salvadorians won't use Bitcoin properly and that pretty much will have to rely on a government sponsor bank account called Chivo but at least they will have the choice of moving money into a real peer to peer currency like Bitcoin Cash if they have the will to invest and also have made their homework when it comes to cryptocurrencies as a whole.