El Salvador Will Penalize Businesses That Refuse to Accept Bitcoin Payments

El Salvador will penalize businesses that refuse to accept Bitcoin as payment

El Salvador has finally legalized Bitcoin as a national currency. With the new law comes many changes to the previous money system and the proponents behind the Bitcoin adoption law are working tirelessly to make sure that Bitcoin usage reaches every part of the country.

El Salvador makes Bitcoin wallet mandatory for businesses in the country

To make this possible, the legal counsel to the Presidential House of El Salvador Javier Argueta had asserted, just a day before Bitcoin became legal tender, that businesses all over the country are mandated to accept Bitcoin payments from customers. Failure to comply will lead to sanctions. 

In order for this to happen, all businesses are required to have a Bitcoin wallet in order to carry out the transaction. However, businesses can decide to receive the transaction in Bitcoin or in dollars.

As an example he explained: 

“If I buy you 1,000 shirts that cost $200 and I’m going to pay you in Bitcoin, you have the wallet, but in the transaction, when you do it, you have the will to receive Bitcoin or dollars, that is why it is voluntary.”

Skeptics maintain stance on controversial Bitcoin adoption

The World Bank, the IMF, the U.S government, the European Union, and opposing parties in El Salvador are among the naysayers who have repeatedly objected to the Bitcoin law. A week ago, Social organizations first took to the street to protest against the law. Prior to this, the IMF had warned the president repeatedly on the risks that could precede his decisions, but Mr. Bukele seems unfazed.

Even though Bitcoin saw a 10% dip in prices on the same day that the law was implemented, Bukele remains confident. Taunting the IMF, Bukele tweeted “It appears the discount is ending Thanks for the dip IMFNews. We saved a million in the printed paper. El Salvador now holds 550 bitcoin.”

Meanwhile, gold bug Peter Schiff quickly pointed out that the move will cause incredible damage going forward and he attributes this to Bitcoin whales.

“Welcome to Bitcoin ElSalvador. Your national “currency” just lost over 15% of its purchasing power in under an hour. Get used to it. Just another perfectly orchestrated pump-and-dump by the Bitcoin whales. Too bad this time they had to sacrifice an entire nation to pull it off!”

Although President Bukele did not respond to the gold proponent, he has already made his stances clear on the matter. Clearly, he is not oblivious to the volatility that comes with Bitcoin. He admits the move is a learning curve and notes the importance of breaking the norms and advancing technologically.

“Like all innovation, the process of Bitcoin in El Salvador it has a learning curve. Every road to the future is like this and not everything will be achieved in a day, or in a month. But we must break the paradigms of the past. El Salvador has the right to advance towards the first world”.