El Salvador president wants Bitcoin as legal tender

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has announced in a recorded message played at a Bitcoin conference in Miami that next week he will send proposed legislation to the country’s congress that would make the cryptocurrency legal tender in the Central American nation. The 39-year-old president who has maintained approval ratings above 90% and made Twitter his preferred way of communicating characterized it as an idea that could help El Salvador move forward. Bukele said, “Next week I will send to Congress a bill that will make Bitcoin a legal tender in El Salvador.” The U.S. dollar is El Salvador’s official currency. About one quarter of its citizens live in the U.S.