{"id":1005700,"date":"2021-08-02T21:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-03T01:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?p=196117"},"modified":"2021-08-02T21:00:31","modified_gmt":"2021-08-03T01:00:31","slug":"el-salvadors-bitcoin-bill-has-5-key-benefits-says-bank-of-america","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/plato-data\/el-salvadors-bitcoin-bill-has-5-key-benefits-says-bank-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"El Salvador\u2019s Bitcoin bill has 5 key benefits, says Bank of America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wordpress-1016567-4521551.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/el-salvadors-bitcoin-bill-has-5-key-benefits-says-bank-of-america.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<article readability=\"40.266698135473\">\n<p><span>US financial services player Bank of America, one of the world\u2019s largest banks, has come out in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/el-salvador-to-officially-adopt-bitcoin-as-legal-tender-on-september-7\/\"><span>support of El Salvador\u2019s Bitcoin bill<\/span><\/a><span> in a note to clients last week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It comes even as the country faces opposition from several global bodies for its decision to allow citizens to officially accept Bitcoin as payments for goods and services, and as outbound remittances.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cUsing Bitcoin for remittances could potentially reduce transaction costs compared to traditional remittances channels,\u201d said the Bank of America in the research note.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It added, \u201cIf using Bitcoin indeed lowers transaction costs, then for every dollar that the Salvadoran diaspora sends home, a greater portion of that dollar could be received by recipients, increasing their disposable income and reducing the proportion of remittances lost to financial intermediaries.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"5.6586826347305\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Some of the opportunities <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BankofAmerica?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BankofAmerica<\/a> sees with El Salvador\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Bitcoin<\/a> adoption: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5E63FM4TAF\">pic.twitter.com\/5E63FM4TAF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nayib Bukele \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfb (@nayibbukele) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nayibbukele\/status\/1421848899946434564?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 1, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><b>Advantages to using Bitcoin<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span>As per Bank of America, some of the benefits of approving Bitcoin as legal tender are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>70% of citizens in El Salvador do not have access to a bank account and financial services, meaning the use of Bitcoin could solve some of the hassles of opening and operating a bank account.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Bitcoin could lower the cost of remittances, which comprise one-fifth of El Salvador\u2019s gross domestic product. This <\/span><i><span>could<\/span><\/i><span> further mean citizens enjoy a slightly higher disposable income.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>El Salvador\u2019s plans to utilize geothermal energy from its volcanoes to mine Bitcoin could spur the creation of cost-effective, clean, and renewable energy centers for such an operation\u2014which could also help attract foreign investments into the controversial activity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>As such, adopting Bitcoin could further attract foreign direct investments (FDI) into the country as foreign players bet on the ecosystem\u2019s growth.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span>Lastly, the use of Bitcoin can kickstart \u2018financial digitalization\u2019 and provide access to electronic payments with \u2018a progressive touch.\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>But the skeptics remain<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span>While legalizing Bitcoin presents a host of advantages and opportunities for El Salvador as a country, the move has continued to attract criticism from several quarters. A major critic is the International Monetary Fund itself, which has repeatedly lambasted the legal tender status on several occasions this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In July, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/after-el-salvador-warning-imf-says-accepting-bitcoin-as-national-currency-is-a-step-too-far\/\"><span>IMF officials said<\/span><\/a><span> any country making cryptocurrencies a legal tender status meant local fiat currencies could turn highly volatile and hence unstable. In June, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/imf-sounds-legal-economic-alarms-over-el-salvadors-bitcoin-adoption\/\"><span>officials stated<\/span><\/a><span> that the IMF continues to link cryptocurrencies with money laundering and the financing of terrorism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Rating agency Moody\u2019s had, after opposition from the IMF, downgraded the rating of the El Salvador government last month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Troubles have come from even the country\u2019s own opposition party, which stated the Bitcoin bill was \u201cunconstitutional,\u201d with some even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/the-people-of-el-salvador-are-protesting-against-bitcoin-bill\/\"><span>holding protests<\/span><\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"edge-cta\" readability=\"5.6756756756757\">\n<h2>Get an <span>edge<\/span> on the cryptoasset market<\/h2>\n<p>Access more crypto insights and context in every article as a paid member of <span>CryptoSlate Edge<\/span>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"cols\">\n<p> <span class=\"img chart\"><\/span> <strong>On-chain analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"img price\"><\/span> <strong>Price snapshots<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"img context\"><\/span> <strong>More context<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=43765\" class=\"btn join\">Join now for $19\/month<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/edge\/\" class=\"btn\">Explore all benefits<\/a><\/div>\n<p><h3>Like what you see? <span>Subscribe for updates.<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-articles clearfix\">\n<h6>You might also enjoy&#8230;<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/el-salvadors-bitcoin-bill-has-5-key-benefits-says-bank-of-america\/\">Source: https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/el-salvadors-bitcoin-bill-has-5-key-benefits-says-bank-of-america\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1005702,"template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","type":"","auto_type":false,"post":"","stream":"","stream_url":"","waveform_data":[],"duration":0,"start":0,"end":0,"bpm":0,"downloadable":false,"download_url":"","purchase_title":"","purchase_url":"","post-count-all":0,"like_count":0,"download_count":0,"editor_note":"","copyright":"","captions":[],"sources":[]},"genre":[10658],"station_tag":[3880,4263,3680,3761,5103,4135,3882,5819,480,4645,3634,6980,11610,3791,4058,3641,3831,7009,4304,4469,4593,4272,3900,4176,3845,4074,3951,4182,3731,4710,3650,4855,4080,3954,3955,4866,4195,3805,4199,458,4279,3959,3737,3705,4954,31520,3706,3963,4996,3859,3863,3665,3939,4110,5635,4662,3710,3923,3975,4392,4684,7134,4286,3752,466,4235,3815,3717],"artist":[5990],"mood":[],"activity":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station\/1005700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/station"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1005702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=1005700"},{"taxonomy":"station_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station_tag?post=1005700"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=1005700"},{"taxonomy":"mood","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mood?post=1005700"},{"taxonomy":"activity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platodata.io\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/activity?post=1005700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}