El Salvador president says country will make bitcoin legal tender

El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, announced over the weekend that his country could soon become the first in the world to accept bitcoin as an official form of payment. "Next week I will send to Congress a bill that will make bitcoin a legal tender in El Salvador," he said in a video broadcast at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami. "In the short term, this will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy." Digital payments application Strike is working with officials in the Central American nation to resolve logistical problems and prepare the financial infrastructure needed to handle bitcoin transactions quickly. Strike CEO and founder Jack Mallers called the Salvadoran president's announcement a "shot heard 'round the world for bitcoin."