Key facts:
The State Department will present a report on bitcoin in El Salvador in 60 days.
Bukele confronted one of the project’s proponents, Senator Bill Cassidy, on Twitter.
And it is a fact. 100 lawmakers in the United States Senate are preparing to pass the bill that will allow government agencies to investigate a long list of issues regarding El Salvador and Bitcoin. This includes remittances sent from the US, efforts to combat illicit activities, and even the monetary policy and finances of Salvadorans.
The Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate gave the go-ahead on Wednesday to the so-called “Responsibility Law for Cryptocurrencies in El Salvador” or “ACES Law” for its acronym in English. A project presented last February by senators Republicans James Risch, Bill Cassidy and Democrat Bob Menéndez, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
The argument for giving consent to the law is to protect the financial system of their country, since they fear that the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador may affect them.
After the approval was announced in the Senate, the president Nayib Bukele did not hesitate to respond to the United States again through a message on Twitter, as is customary for the president.
Bukele reacted on Twitter and made fun of Senator Cassidy
“Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the United States government would be afraid of what we are doing here,” Indian Bukele. Last night he sent another tweet in which he assured the United States “does not defend freedom and that is a fact” and added that his government does. “Bitcoin is money,” he concluded.
The message provoked the reaction of Republican senator Bill Cassidyone of the proponents of the law, who tweeted on March 24 that Bukele’s policies are not very popular among Salvadorans living in the US.
“Maybe they won’t trust a president who brags about trading Bitcoin naked,” Cassidy said. Bukele did not take long to answer to the message: “Sometimes, while he is in the bathroom…”, he commented in a mocking tone.
State Department would present a report in 60 days
The date for the vote on the legislative proposal in the full Senate has not yet been defined, but after the approval of the ACES Law, the next step must be taken by the Department of State with the preparation of a report on the presence of bitcoin in El Salvadorincluding a plan to defuse potential risks to the US financial system.
“This new policy has the potential to weaken US sanctions policy, empowering malign actors like China and organized criminal organizations,” said another proponent, Senator James Risch.
That is why the report that will be presented soon must also show, among other things, the “impact of the adoption of a cryptocurrency in macroeconomic stability and public finances of El Salvador, including taxes.
They would also review the rule of law, democracy and governance in the Central American countryaccording to a document introduced yesterday by US senators.
Likewise, they must analyze how the adoption of bitcoin will affect the flow of remittances from the United States, in addition to the relationship with financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. To release the reportthe Department of State has a period of 60 daysexplains the text.
Some analysts maintain that this bill does not impose anything on El Salvador because its effects fall exclusively on the United States governmentwhich would be in charge of informing the risks for their country of the adoption of Bitcoin in the Central American country.
However, the Salvadoran government describes the project as an interference with its sovereignty.
The confrontational tone of the president had already come to the fore when the United States initiative became known, a little over a month ago. At that time, he said that his country «it is not a colony, nor a backyard or front yard of the American government«.
In addition, he emphasized that US senators have no jurisdiction in their country and cannot control national politics.
Bitcoin was approved as the legal tender of El Salvador in September 2021 and since then, the government has promoted economic mechanisms based on cryptocurrency, among which are the creation of a Bitcoin City and the issuance of bonds in bitcoin.