Latin American Economy & Business Report

07/2021 - El Salvador’s bitcoin adventure raises concerns

President Nayib Bukele is moving ahead with plans to make the cryptocurrency, bitcoin, legal tender in El Salvador despite concerns at home and abroad.

At the beginning of June, El Salvador passed legislation adopting bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar, the country’s official currency. President Bukele said using bitcoin would give the country access to a secure, efficient, and globally integrated electronic payments system, which would also allow the roughly 2m expatriate Salvadorean workers to send home remittances without paying bank charges. Bukele also said the move would improve financial inclusion in a country where around 70% of the population doesn’t have a bank account and works in the informal economy.

Download the full briefing to read on...

Access to the full Latin American Economy & Business Report is one of the benefits of a Canning House Corporate Membership.


Canning House Individual Members receive LatinWeek with their weekly newsletter.

Learn more and become a member today.

More recent briefings & intelligence

Becoming a member at Canning House

By joining Canning House, you will become part of the UK's leading forum for informed comment, contacts and debate on Latin American politics, economics and business.

Just £50 per year.

Join now

Learn more

Sign up to our newsletter

All of Canning House's activities, including our upcoming events, insightful publications, latest news, and featured events from the UK-Latin America community.

In your inbox, every week, for free.