El Salvador 1st country to adopt Bitcoin as official currency

San Salvador, Sep 7 (IANS) El Salvador on Tuesday became the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as an official currency.

The central American nation announced that it plans to buy "a lot more" bitcoins soon. It purchased 200 tokens earlier and another 200 more recently, ahead of its rollout as a legal tender.

Ahead of the deadline to make bitcoin El Salvador's official currency, President Nayib Bukele tweeted that the government has about a large sum of the cryptocurrency.

"El Salvador has just bought its first 200 coins," Bukele wrote. "Our brokers will be buying a lot more as the deadline approaches," he added.

The country will accept payment in bitcoin alongside the US dollar, which has been El Salvador's official currency since 2001.

EI Salvador's decision to make Bitcoin a legal tender will boost financial inclusion in their country as the majority of the population does not have access to formal banking channels, according to Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin.

"In India, our approach towards crypto is different. We don't see it as a legal tender but as an asset class. Indian investors have shown their faith in crypto even during the massive price fluctuations because they have an investment horizon of 2-3 years," Thakral said in a statement recently.

"We are eagerly waiting for CBDC (central bank digital currency) in India which will open up new avenues of growth for the digital asset industry," he added.