The use of Bitcoin will be completely optional in El Salvador, according to the Minister of Finance

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According to Alejandro Zelaya, the use of cryptocurrency will be optional, and companies will not be penalized if they do not accept it.

The use of bitcoin (BTC, + 0.74%) and a digital wallet in El Salvador will be “completely optional”, and companies that do not accept cryptocurrency will not be penalized, the minister said on Tuesday. of Finance of El Salvador, Alejandro Zelaya.

In a TV interview on Frente a Frente hosted by journalist Moisés Urbina, Zelaya said the dollar will remain the main currency of reference in the country, and will be the one that businesses, government and everyone else use to their accounting.

Zelaya’s comments contradicted Article 7 of the Bitcoin Law passed in June, which stipulated that bitcoin must be accepted as a method of payment by “any economic agent.”

When asked if there is a need to delete this article, Zelaya asked why and did not expand on the topic.

The Central Bank of El Salvador did not clarify matters on Tuesday in a consultative draft with technical standards to facilitate bitcoin law enforcement. The project specified that the institutions obliged to comply with these standards will be banks, cooperative banks and savings and loan companies “interested” in providing the convertibility service for dollars and bitcoins and vice versa.

In another document, titled Guidelines for Authorizing the Operation of the Digital Wallet Platform for Bitcoin and Dollars, the Central Bank of El Salvador states that wallets will have to implement KYC policies.

“Digital wallet clients can be natural and legal persons residing or not in the country who meet the requirements and standards of knowing your customer and preventing money and asset laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction ”. the document said, adding that these requirements will be “established in accordance with technical standards issued by the Central Bank for these purposes and with international treaties and conventions issued in this regard.”

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