Tonga Aims to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender, Following Example of El Salvador

Tonga will copy El Salvador's bill making Bitcoin legal tender, according to the state's former member of Parliament. He expects his country to be able to accept Bitcoin by November or December.

On Wednesday, former MP for the Pacific island nation of Tonga, Lord Fusitu'a, shared a step-by-step approach to accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender by the state in a series of tweets. Copying El Salvador's bill, the move could connect more than 100,000 Tongans to the Bitcoin network. In his five-point plan, he outlines the path of acceptance. Fusitu'a said that the bill is “modeled on and is almost identical to the El Salvador bill.”

1. Sept/Oct Bill goes to Parliament. Passed.
2. Sent to Palace Office for submission to His Majesty for Royal Assent.
3.<A month - HM as advised by Privy Council assents to Bill.
4. 2-3 Weeks Gazetted by Govt activation date set.
4. On activation date #BTC becomes legal tender. https://t.co/TNjQjeEbjN

— Lord Fusitu'a (@LordFusitua) January 12, 2022

Fusitu'a also hinted that the deadline for BTC to become legal tender could be as early as November or December of this year.

Boom! That’s us brother! https://t.co/I7VD4DpWKi

— Lord Fusitu'a (@LordFusitua) January 12, 2022

In 2021, there were speculations that Tonga would be one of the next countries to accept BTC as legal tender. Speculation peaked after Fusitu'a joined a podcast with Bitcoiner Peter McCormack, according to Cointelegraph. During the conversation, he said that the adoption would provoke “a disposable income increase by 30%. With that extra 30%, some (people) are going to be saving it rather than putting it into the economy and stacking sats.”

The International Finance Corporation estimates that Tonga generates more income from remittances than any other country in the world, representing up to 30% of household income. The option to use remittances was one of the main factors that led El Salvador to accept BTC as legal tender, and now Tonga is following suit. According to Fusitu'a, Tonga can create a BTC circular economy, and it is “one of the few instances in which being a sparsely populated small island kingdom archipelago is an advantage.”

© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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