Since the move from El Salvador, the leaders of developing countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and Panama, have hinted at following suit. This shift has come to be known as the ‘El Salvador effect’.
What El Salvador says
The 21st century global monetary solution is a digital currency (USD) serving as a medium of exchange backed by a digital asset (BTC) serving as a store of value, with #Bitcoin as the final settlement network and #Lightning as the transaction network. El Salvador is the model. https://t.co/xBjABPnZBJ
— Michael Saylor (@michael_saylor) June 11, 2021
El Salvador has long been friendly towards Bitcoin activity within its borders. In the beach town of El Zonte, as part of the Bitcoin Beach project, numerous businesses accept BTC as payment. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has noted Bitcoin Beach as an inspiration for proposing the Bitcoin law.
Bukele says that Bitcoin “will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy.” It will also address the issue of costly remittance payments from Salvadorans living abroad, making up a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Experts have long touted the revolutionary potential of the blockchain, which underpins Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, in helping ease cross-border payments.
How will it work? Apart from “all economic agents” having to accept BTC as payment, the Salvadoran government will guarantee the convertibility of Bitcoin into dollars for any transaction, using a $150-million trust established by El Salvador’s Bandesal development bank.
Detractors have raised issues surrounding Bitcoin’s volatility, while economist and historian George Selgin noted that certain clauses in the legislation are coercive in forcing Salvadoran merchants and companies to accept Bitcoin as payment. These are all valid concerns, which, along with the promises of such a system, will play out in real-time over the next few months and years.
CRYPTO SLIDES AS BOJ ANNOUNCED POSSIBLE RATE HIKE, AND ETHEREUM EYES FUSAKA UPGRADE
Bitcoin drops from ~$91K to ~$86K as markets test resistance between $90K–$92K, with Ethereum and other crypto assets also losing ground.
Bank of Japan announced a potential December rate hike.
US markets remain relatively stable, though Wall Street is yet to open.
Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade, designed to boost network performance and scalability, is expected Wednesday, though timelines have shifted in the past. Just as things were looking steady last week, this week opens with a 4-6% slide across crypto markets as November’s volatility refuses to fade. Analysts have flagged a resistance zone between $90,000 and $92,000 for Bitcoin, and it played out this morning as the market-cap leader pulled back from roughly $91,000 to about $86,000 within hours. Ethereum and others followed lower overnight.
Some traders pointed to the Bank of Japan’s signal that it could consider a rate hike in December, a move that in the past has triggered global de-risking, with the mid-2024 unwind of the yen carry trade still fresh in memory. Wall Street has remained largely untouched so far, though US markets only open around mid-day. More on that below.
Otherwise, the big development this week is the looming Ethereum upgrade known as Fusaka, aimed at improving performance and scalability by optimising how data is stored and processed. It’s part of the original smart-contract platform’s push to stay competitive as rivals like Solana encroach on its core markets. The upgrade is expected on Wednesday, though Ethereum timelines have been known to slip at the last minute
CRYPTO SLIDES AS BOJ ANNOUNCED POSSIBLE RATE HIKE, AND ETHEREUM EYES FUSAKA UPGRADE
Bitcoin drops from ~$91K to ~$86K as markets test resistance between $90K–$92K, with Ethereum and other crypto assets also losing ground.
Bank of Japan announced a potential December rate hike.
US markets remain relatively stable, though Wall Street is yet to open.
Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade, designed to boost network performance and scalability, is expected Wednesday, though timelines have shifted in the past. Just as things were looking steady last week, this week opens with a 4-6% slide across crypto markets as November’s volatility refuses to fade. Analysts have flagged a resistance zone between $90,000 and $92,000 for Bitcoin, and it played out this morning as the market-cap leader pulled back from roughly $91,000 to about $86,000 within hours. Ethereum and others followed lower overnight.
Some traders pointed to the Bank of Japan’s signal that it could consider a rate hike in December, a move that in the past has triggered global de-risking, with the mid-2024 unwind of the yen carry trade still fresh in memory. Wall Street has remained largely untouched so far, though US markets only open around mid-day. More on that below.
Otherwise, the big development this week is the looming Ethereum upgrade known as Fusaka, aimed at improving performance and scalability by optimising how data is stored and processed. It’s part of the original smart-contract platform’s push to stay competitive as rivals like Solana encroach on its core markets. The upgrade is expected on Wednesday, though Ethereum timelines have been known to slip at the last minute
🇺🇸 #BTC$BTC Industry Pushes Trump to Secure U.S. Leadership
Over 65 crypto companies - including Solana Policy Institute, Exodus, Pantera, and Uniswap Labs - sent a joint letter to President Trump. Their goal? Protect innovation, clarify rules, and keep the U.S. ahead in crypto. Top requests:
🚀 Tax clarity: only tax staking & mining rewards when sold; clear rules for bridging, wrapping, airdrops, forks, and collateral.
🚀 Regulatory support: SEC & CFTC to back self-custody; safe harbors & regulatory sandboxes for DeFi projects; better coordination across agencies for faster guidance.
🚀 Developer protections: stop “regulation by prosecution; support open-source projects; protect innovation and free expression in crypto software.
📈 This is shaping up as a turning point in U.S. crypto BTC$BTC policy, signaling that regulators and industry are pushing for a framework that protects innovation while keeping the U.S. competitive globally.
Bitwise’s spot XRP ETF started trading yesterday in what’s been a rough week for crypto markets.
“XRP is a really intriguing asset for several reasons,” said Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan. “It has operated successfully for a very long period of time at extremely low cost, it processes high transaction volumes, and it has a really strong and vibrant community of supporters.
Bitwise’s fund will be the second spot XRP product following Canary Capital’s XRPC. “Canary’s fund has accumulated $276.8 million in net inflows since launching last week,” The Block reports. Bitwise already launched the Bitwise Physical XRP ETP (GXRP) in Europe that provides investors with direct, physically-backed exposure to the cryptocurrency.