US House of Representatives to Consider Legislation on El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption
The bi-partisan Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act mirrors legislation that advanced out of a Senate committee last month.
Apr 5, 2022 at 2:37 p.m. UTCUpdated May 11, 2023 at 4:49 p.m. UTC
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U.S. representatives Norma J. Torres (D-Calif.) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) on Monday introduced the Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act, looking to mitigate risks to the U.S. financial system from El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender.
- “El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin is not a thoughtful embrace of innovation, but a careless gamble that is destabilizing the country,” Torres tweeted Monday.
- According to a release published by Torres, “the legislation directs the State Department to produce an analysis of El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin as legal tender and the risks for cybersecurity, economic stability and democratic governance in El Salvador, and create a plan to mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system.”
- For reference on "risks," El Salvador's GDP is roughly $25 billion versus U.S. GDP of $21 trillion.
- The bill functions as a companion to the Senate bill introduced by senators James Risch (R-Idaho), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Feb. 16. That legislation advanced out of committee on March 23, putting it on path to be voted on by the full Senate.
- At the time, El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, expressed his disagreement with the bill: “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the U.S. [government] would be afraid of what we are doing here,” he tweeted.
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Andrés Engler was a CoinDesk editor based in Argentina, where he covers the Latin American crypto ecosystem. He holds BTC and ETH.