Bitcoin: El Salvador Offers Free Citizenship to BTC Donors

With Bitcoin, El Salvador is kicking things into high gear. Indeed, the Salvadoran Congress, controlled by Nayib Bukele’s New Ideas party, has approved a migration law that grants citizenship directly to “altruistic foreigners” who want to support the country’s development with Bitcoin donations.

El Salvador grants automatic citizenship to Bitcoin donors

In early December, El Salvador and Tether unveiled the “Adopting El Salvador Freedom Visa” program, an initiative that will allow Nayib Bukele’s country to make further inroads into the field of cutting-edge technology.

The issuer of the USDT stablecoin plans to spend 1 billion dollars for this purpose.

“According to Reuters, El Salvador approved an immigration law that would grant citizenship to foreigners who donate Bitcoin to the government’s social and economic development projects. The law is expected to come into effect in the coming days.”

Reuters reported that Salvadoran lawmakers voted on an unprecedented migration law on December 20th. The law, which will come into force within a few days, makes it easier for El Salvador to grant citizenship status to anyone willing to contribute to the country’s social and economic development programs.

Thus, “altruistic foreigners eager to support the economic, social, and cultural development of El Salvador […] by making Bitcoin donations” will be able to obtain Salvadoran citizenship without any difficulty.

These individuals will not have to meet any of the normal requirements of the naturalization process, which typically includes:

• 5 years of permanent residence in the country for anyone from a non-Spanish-speaking country;
• 2 years of permanent residence for an individual married to a Salvadorian;
• And so on.

Another crucial point of this Bitcoin-friendly law: there is no minimum requirement regarding the “donation” in BTC.

Bitcoin legalization, adoption, Bukele’s re-election…

Since the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender on September 7, 2021, El Salvador has completely changed its image. First, let’s not forget that the country is the first to legalize the flagship cryptocurrency. This was a daring move for an economy heavily correlated with the dollar.

But this did not prompt the young resigning president, who is running for re-election, to shy away. Despite Bitcoin’s ups and downs, Nayib Bukele has stayed the course with Bitcoin.

His successive purchases of Bitcoins on behalf of El Salvador have drawn criticism from all quarters at a certain point. Now that the queen of cryptocurrencies is climbing again, the country is reporting significant profits. But the strongman of the country is still not ready to sell: he is a true believer in HODL.

Additionally, the IMF’s perception of these risky investments with Bitcoin is noteworthy. Currently, this financial institution is very reluctant about the new financing program presented by the current government. This comes at a time when money is tight for the country.

And to compound matters, Salvadorians are struggling to get on board with President Bukele’s ambitions: the adoption rate of Bitcoin remains very low in El Salvador.