President Bukele orders the establishment of El Salvador’s National Bitcoin Office

El Salvador’s newly established National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) will mainly be in charge of all activities regarding the first and most prominent cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. 

The new organization will also oversee, organize, and carry out initiatives connected to cryptocurrencies, the blockchain, and Bitcoin.

What’s the role of the new office?

The new agency will be a specialized administrative division with functional and technical autonomy within the president’s office. The organization was created by Decree No. 49, issued on November 17 in the Official Gazette by El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and the Minister of Tourism.

One of the entity’s other key responsibilities will be conceptualizing and disseminating data on Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies in El Salvador “to the media and any interested person.”

The National Bitcoin Office, or ONBTC, will also support foreign Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrency enterprises and investors who want to do business and go to El Salvador. It will also actively encourage El Salvadoran participation in various international forums. Also, ONBTC would oversee and evaluate each individual while contacting the president to set up meetings to introduce El Salvador to Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Additionally, the ONBTC is responsible for managing and analyzing all individuals requesting meetings with the President of the Republic to introduce Bitcoin and blockchain technology in El Salvador.

Some of the other tasks of the Bitcoin Office include the design of pertinent policies on Bitcoin and Blockchain that the Presidency determines in the short-, medium-, and long-term and its correspondence with the economic and educational programs in conjunction with the appropriate Institutions.

ONBTC will be under the President’s scrutiny and guidance

The president of El Salvador will choose the director of the Bitcoin Office, and they will have the power to select employees necessary to carry out the institution’s obligations. El Salvador became the first nation in the world to legalize Bitcoin as money last year. El Salvador’s president, Bukele, stated last week that his country would start buying one Bitcoin (BTC) daily.

In that regard, all public institutions must work with the ONBTC to achieve its goals and execute its mandate. For instance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will work with other countries as necessary, whereas autonomous regions and municipalities may do so to the extent permitted by applicable laws.

BTC as a legal tender in El Salvador

El Salvador became the first nation in the world to legalize Bitcoin as its official currency last year. El Salvador’s president, Bukele, stated last week that his country would start buying one Bitcoin (BTC) daily.

The president is concerned about more than just the short-term economic effects of the Bitcoin policy. It’s an opportunity to transform El Salvador from a nation mostly recognized for gang violence and a slow economy that encourages emigration to the United States into a cutting-edge technological powerhouse and a pioneer in the cryptocurrency industry. 

That entails forging a Salvadoran dream for some young people. It is a protest to the global order that views El Salvador as the United States’ backyard, which Bukele has increasingly raged against since coming into power in 2019. However, not all Salvadorians are keen on accepting BTC as a legal tender.