The US Senate Committee members are proposing a bill to scrutinize the Bitcoin policy of El Salvador.
A new bill in the senate of the United States seeks to investigate the policy in El Salvador regarding the adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender.
The bill, titled “Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador” seeks to investigate and make recommendations to the US congress on the capacity of the government of El Salvador to meet the technical demands to mitigate the risks associated with a cyber-based monetary system.
The probe also wants to determine if the adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender in the country complies with the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regarding the operation of digital currencies.
Senate Committee On Foreign Relations
The bill was drafted by senators Bill Cassidy (R) of Louisiana and Jim Risch (R) of Idaho, who are all members of the Senate Committee On Foreign Relations.
One of the authors of the bill, Senator Jim Risch (R), said that the bill was necessary to bar the possibility of undermining US sanctions on nations such as China and criminal organizations.
The second sponsor of the bill, Senator Bill Cassidy said that:
“El Salvador recognizing Bitcoin as official currency opens the door for money laundering cartels and undermines U.S. interests,”
Reacting to the plan of the senators to move against the government of El Salvador, a pro-Bitcoin analyst, Dennis Porter said that the US dollar is the preferred money laundering currency of most world cartels, He said that the USD is used for more illicit activities than cryptocurrencies.
The bill would require an appraisal of the risks that El Salvador’s Bitcoin policy would have on economic stability and the hazards associated with cybersecurity and democratic governance in the country. It would also recommend an action plan to mitigate the risk to the financial system of the United States.
President Bukele Reacts
In a reaction to the proposed bill by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Herbert Esmahan, the El Salvador nationalist said that bearing in mind that president Biden had promoted sovereignty of countries:
“ but I think he should remind the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that El Salvador is a sovereign nation.”
In his response, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, responded through a tweet:
“OK boomers…You have 0 jurisdiction on a sovereign and independent nation.
We are not your colony, your back yard or your front yard.
Stay out of our internal affairs.”
OK boomers…
You have 0 jurisdiction on a sovereign and independent nation.
We are not your colony, your back yard or your front yard.
Stay out of our internal affairs.
Don’t try to control something you can’t control 😉
https://t.co/pkejw6dtYn— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) February 16, 2022
The move by the members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to move against the El Salvador policy is surprising considering the various positions that the US government has taken on cryptocurrencies in the past such as the assertion that it has no intrinsic value as a currency.
Presently, the government’s stance that Bitcoin is a threat to the USD as a global reserve currency seems to influence its policy on digital assets.
A Twitter user with the username @bitdov has an advice for the government of El Salvador:
“Time for @nayibbukele to take the country BTC out of US custodian. Or risk confiscation. Although confiscation would be a great advertisement for self-custody and self-sovereign bitcoin, I would hate to see El Salvador be a victim when it could have avoided it by hodling right.”
