The price of Bitcoin fluctuates in the range of $ 10,000 as cryptocurrency becomes legal tender in El Salvador.
On Tuesday, El Salvador made history by becoming the first country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. However, Bitcoin's price reacted to this news with its usual unpredictability. It declined by 17% in a day at some point.
To prepare for the big day, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele bought over $ 20 million worth of 400 bitcoins.
In addition to being able to pay with bitcoins in El Salvador, every citizen who registers in the national wallet application called Chivo will receive $ 30 worth of bitcoins.
Many famous people in the crypto space encouraged and congratulated El Salvador, including MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
Bitcoin experienced sharp price swings in the $ 10,000 range on Tuesday. First, the main cryptocurrency rose to nearly $ 53,000 on the news of El Salvador, but then plummeted to a low of $ 42,921.27. After that, it soared again to 47,000 and dropped to 45,000.
Bitcoin's expansion did come with some glitches as the Chivo wallet app was not available in popular stores and the country's president said the government had to temporarily shut down the digital wallet to keep up with rising demand.
Despite the difficulties on the first day, people took to the streets, testing the new system and successfully paying with bitcoins in McDonald's and coffee shops.
Nayib Bukele warned of possible instability in the future and told his citizens to stay focused. He added that making bitcoin legal tender will save Salvadorans living abroad millions of dollars in fees when they send money home.
Last week, the country's Congress passed legislation to create a $ 150 million fund to help convert bitcoins to US dollars.
However, Salvadorans remain skeptical about this step. The latest survey conducted by the University Institute of Public Opinion showed that seven out of ten citizens believe that the bitcoin law should be repealed.
Not everyone welcomes this move by El Salvador. According to Bloomberg, Mobius Capital Partners co-founder Mark Mobius was skeptical about El Salvador's moves, noting that the country is in real trouble and is a bankrupt country, grabbing onto Bitcoin. He also expressed his doubt that the example of El Salvador would spread to other countries, although a few other countries that have financial problems will take such a step. In his opinion, it is inconvenient and risky for other countries.
