The Minister of Labor and Social Welfare in El Salvador, Rolando Castro, has stated that the government is thinking about whether firms in the country should pay their workers in Bitcoin. For now, a 2001 law on monetary integration in the country stipulates that salaries and fees should only be paid in colónes or dollars.
Based on an announcement by local radio station 107.7 Fuego GMV, Castro discussed the issue of employers and companies paying their workers and staff in Bitcoin (BTC) with top officials from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy. His remarks come barely a week after the nation’s Legislative Assembly approved the use of the crypto as legal tender.
El Salvador’s 2001 Law of Monetary Integration offers the legislative infrastructure to eventually replace the country’s Salvadoran colón with the U.S. dollar. This law says that salaries and fees can only be paid using the two currencies. But, the colón is not used often in the Central American country today.
It is still unclear if the approval of BTC as legal tender in the nation will expound on the existing law or even replace it. Looking at President Nayib Bukele’s draft of the law, it is clear that:
“tax contributions can be paid in Bitcoin and for accounting purposes, the USD will be used as the reference currency.”
Since first saying that he would introduce the pro-Bitcoin legislation at the BTC 2021 Miami conference, Bukele has already gone on social media to promote cryptos and mining in El Salvador. In the past week, the president called on the government and state-run geothermal power firm to make some of its facilities available for the bitcoin miners.
