Two US lawmakers submitted legislation aimed at reducing the dangers to the US if El Salvador adopts bitcoin as legal currency after a similar Senate measure was introduced in February.
The bipartisan House measure, proposed by Reps. Norma Torres (D-Calif.) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark. ), seek to “mitigate the dangers to the United States” associated with El Salvador’s acceptance of Bitcoin as legal money. It proposes legislation to establish the Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act, as the previous Senate bill was titled.
“Global financial institutions have thoroughly analyzed and documented the multiple hazards associated with El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin, and the international community recognizes the potential threat,” Rep. Torres stated in a news statement. “El Salvador is an independent democracy, and we respect its right to self-government, but the United States must have a strategy in place to safeguard our financial institutions from the dangers associated with this move, which looks to be a hasty gamble rather than a deliberate embrace of innovation.”
Torres’ office announced on April 4 that the bill “was introduced as companion legislation” to the Senate bill introduced on February 16 by Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Bill Cassidy (R-La. ). (R-La.). As with the Senate bill, the House version would require the State Department to prepare a report on El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption and a strategy for mitigating potential risks.
H.R. 7391 is the more recent measure. As with the Senate version, the House version would “demand reporting on El Salvador’s adoption of a cryptocurrency as legal cash, among other things.” The measure has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Meanwhile, the Senate added its own version of the bill to its legislative agenda, indicating that it has garnered sufficient support from members to merit further consideration.
Rep. Torres is the head of the nonpartisan Central America Caucus. Rep. Crawford is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, a bitcoin supporter who legalized the cryptocurrency in September, responded to the Senate bill’s original version with tweets criticizing the US. “We are not your colony, your backyard, or your front yard,” Bukele wrote on Twitter on February 16. “Refrain from interfering in our internal affairs.” On April 7, Bukele will speak at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami.
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