
<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Fast food giant McDonald’s has started accepting bitcoin as a form of payment in El Salvador after the country became the first to adopt the cryptocurrency as legal tender Tuesday.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>California-based bitcoin payment processor OpenNode confirmed to&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;it has formed a partnership with McDonald’s to allow it to begin accepting bitcoin (<em>Editor&#8217;s Note:</em>&nbsp;OpenNode earlier told&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;that Panda Express was also using bitcoin, but has since said that was an error and we have clarified the piece).</p>



<p>Bitcoin can now be used to pay at all 19 McDonald’s locations in the country, as well as online and through the delivery app, OpenNode said.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Though this appears to be the first major American company to adjust to El Salvador’s cryptocurrency initiative, OpenNode spokesperson Ryan Flowers said his team is “currently onboarding multiple multi-billion dollar businesses based in El Salvador.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



<p>“Just walked into a McDonald’s in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin … fully expecting to be told no,” cryptocurrency journalist Aaron van Wirdum wrote in a tweet Tuesday morning. “But low and behold.”&nbsp;</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Just walked into a McDonald&#39;s in San Salvador to see if I could pay for my breakfast with bitcoin, tbh fully expecting to be told no.<br><br>But low and behold, they printed a ticket with QR that took me to a webpage with Lightning invoice, and now I&#39;m enjoying my desayuno traditional! <a href="https://t.co/NYCkMNbv7U">pic.twitter.com/NYCkMNbv7U</a></p>&mdash; Aaron van Wirdum (@AaronvanW) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronvanW/status/1435236902274220040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND&nbsp;</h2>



<p>El Salvador on Tuesday became the first sovereign government to adopt bitcoin as legal tender alongside its existing currency, the U.S. dollar. It allows the country’s residents to pay taxes and other debts using bitcoin, and for businesses to widen their payment options to the cryptocurrency. However, El Salvador’s proclaimed “Bitcoin Day” got off to a rocky start as the cryptocurrency market&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/07/crypto-flash-crash-wipes-out-400-billion-in-market-value-on-el-salvadors-bitcoin-day/?sh=3fd3b7154fb9">plunged</a>, with the price of bitcoin falling from over $52,000 to $42,830, its lowest level in nearly three weeks on Tuesday morning. Bitcoin recovered to just under $46,957 by 1:45 EDT, still 9% below a day earlier.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING&nbsp;</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/07/el-salvador-taps-billionaire-backed-bitcoin-unicorn-in-the-cryptocurrencys-historic-legal-tender-debut/?sh=42a359be4fac">“El Salvador Taps billionaire-Backed Bitcoin Unicorn In Historic Legal Tender Debut”</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)&nbsp;</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/07/crypto-flash-crash-wipes-out-400-billion-in-market-value-on-el-salvadors-bitcoin-day/?sh=3fd3b7154fb9">“Crypto Flash Crash Wipes Out $400 Billion In Market Value On Bitcoin Day Before El Salvador’s President ‘Buys The Dip’”</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


El Salvador Sells $1 Billion In Bonds To Help Fight Pandemic Spread

McDonald’s Starts Accepting Bitcoin In El Salvador


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> El Salvador acquired roughly $21 million worth of bitcoin on Monday, President Nayib Bukele announced, buoying the crypto market ahead of making history Tuesday by becoming the first country in the world to formally adopt the digital currency as legal tender. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>El Salvador&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1434968475928248331?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bought</a>&nbsp;its first 400 bitcoins in two lots on Monday—worth an estimated $21 million based on bitcoin’s value at the time of the announcement—according to a series of tweets by Bukele.</p>



<p>Bukele said the country had plans to buy “a lot more” when announcing the first salvo of 200 bitcoins.</p>



<p>The purchase comes as El Salvador makes history as the first country to make bitcoin legal tender Tuesday.</p>



<p>The law enacting the change,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/09/el-salvador-makes-history-as-worlds-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?sh=867e05eeaa3b">approved</a>&nbsp;by an overwhelming majority in June, places bitcoin alongside the U.S. dollar as El Salvador’s national currency.</p>



<p>Bukele said he hopes the initiative will boost foreign investment, financial inclusion and generate jobs, and bitcoin can be used to make purchases and pay tax.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The value of bitcoin jumped around 2% to just under $53,000 on Tuesday morning following Bukele’s tweets—though the volatile token dipped around 3% later that morning—its highest value since the cryptocurrency market crashed three months ago.     </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">El Salvador just bought 200 new coins.<br><br>We now hold 400 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bitcoin</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BitcoinDay?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BitcoinDay</a> 🇸🇻</p>&mdash; Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) <a href="https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1435023474494410753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>El Salvador’s decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender is controversial and questions over logistics have been raised both at home and abroad. Polls&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/56588fee-dca8-450d-a848-80d29f02f45e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">suggest</a>&nbsp;most Salvadorans are against the idea and many have taken to the streets to&nbsp;<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/bitcoin-protests-and-confusion-in-el-salvador-as-country-prepares-to-make-cryptocurrency-legal-tender-12400516" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">protest</a>&nbsp;the change. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said its plans may&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-27/bitcoin-helped-tank-el-salvador-bonds-now-they-re-rising-back" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">threaten</a>&nbsp;an anticipated deal with the country, while some economists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/30/scepticism-grows-in-el-salvador-over-pioneering-bitcoin-gamble" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">warn</a>&nbsp;of the country becoming a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-09/el-salvador-s-bitcoin-bombshell-what-does-it-mean-quicktake" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">haven</a>&nbsp;for financial crime and there are widespread concerns over the potential&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/bitcoins-energy-usage-explained/#:~:text=That's%20roughly%20enough%20electricity%20to,Digiconomist's%20Bitcoin%20Energy%20Consumption%20Index.">environmental impact</a>&nbsp;of bitcoin, which uses huge amounts of electricity. Some of these criticisms—notably environmental impact and crime, which certainly are significant problems—are often raised as if they are insurmountable and without reference to&nbsp;<a href="https://fortune.com/2021/03/28/crypto-bitcoin-carbon-energy-consumption/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">efforts</a>&nbsp;to remedy the issue or context. Bitcoin could be mined using electricity generated from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/robday/2021/03/10/bitcoin-could-be-a-climate-disaster-but-it-doesnt-have-to-be-one/?sh=22580ba73a65">clean sources</a>, for example, and crypto’s popularity among criminals makes up a small&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/banning-cryptocurrencies-to-counter-crime-is-a-nonsensical-excuse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fraction</a>&nbsp;of illicit financial transactions. Many are excited about the change and Bukele has been open in his hopes it will attract a new cohort of entrepreneurs to the country.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>$30. That’s how much each citizen downloading the government bitcoin wallet, Chivo, will receive in bitcoin. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">Justo el día más importante de mi vida. 🙄 <a href="https://t.co/n46jprobT7">https://t.co/n46jprobT7</a></p>&mdash; chivo (@chivowallet) <a href="https://twitter.com/chivowallet/status/1435128539553095680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2021</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/56588fee-dca8-450d-a848-80d29f02f45e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">El Salvador becomes a crypto laboratory with bitcoin gamble</a>&nbsp;(FT)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/09/el-salvador-makes-history-as-worlds-first-country-to-make-bitcoin-legal-tender/?sh=867e05eeaa3b">El Salvador Makes History As World’s First Country To Make Bitcoin Legal Tender</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/06/14/tanzania-considers-crypto-and-boosts-bitcoin-as-nations-line-up-behind-el-salvador-to-embrace-decentralized-finance/?sh=15a7e4434fc3">Tanzania Considers Crypto—And Boosts Bitcoin—As Nations Line Up Behind El Salvador To Embrace Decentralized Finance</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanponciano/2021/09/06/solana-leads-massive-altcoin-rally-as-jpmorgan-warns-crypto-markets-are-looking-bubbly-again/?sh=7828d2c020fa">Solana Leads Massive Altcoin And Bitcoin Rally As JPMorgan Warns Crypto Markets Are Looking Bubbly Again</a> (Forbes)</p>



<p><strong><em>By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


Tag: El Salvador

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

McDonald’s Starts Accepting Bitcoin In El Salvador

El Salvador Goes On A $21 Million Crypto Buying Spree As Bitcoin Becomes Legal Tender