Countries that have adopted cryptocurrencies

Several countries have been legalizing crypto assets. El Salvador, Central African Republic & Panama have made Bitcoin legal tender. Ethiopia has made the commitment to adopt Cardano into soon.

1. El Salvador

   The citizens of El Salvador have already started using Bitcoin as a form of payment and wealth storage. Jack Mallers, the innovator behind the Zap and the Strike Bitcoin payments app, has inspired the development. He has also assisted in initiating a bill to acknowledge Bitcoin, the legal tender in El Salvador.

   Adopting Bitcoin to legal tender eliminates capital gains from the equation and lets citizens move and change Bitcoin without fear of taxation.

   During the 2021 Bitcoin conference in Miami, Mallers stated that El Salvador is set to be the first country to adopt bitcoin and the first country to acknowledge bitcoin as legal tender and treat the crypto as a global currency and have it on their reserves.

2. Cuba

   In late August, Cuba's government stated that it would recognize and regulate crypto for payments. The popularity of cryptocurrencies has grown among a technologically savvy group in the island country. It has become challenging to use dollars due to the toughened embargo issued under former President Donald Trump.

   In May 2020, President Miguel Díaz-Canel stated that his government was assessing the appropriateness of utilizing crypto in the country's economic performance, whose GDP plummeted by 11 percent in 2020 because of the escalation of the US embargo and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Ethiopia

   The Cardano network proposes to advance a bid to the Ethiopian government suggesting blockchain technology for a national ID system.

   Cardano founder and Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson disclosed the scheme while updating the cryptocurrency community on developments achieved by the Cardano team in Ethiopia. He is exploring the prospective of blockchain in developing environments.

   Cardano has been helping the country's Ministry of Education, intending to establish a blockchain-based comprehensive student credentialing system. The project is expected to go live in the last quarter of 2021.

   The Input-Output HK (IOHK) team has showcased the scheme's infrastructure will enable administrators to build tamper-proof education records for approximately 3,500 schools. This will allow more than 750,000 teachers to interact with the blockchain data of about five million learners on the back of the Cardano ecosystem.

4. Panama

   Panama has also announced that it has introduced a bill to allow the government to regulate crypto transactions. The government added that it is preparing the country to be a cryptocurrency-friendly nation by creating essential infrastructures, including blockchain technology and internet connection.

   The new bill aims to recognize crypto as an official option for international payments. According to the authors of the bill, one of the key reasons they promote cryptocurrencies' recognition is due to the effectiveness and affordability of these digital currencies when sending payments, irrespective of amount and distance.

   As stated in one of the national TV networks in Panama, Telemetro, one key thing that distinguishes Panama from El Salvador regarding crypto strategies is that crypto use isn't statutory.

   El Salvador's Bitcoin legislation states that business enterprises must embrace Bitcoin payments if clients decide to use them to make payments for a service or product.

5. Ukraine

   Ukraine has become the fifth country to establish ground regulations for the crypto market, a sign that governments worldwide acknowledge that Bitcoin is here for the long haul.

   In an almost unanimous vote, the Ukrainian Parliament passed legislation that regulates and legalizes crypto. The bill was introduced in 2020, and it's on its way now to be approved by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

   For some time now, crypto in Ukraine has remained a legal gray area.

   Citizens were allowed to purchase and exchange digital currencies, but exchanges and firms dealing in cryptocurrency were usually under scrutiny by law enforcement.

   According to one of the country's dailies, the Kyiv Post, the law enforcement has applied for a combative position when addressing virtual cash, terming it a "scam," and often raiding crypto-related businesses, and repeatedly vandalizing expensive equipment with impunity.

   For instance, in August, the country's Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) jammed a network on claims of clandestine cryptocurrency exchanges operating in the country's capital city. The agency claimed that such exchanges were promoting money laundering by providing anonymity of transactions.

6. Central African Republic