The Representative from California Norma Torres stated that, to the protection of our financial system from the risks that we have after the decision of El Salvador, we should have our plan in place.
After El Salvador adopted Bitcoin (BTC) as its legal currency, two members of the House of Representatives have proposed a law aiming to mitigate the expected risks to the US financial system.
Representative from Arkansas Rick Crawford and Representative from California Norma Torres introduced the legislation which instruct the State Department for creating a plan that would mitigate the possible risks that the United States financial system could face, based on the risk analysis of cybersecurity of El Salvador, its stable economy, and democratic government after it recognizes Bitcoin as currency in Sep 2021. The Cryptocurrency Accountability Act in El Salvador is a bipartisan bill submitted to the Senate in Feb.
The bill presented in the Senate was aiming that the federal department, agency heads, and Secretary of State will give the report to Congress in 60 days with a plan of mitigating any possible threat to the US financial system due to El Salvador adopting cryptocurrency as its legal tender and from all other countries who accept the United States dollar, such as the Marshall Islands, Palau, Ecuador, East Timor, Zimbabwe, and Micronesia. Torres mentioned that according to the report of the International Monetary Fund Bitcoin’s use as legal tender has greater risks which are related to consumer protection, financial stability, and integrity.
Torres stated that El Salvador is an independent democrat country, the United States respects its right to its self-governance, but we also must have a plan for protecting the US financial system from all the risks that arise from their decision, which is seemingly a bit careless instead of well-thought innovation.
James Risch Senator from Idaho, who sponsored the Senate bill stated in Feb that El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as their legal tender is raising serious concerns regarding the United States trading partner’s financial integrity and economic sustainability in Central America. Bill Cassidy Senator from Louisiana, who is the co-sponsor of the bill stated that Bitcoin Legislation in the country could pave the way for cartels of money laundering, threatening the supremacy of the United States dollar as the international reserve currency.