The U.S. Senate is set to vote on a bill aimed at mitigating risks to the U.S. financial system posed by El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender. Sens. James Risch, Bob Menendez, and Bill Cassidy introduced the El Salvador Accountability for Cryptocurrency (ACES) Act on February 16.
In a statement Wednesday, Sens. James Risch said that since El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender, we must understand and mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system, and the legislation will require the state and Treasury Departments and other federal agencies to mitigate risks.
The bill would also require the United States to monitor remittances from El Salvador. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele expressed dissatisfaction after the bill passed the committee.