The Bank of Canada has stated that hundreds of millions of $1, 2, 25, $500 and $1,000 bills are no longer legal tender and merchants no longer have to accept them. The $1 and $2 paper notes, replaced by the loonie and toonie, will be legal tender on New Year`s Day. El Salvador`s Legislative Assembly passed a law that makes Bitcoin cryptocurrency legal in the country, the first nation to do so, just days after President Nayib Bukele made the proposal at a Bitcoin conference. «The goals of having the U.S. dollar as legal tender are replicated on steroids with Bitcoin,» he said. «It will be useful to have both currencies as legal tender.» Carlos Carcach, a professor at El Salvador`s Superior School of Economics and Business, argued that adopting bitcoin as legal tender is «neither necessary nor practical,» although he added, «As long as there is someone who accepts payments with Bitcoin, just as he accepts dollars, there would be no problems.» Ahead of the vote in El Salvador, Bukele said in a tweet that using Bitcoin as legal tender would promote financial inclusion, tourism, innovation and economic development. «Next week, I will send a bill to Congress that will make Bitcoin legal in El Salvador,» Bukele said in Saturday`s message. «In the short term, this will create jobs and help financially involve thousands of people outside the formal economy, and in the medium and long term, we hope that this small decision can help us steer humanity at least a little in the right direction.» «They have to take bitcoin, but they don`t have to take the risk,» Bukele said. «We could make money or lose money, but it doesn`t matter. The purpose of the trust fund is not to make money, but to help make Bitcoin a legal tender. Stephen McKeon, a professor of finance at the University of Oregon who studies cryptocurrencies, said that Bitcoin is legal in most countries, but has never been called legal tender, which would mean it could be used to pay financial obligations, including taxes.

What happens if you have old bills? The Bank of Canada says you can still keep them. «It is important to remember that these notes will no longer lose value from 1 January 2021. The Bank of Canada will continue to take them at face value. Financial institutions may continue to accept these notes on behalf of their customers after their legal tender is revoked. Salvadoran lawmakers made history on Wednesday by approving a proposal by President Nayib Bukele that would allow Bitcoin to be used alongside the U.S. dollar as legal tender in the country. SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR – El Salvador`s President Nayib Bukele announced in a recorded message at a Bitcoin conference in Miami that he will send a bill to the country`s Congress next week that would make cryptocurrency legal in the Central American country. With the memory of this catastrophic inflation, many Zimbabweans today prefer to look on the illegal market for rare US dollars to keep at home as savings or for daily transactions. Confidence in the Zimbabwean currency is already so low that many retailers do not accept it.

The Bank of Canada indicates that legal tender will be withdrawn from the $1, $2.25, $500 and $1,000 bills effective January 1, 2021. «Essentially, this means that Canadians may no longer be able to use them in transactions,» a Bank of Canada spokesman said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa. Several old Canadian paper bills lost their legal tender status on New Year`s Day. Bitcoin`s value soared after El Salvador became the first country in the world to accept it as legal tender. «For the ordinary man, there`s not really much that can benefit directly from it, especially if you don`t have excess money,» Chitambara said. «Gold shipments to Zimbabwe have recovered significantly due to appetizing U.S. dollar payments offered to artisanal miners,» securities firm Morgan & Co noted in a market research report. Bukele softened his offer on Sunday, saying via Twitter that his government would give «crypto entrepreneurs immediate permanent residency.» The rapidly depreciating sale of local currency coins could also lead to «rent-seeking behavior, speculation and arbitrage within the economy,» as some might buy in local currency and later sell in dollars, he said.