Is Tonga The Next Country to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender?

Another clue in the race for the second nation state to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender was revealed on Wednesday.

In a series of tweets, Lord Fusitu’a, a former member of parliament for Tonga, shares his playbook towards the Island nation inevitable adoption of the top cryptocurrency as legal tender.

With a strategy covering five points, with lessons learned from El Salvador’s user case, Fusitu’a described how over 100,00 Tongans could be converted to Bitcoin. He said the bill is “modeled on and is almost identical to the El Salvador bill.”

1. Sept/Oct Bill goes to Parliament. Passed.
2. Sent to Palace Office for submission to His Majesty for Royal Assent.
3.<A month – HM as advised by Privy Council assents to Bill.
4. 2-3 Weeks Gazetted by Govt activation date set.
4. On activation date #BTC becomes legal tender. https://t.co/TNjQjeEbjN

— Lord Fusitu’a (@LordFusitua) January 12, 2022

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The announcement got the Bitcoin community on its feet celebrating the ‘news’. When it comes to expectations, the former politician considers a possible timeline for BTC becoming legal tender could be towards the end of 2022

Following an episode of the ‘What Bitcoin Did’ podcast with ‘King of Bedford’ Peter McCormack, Tonga was immediately put by many on the hotlist of next country in line to make the digital currency legal tender.

Tonga is a Polynesian island nation with 169 islands of which 36 are inhabitable. Its national income relies heavily upon remittances from its nationals residing abroad in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Just as El Salvador, Tonga is home to a number of active volcanoes and Fusitu’a assured his followers of its geothermal potential:

Gratis/donated geothermal mining and hashhut mining rigs & tech and IP provided to free of charge will utilise the 21 volcanoes in the country to cheaply mine extremely profitable bitcoin. How much do you actually know about the Tongan economy currently? It seems not much. pic.twitter.com/MiV7eabEfl

— Lord Fusitu’a (@LordFusitua) January 14, 2022