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Hi,
after El Salvador, we might have the next country which wants to accept BTC as a legal tender. We almost had Tonga and Niue, the small island states in Polynesia, accepting BTC, but a volcano erupted, and the poor people have other issues for now.
By the way, Niue has a cool silver coin collection. Almost a year ago, I received a nice shiny Niue BTC coin from my friend Mr. 
The coin looks like this on the front:
and like this on the back:
I like this shiny thing from
Tonga had big plans with the lead of Lord Fusitu’a, a former parliament member, to copy the legislation of El Salvador regarding BTC, seeing the steps taken by the president, Nayib Bukele, as visionary. This move should help Tonga reach more tourist visits and make it easier for exchanges. Well, like said, plans changed due to the mess caused by the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano eruption from end of 2021.
I hope for the people of Tonga, that they can recover and that they will be able to adopt BTC as a legal tender, which shall help in the end the country. Maybe bringing the own wallet app and more use cases for BTC. With the economic gain, Tonga shall be able to be requested from slowly vanishing under the Pacific Ocean.
Lichtenstein is a crypto-friendly country, and had already introduced the Lichtenstein Blockchain Act in 2019. As a fact, Lichtenstein uses German as a language, and because of this, the German language is used in fiscal legislation 4 times more than the rest of the world. Lichtenstein counts for 80% of the volume.
So, people in Lichtenstein, try to regulate everything from a financial point of view. They don't have their own coin, as the legal tender is the Swiss Franc - CHF.
According to the prime minister of Lichtenstein, who is also the finance minister, Mr. Daniel Risch, people will be able to pay state services and taxes with BTC, which will be converted automatically to the Swiss Franc. A nice interview can be read in Handelsblatt, under this link. Sadly, it is under a paywall and in German, but I summarized it in the rows above.
There are regions in Switzerland, Zug, which is called the crypto valley and Lugano, which already accepted and incorporate BTC as a legal tender. The economy is strong in that area, like for almost whole Switzerland, and the impact was not so high. Also, the economic impact for Lichtenstein is expected to be rather low, but it is a step further, to make the small principate an attractive investment place. Both, Switzerland and Lichtenstein have very strong laws, which protect investors, and the risk of a loss, is very low. Maybe the return is not high, but it is something that investors with a high value portfolio like to switch to, safety on the long run.
Lichtenstein does not even need to mine BTC, as El Salvador does, as it would be not energy and cost-efficient, but it can show, that crypto can be and is a solution. I don't know when it will take in effect, but I think this year it shall happen, depending on the legislation push, wallet and crypto infrastructure.
While the concept of cryptocurrencies may have seemed unconventional a decade ago, the benefits of embracing Bitcoin as legal tender are increasingly evident, as we are living in a new era, where BTC is the frontrunner of cryptocurrency. Imagine having altcoins accepted everywhere!
As mentioned, the impact is not so high in richer and safer countries, at least on the short run, but in poor areas, where there are no banks, where the fees from money transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram are eating via the fees, taxes, and conversion rates the money sent, BTC can be a big improvement and a solution for the common people. BTC takes a lot of the intermediates out, making the transactions cheaper than a normal bank transfer or normal wiring service.
Even if the nay sayers, deny it, crypto and BTC can be tracked, making it a lot more secure transaction. It also helps to avoid illicit behaviour and actions.
Okay, you might say, that it can help wire BTC in countries under sanction. True, but what can this countries export? Almost nothing can be bought from there, at least it is very hard to deliver or to import physical goods.
Speaking of physical goods, BTC can help with global transactions, making globalisation easier, as it operates 24 7, where the traditional banking system is blocked on weekends and on bank holidays. Imagine doing business with an Arab country, which has the bank closed on Friday, with Israel, which does not move on Saturday and with the Christian world, where Sunday is off. 3 days of the week, without taking other holidays in account, no transactions can be made.
Now on BTC and crypto, they are 24 hours, 7 days a week online and running. And they run fast. Everyone, with a cell phone and some signal, can use it. It is all about the vision of the rulers and government. If they care for the people, they will make it better and easer for them.
I think that more and more countries that accept BTC and crypto as a legal tender will appear in the future, and this will open a new way to do business on a global scale. Also, it will help to empower people in areas where help is needed. There will always be regulations, but this type of regulations might even help BTC and crypto, as they push the use and mass adoption.
How do you see it? Do you think that Lichtenstein, even if it is a small country, will help the mass adoption by making BTC a legal tender? Why? Do we require more countries where crypto is a legal tender?