Honduras Central Bank Clarifies The Legal Status of Bitcoin (BTC)
The central bank of Honduras announced that Bitcoin (BTC) is not regulated as a currency, after rumors emerged that the Central American country would make cryptocurrency legal tender.
According to the announcement, shared on Twitter, clarifies that Bitcoin is not regulated in Honduras and not considered legal tender. It goes on to remind the public that Honduras’ central bank is the only entity that can legally issue bills and coins within the country.
— Banco Central de Honduras (@BancoCentral_HN) March 23, 2022
The announcement cites previous communications from Honduras’ central bank regarding cryptocurrencies, and explains that the central bank does not supervise or guarantee any transactions using cryptocurrencies as a payment method and that anyone making these transactions would be doing it at their own risk.
Honduras’ central bank also detailed that it would continue the work on conceptual, technical and legal studies to decide on the feasibility of issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Crypto Twitter has been speculating that Honduras’ president Xiomara Castro would announce cryptocurrency becoming legal tender this week, but as of now it doesn’t seem to be the case.
Honduras’ neighboring country El Salvador became the first country to bitcoin legal tender last September, and a November announced plans to create a new municipality known as “Bitcoin City,” planned to be located along the Gulf of Fonseca, close to Honduras and Nicaragua.
El Salvador was planning to launch its first so-called bitcoin bond between March 15 – March 20, which would help support the construction of Bitcoin City. But, the bond project is now on hold without a revised launch date, due to ‘unfavorable market conditions.’
