Bitcoin officially became legal tender in El Salvador on Sept. 7, 2021, making it the first country to adopt the currency. The move has turned the Central American country into the first national experiment regarding the use of the often volatile currency, which is increasingly popular among many investors and speculators globally. The USD will remain the country"s other principal medium of exchange.

Bitcoin’s price fell sharply after El Salvador announced the move, recovering slightly by early afternoon Tuesday.

In 2001, El Salvador’s Law of Monetary Integration set a fixed rate of exchange between the U.S. dollar and that country"s monetary unit, the colon. While the colon technically remains legal tender, it is no longer in circulation and thus is rarely used today.