by Lydia Ludmila 
- Parliament member in Tonga, a small island nation off the coast of Australia, wants his country to adopt BTC.
- Parliament member in question is known as Lord Fusitu — who wishes to cut the cost of remittance.
- Bitcoin transactions could be sent at no cost, while Western Union takes 30% of all remittances.
About a month ago, El Salvador made history by accepting Bitcoin as legal tender. Despite the small size of the country, as well as the mixed feelings about the move among its citizens, the decision made major waves in the world. Now, several nations have reportedly started considering the idea.
One of them is a small island nation of Tonga — an archipelago east of Australia. According to recent reports, one of its Parliament members, a landowner, barrister, and MP, known as Lord Fusitu, is a major supporter of Bitcoin (BTC/USD) and wishes to see it become a legitimate currency within his country.
He recently revealed that he is working on a bill that would make BTC legal tender within the country, alongside pa’anga, the nation’s fiat currency.
Payment services like Western Union are pushing nations towards crypto
According to recent reports, Fusitu has been a fan of digital currencies for a long time. His first step towards adopting the coin is a collaboration with a digital wallet Strike, which Tongans will be able to use to receive remittance payments from ex-pats who left to work in other countries. Fusitu believes that reducing the cost of sending remittances is a critical issue, given that 38% to 41.1% of the nation’s GDP comes from remittances.
The cost of sending that much money is massive, he claimed, noting that Western Union — a go-to service for remittances in the country — is taking a “30% bite,” as he put it. Fusitu also noted that the situation is not that much different from El Salvador’s former issues, although the situation was slightly worse there, as Western Union’s fee is nearly 50% in El Salvador.
By switching to Bitcoin and using Strike wallet, citizens would be able to receive virtually any amount through Bitcoin at essentially no cost at all. Furthermore, Strike itself acts as a commercial solution, meaning that it might not even require approval from the parliament, nor the country’s central bank.
Tonga is only the latest example of a country that is turning to Bitcoin in order to cut the costs of transactions and adopt innovative new solutions to solve the problem of financial institutions’ greed, with more likely to follow.
