If bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador, wouldn’t Apple be required to accept it in their apps in that country?
Anyone know how this works? McDonald’s had to, right? Or is that because they are physically located there?
Discussion
Great point but I guess not in the USA
Not sure how it works with Apple, but I think McDonald’s was proactively adopting it. I assume Apple only accepts dollars in El Salvador.
aren’t they legally obligated to accept bitcoin if they want to do business in El Salvador ?
Legal tender only applies to debts, so all creditors have to accept it to settle debts, but private businesses don’t have to accept it in exchange for goods/services. They are free to accept payment however. It’s the same in the US; lots of places only accept credit cards.
Except, if they've already given you the goods -which is the typical workflow in a shop, restaurant etc- then they're legally required to accept your cash, as it's now a settlement for a debt.
[They you never serve you again, but that's a different question 😉]
Private companies aren't required to take dollars. They just have to tell you before they provide service. I.e. you can't provide a service and then when they try to settle up you say, "Sorry I only take payment in potatoes." You're totally allowed to say, "Sure, I'd be happy to serve you a steak dinner. However, I only accept payment in dryer lint." Because you can always just say, "Damn, I spent all my dryer lint at FedEx Kinkos. Thanks anyway!"
Legal tender laws mean local/state/federal governments can't refuse to take your dollars for fees/taxes.
That is correct, even tho, Apple does not allow me to pay my services with them in bitcoin. 😢
McDonald converts BTC to USD instantly with El Salvador payment system. People don’t buy burgurs in #TheBitcoinStandard but they paid in USD unit then convert to LN in their wallets.
Apple isn’t targeting bitcoin specifically. They’re targeting what they claim is in-app digital content purchasing behavior
A closer proxy might actually be the European Union vs. Apple
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/eu-apple-to-allow-outside-app-stores-111215682.html