Bitcoin issue of "Sovereignty" says El Salvador Government, rejects IMF call to drop Bitcoin use
El Salvador Treasury Minister Alejandro Zelaya angrily rejects a call of the International Monetary Fund which was requesting the El Salvador Government to drop the use of Bitcoin.
Minister said that Bitcoin use is the issue of “Sovereignty”.
Highlighted Facts
- IMF cited the concerns of the Volatility of Bitcoin prices.
- El Salvador government is not looking for any need of the scale back scope of its Bitcoin law.
- Bukele led the push to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender.
Read More: Ahead of Budget Session of Parliament And Crypto Bill Timeline in India
Treasury Minister of El Salvador Government, Alejandro Zelaya angrily rejects a call of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to drop Bitcoin as legal tender in the Central American country. Minister said, “No International Organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all.”
Zelaya, to a local reporter, told about the use of Bitcoin and said the use of Bitcoin is an issue of “Sovereignty” the current price of Bitcoin in India is Rs. 30.73 Lakh on 10 am on February 1.
Minister also added
“countries are sovereign nations and they take sovereign decisions about public policy,” said Zelaya.
The international organization IMF recommended last week that El Salvador dissolve the $150 million (INR 1,120 crore) trust fund it created when it made the cryptocurrency legal and return any of those unused funds to its treasury.
The agency has cited the subject of the volatility of Bitcoin prices and the possibility of criminal activity while using the cryptocurrency for their interest. The value of the currency has reached double since last year and now it has plunged in value.
The minister said the El Salvador government has compiled all financial transaction and Money laundering rules.
He told that the trust fund has the intention to allow the automatic conversion of Bitcoin to the US dollar which is El Salvador’s other currency and including this the objective was to encourage people to adopt highly volatile digital currency.
The IMF also recommended eliminating the offer of $30 (INR 2,230) for the people to use the digital wallet Chivo and it also looking forward to enhancing the use of rules and regulations on such digital currency. It said there are many benefits to using Chivo which will accept only dollars.
The reporter revealed “in the near- term the actual cost of implementing Chivo and operationalizing the Bitcoin law exceed potential benefits,” said to the context to Chivo.
Bukele led the push to legalize Bitcoin as legal tender alongside the US dollar. The El Salvador government is the first who make the legal use of Cryptocurrency in the country in June and it came into effect from September 2021.
Both, the El Salvador Government and IMF have been negotiating $1.3 billion (INR 9,680 crore) in lending for months.
