El Salvador’s pro-Bitcoin FM fires back at IMF’s ‘insult’

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The International Monetary Fund warned El Salvador to drop Bitcoin as legal tender. Not just once, or twice, but at least 4-5 times in the past. In fact, even the Executive directors urged El Salvador to detach Bitcoin’s status as legal tender in the country. What’s more, in a recent release, the IMF insisted that El Salvador dissolve its $150-million trust fund incorporated at the time of its policy decision.

Agree to disagree

El Salvador’s Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya responded to recent demands from the International Monetary Fund. And, as expected, he remains undeterred from his ‘pro-BTC’ stance.

According to Zelaya, the IMF’s demands are an ‘insult’ to the nation’s sovereignty.

In a interview hosted by ‘Diario La Huella’, Zelaya opined,

“No international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all. Countries are sovereign nations and they take sovereign decisions about public policy.”

Quite contrary to the “The evaluation of Article IV” published by the IMF.

The minister went on to add,

“We have reached 4 million users. It reduced transaction costs for Salvadorans abroad and within the country.”

In addition to this, the minister claimed that El Salvador has complied with all financial transaction and money laundering rules.

Back-up

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has dismissed the IMF’s recommendation on Bitcoin in the past. He remains hopeful and positive about Bitcoin and its value as a digital asset. In fact, he expects a “gigantic price increase” in the future as more wealthy individuals move in to acquire the flagship cryptocurrency.

In a tweet Bukele noted that there are more than 50 million millionaires in the world, while BTC’s supply is limited to 21 million coins.

“If every millionaire in the world one day owned at least one coin there won’t even be enough for half of them, which meant a gigantic price increase is just a matter of time.”

Needless to say, some did however criticize the aforementioned narrative. For instance, popular gold bug and crypto-skeptic Peter Schiff noted,

El Salvador’s Bitcoin investment has been hit hard due to the most recent market crash. In fact, it has led to a 31.8% unrealized loss for El Salvador after it poured $88.4 million into the asset.