President Bukele Bites Back as El Salvador Snubs IMF’s Advice to Stop Using Bitcoin

On Jan. 31, El Salvador Treasury Minister Alejandro Zelaya indignantly said that “no international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all.” He said that Bitcoin was an issue of sovereignty, adding:

“Countries are sovereign nations and they take sovereign decisions about public policy,”

The comments and critique continued with Mr. Zelaya adding that it was logical that the IMF highlighted the negative situation regarding the country’s debt, but this is a situation that has been dragged over by a previous administration.

On Jan. 25, the IMF released a report urging the Central American nation to “narrow the scope of the Bitcoin law by removing Bitcoin’s legal tender status.”

Bukele’s Bitcoin Optimism

President Nayib Bukele has continued with his support of Bitcoin and crypto despite the asset falling by 44% from its all-time high in November.

On Jan. 31, the pro-BTC president said that there would be a “gigantic price increase” simply because there were many more millionaires in the world than there are bitcoins.

With more than 50 million millionaires and only 21 million BTC, not every one of these ultra-wealthy individuals can hold even one coin.

There are more than 50 million millionaires in the world.

Imagine when each one of them decides they should own at least ONE #Bitcoin

But there will ever be only 21 million #Bitcoin

No enough for even half of them.

A gigantic price increase is just a matter of time.

— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) January 31, 2022

The government made its first purchase in early September when the asset was trading just north of $50K. It made several more purchases as prices surged to their peak in November, then started to fall back, which it has been doing ever since.

El Salvador plans to raise $1 billion through Bitcoin-backed bonds, which will partially fund the development of a “Bitcoin City” and buy more of the asset.

BTC Bounces Back

Bitcoin prices have bounced back today with a 4% gain over the past 15 hours, according to CoinGecko. At the time of writing, the asset was changing hands for $38,570 after making 5% over the past week.

The trend since its peak price is still down, however, as BTC has lost 19% over the past 30 days. It has remained range-bound since the massive slump below $40K on Jan. 21.

Bitcoin is currently at resistance and needs to break above $42K to see any sustained moves higher. Support on the downside is the bottom of its sideways channel, which is around $33K.