El Salvador is in the process of finalizing a $3.5 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund, but is making some concessions on Bitcoin (BTC) to secure funding.
Stacey Herbert, director of El Salvador’s Bitcoin office, announced on Thursday that the government-issued Chivo wallet – which was launched in 2021 to spread Bitcoin adoption across the country – was “sold” as a result or dissolved” will act. Other Bitcoin wallets operated by private companies “will continue to serve El Salvador,” Herbert said.
The IMF said on Wednesday that under the agreement, El Salvador will also make Bitcoin acceptance by the private sector voluntary and that taxes will only be paid in US dollars (not Bitcoin). “For the public sector, participation in Bitcoin-related economic activities and transactions and purchases of Bitcoin will be restricted,” the document also states, without elaborating.
However, Herbert wrote in her post that El Salvador will continue to add Bitcoin to its reserves – perhaps even at an “accelerated pace.” The Central American country is currently buying one Bitcoin per day; At press time, there were 5,968.77 Bitcoin worth nearly $596 million. Herbert said that many of El Salvador’s Bitcoin-related projects, including the development of Bitcoin capital markets and the provision of Bitcoin education programs, continue to be carried out. The status of the cryptocurrency as legal tender also remains unaffected.
The IMF has had concerns about El Salvador’s Bitcoin initiatives since President Nayib Bukele made Bitcoin legal tender in the country in September 2021, giving it the same status as the US…
