{"id":145764,"date":"2022-01-31T21:33:47","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T01:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=145764"},"modified":"2022-01-31T21:34:25","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T01:34:25","slug":"el-salvador-defends-use-of-bitcoin-as-legal-tender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/el-salvador-defends-use-of-bitcoin-as-legal-tender\/","title":{"rendered":"El Salvador defends use of Bitcoin as legal tender"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN SALVADOR,\u00a0El Salvador\u00a0(AFP)\u2014 El Salvador\u2019s government on Monday defended the country\u2019s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, rejecting calls from the International Monetary Fund to change course.<\/p>

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The IMF last Tuesday warned of \u201clarge risks\u201d posed by the cryptocurrency\u2019s volatility.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNo multilateral body is going to force you to do anything, absolutely nothing.\u00a0States are sovereign states and make sovereign decisions about their public policies,\u201d Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said Monday.<\/p>

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In September, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, alongside the US dollar.<\/p>

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At the time, the cryptocurrency was trading at about US$44,000.<\/p>\n

It hit a record of US$67,734 in November, but has since fallen and is now trading at about US$38,000.<\/p>

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Last week, the IMF board, comprised of representatives of member countries, \u201curged\u201d President Nayib Bukele\u2019s government \u201cto narrow the scope of the Bitcoin law by removing Bitcoin\u2019s legal tender status.\u201d<\/p>\n

It warned of \u201clarge risks associated with the use of Bitcoin on financial stability, financial integrity, and consumer protection\u201d and with issuing Bitcoin-backed bonds.<\/p>

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But Zelaya told Channel 21 on Monday the IMF had never asked El Salvador to \u201celiminate\u201d Bitcoin as legal tender.<\/p>

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He added plans were afoot to issue a Bitcoin bond in the first half of March with \u201call the safeguards\u201d in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is regulation for this,\u201d he said \u201cAll risks have been evaluated and we have worked on every one to minimize them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zelaya added that El Salvador continued in negotiations with the IMF for a US$1.3-billion financing agreement to clear its debt.<\/p>\n

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SAN SALVADOR,\u00a0El Salvador\u00a0(AFP)\u2014 El Salvador\u2019s government on Monday defended the country\u2019s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, rejecting calls from the International Monetary Fund to change course. The IMF last Tuesday warned of \u201clarge risks\u201d posed by the cryptocurrency\u2019s volatility. \u201cNo multilateral body is going to force you to do anything, absolutely nothing.\u00a0States are sovereign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":145765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional"],"yoast_head":"\nEl Salvador defends use of Bitcoin as legal tender - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/el-salvador-defends-use-of-bitcoin-as-legal-tender\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"El Salvador defends use of Bitcoin as legal tender\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SAN SALVADOR,\u00a0El Salvador\u00a0(AFP)\u2014 El Salvador\u2019s government on Monday defended the country\u2019s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, rejecting calls from the International Monetary Fund to change course. 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