The government of El Salvador asserted its adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, on Monday, refusing the proposal from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to adjust the path.
Not less than a week ago did the IMF cautioned of ‘large risks’ that are supposedly posed by the asset’s unpredictability. The bank had commended the authorities to narrow down the scope of the Bitcoin law, in a statement on 25 January 2022. The organization said,
“The adoption of a cryptocurrency as legal tender, however, entails large risks for financial and market integrity, financial stability and consumer protection.”
However, the Salvadoran Finance Minister, Alejandro Zelaya, on a local television station on 31 January 2022, insisted that no international organization can make the Central American country do anything concerning the issue and that Bitcoin (BTC) was an issue of ‘Sovereignty’, according to reports. He said,
“No multilateral body is going to force you to do anything, absolutely nothing. States are sovereign states and make sovereign decisions about their public policies.”
Zelaya explained that the IMF had not asked El Salvador to eliminate the cryptocurrency as legal tender. Furthermore, it was told that a Bitcoin bond was to be issued in the first half of March along with all the necessary safeguards in place. The Treasury Minister affirmed that all the risks had been evaluated and that they had worked on each risk to minimize them.
“Gigantic price increase” for Bitcoin according to El Salvador’s president
The Bitcoin-loving president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, on Monday, has predicted that the world’s most sought-after asset will experience a “gigantic” hike. He took to Twitter to particularize Bitcoin’s supply cap and his estimation of the 50 million millionaires in the world.
This prediction came by as Bitcoin had plunged by nearly 20% and just a few days after, the IMF called on the nation to cease the legal tender status of the coin. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was priced at $38,330.51 and had experienced a soaring high of 2.94% over the last 24 hours.