World Bank will not help establish bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador

The World Bank noted that cannot support El Salvador in the implementation of the bitcoin system as legal tender for reasons of transparency.

By a declaration, the international organization expressed its commitment to collaborate with the nation Central America in various ways, “including trade transparency and regulatory processes”

“As the government approached us for help on bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given transparency and environmental deficienciesSays the text.

This week Salvadoran Minister of Finance announced that his government had requested technical assistance from the World Bank for the development of regulations that would complement the Bitcoin law, approved last week by Parliament.

The Bitcoin Law has already been published in the Official Journal of El Salvado after receiving the President’s signature Here is a preview Yes it should come into effect in less than 90 days. The full text contains 16 articles and was approved on an “accelerated” basis, according to the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (Icefi).

The dollar remains

El Salvador, the first country to convert bitcoin into legal tender cryptocurrency, will continue to legally use the US dollar and its workers’ wages will be paid in that currencyFinance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said Wednesday.

“The monetary integration law (which legalized the use of the dollar since 2001) is still in force; the dollar is not substituted as legal tender and salaries will be paid in dollars because it is also legal tender and compulsory acceptance, ”Zelaya explained at a press conference.

Recently, the Legislative Assembly approved a law that makes bitcoin legal tender in the Central American nation. For the establishment and regulation of bitcoin, The government of President Nayib Bukele will benefit from technical assistance from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).

For his part, CABEI president Dante Mossi said at the same press conference that “Innovation must not scare us, we must learn from it, manage it and generate opportunities”.

He added that “on behalf of the Bank I would like to reiterate our unconditional support for the Minister to help him in these innovative policies. who come to benefit the poor ”. For bitcoin convertibility, the Salvadoran government will create a fund of 150 million dollars to allow people who receive payments in bitcoins to convert them immediately into dollars, reduce the risk of having the digital currency fluctuating.

According to the law passed by the unicameral congress, bitcoin, originally created to be money outside the control of governments, can be used in any transaction, and businesses must accept payments in this digital currency, except for those who don’t have the technology to do so.

The US dollar will continue to be the currency of El Salvador and no one will be forced to pay in bitcoin, according to the law passed on Tuesday.

Salvadorians received around $ 6 billion in remittances last year parents living abroad, primarily in the United States. Bukele said adopting bitcoin could save on the costs of sending that money home.

The law will enter into force 90 days after its publication in the Official Journal. The Central Reserve Bank and the Superintendence of the Financial System will issue the corresponding regulations during this period., according to the law.

(With information from EFE)

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