The International Monetary Fund said it has reached an agreement with El Salvador to pay the country $120 million following an initial review of its $1.4 billion loan agreement struck last year.
The IMF said on May 27 that as part of the deal, El Salvador will need to fulfill its prior obligations around limiting further government involvement in Bitcoin, and it will have to cease its involvement in the Chivo wallet by the end of July.
“On Bitcoin, efforts will continue to ensure that the total amount of Bitcoin held across all government-owned wallets remains unchanged,” the global lender said.
The planned payout, subject to IMF executive board approval, is part of a larger $1.4 billion, 40-month loan deal struck in December, which saw El Salvador agree to confine its Bitcoin ambitions.
On March 3, the IMF reiterated its stance that El Salvador should stop accumulating Bitcoin and not pursue other Bitcoin-related activities.
Despite the IMF’s request, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has stated that his government will continue to acquire one BTC per day as part of the nation’s Bitcoin treasury strategy.
El Salvador again defies IMF
Shortly after the IMF’s May 27 announcement, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office posted to X that the country had once again purchased more Bitcoin.
The country’s official Bitcoin tracker shows that El Salvador is continuing with Bitcoin-buying through the Bitcoin Office, which has accumulated 30 BTC in the past 30 days.
Currently, El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserve stands at 6,190.18 BTC.
Last week, Bukele took to the social media platform X to reveal that the nation’s Bitcoin treasury is sitting at an unrealized profit of $386 million, a 132% gain on its total Bitcoin investment.
In April, Rodrigo Valdes, director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the IMF, said that the country is complying with the IMF’s performance criteria.
Author and intergovernmental blockchain adviser Anndy Lian suggested that the country could maintain technical compliance by purchasing Bitcoin through non-government entities.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/imf-el-salvador-efforts-stop-bitcoin-buys-120m-payments-deal
Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.
Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.
An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.