As stated by the country’s finance minister, El Salvador’s use of bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender is succeeding despite the government’s over 50% losses on its purchases.
In a Wednesday interview with Bloomberg, Alejandro Zelaya said that the adoption of bitcoin had benefited El Salvador’s unbanked citizens as well as drawn in tourists and investments. According to him, the trend already exists, is spreading, and will remain thus for the years ahead.
The use of cryptocurrency in El Salvador has drawn criticism from conventional banking institutions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised the nation to revoke bitcoin’s legal tender status in January.
El Salvador bought 2,301 BTC between September of last year and the beginning of this month for a total of $103.9 million. Its portfolio seemed to have a value of $46.6 million somewhere at beginning of July, a decrease of more than 55%. The portfolio’s current value is about $55.3 million thanks to the recent improvement in the cryptocurrency markets.
El Salvador had intended to issue a $1 billion bitcoin bond earlier this year, but owing to deteriorating market conditions, it had to postpone it in March. As soon as circumstances improve, the government will review this, according to Zelaya.
Zelaya said in his closing remarks that new technologies have revealed how people once feared away from things like websites and digital commerce, but time has proven that reality imposes itself.