World Bank refuses to aid El Salvador Bitcoin integration

El Salvador has begun encountering some problems since it adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender.

Business Stance
1 min readJun 18, 2021
A photo of the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele
President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele

Following its adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender that is accepted as payment for goods and services, El Salvador has begun the process of integration process within the country but its biggest obstacle is the World Bank.

The World Bank refused to aid El Salvador with integrating Bitcoin into the country’s financial system, stating that environmental and transparency issues as the core reasons.

The World Bank’s representative said via email:

“We are committed to helping El Salvador in numerous ways including for currency transparency and regulatory processes. While the government did approach us for assistance on Bitcoin, this is not something the World Bank can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings.”

On the other hand, El Salvador’s Finance Minister, Alejandro Zelaya announced that the country’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were successful despite the organization’s initial concern of macroeconomic, financial, and legal issues with Bitcoin adoption.

There is no certainty as regards if the World Bank will reconsider its stance on El Salvador’s Bitcoin integration.

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Business Stance

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