#el salvador

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its stance on El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption. Initially, the IMF had been pressing for a complete ban on BTC’s use as official legal tender since 2021.

El Salvador's unrealized (or floating) gains from its Bitcoin acquisitions have surpassed $12 million. Currently, the average cost of all BTC purchased by the country stands at $42,441.

This was announced by the country's president and well-known Bitcoin enthusiast, Nayib Bukele.

Contrary to forecasts, the value of Salvadoran bonds rose by 62% after Fitch downgraded the country's credit rating in September 2022. Perhaps the 79% surge in BTC during the same period played a role in this unexpected turn of events. In 2021, El Salvador declared Bitcoin as legal tender and currently holds 2546 BTC. Despite skepticism from the IMF, the country also allocated $1 billion for the construction of a mining farm with a capacity of 241 MW.

CiberInteligenciaSV, the hacking group behind the security breach of El Salvador's state-run Bitcoin wallet Chivo, has started leaking portions of the app's source code. They had already disclosed the personal information of almost all adult users in El Salvador (5.1 million people) who downloaded the wallet.

In El Salvador, only 12% of the population reportedly used Bitcoin for payments of goods and services in the past year, marking a 12.4% decline from the 2022 statistics. This information comes from a study conducted by the Central American University José Simeón Cañas, based on face-to-face interviews with 1,280 people.

This initiative offers a residency visa and a pathway to citizenship to 1,000 individuals who invest $1 million in Bitcoin or Tether in the country.

Nayib Bukele, fervent in his support for Bitcoin, is seeking re-election as El Salvador’s President.

This collaboration seeks to digitize various sectors, including government services, healthcare, and education. The Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) services will enhance local infrastructure and data processing capabilities, aligning with El Salvador’s vision to become an innovation hub. President Nayib Bukele emphasized the importance of technology and foreign investment for the nation’s development: “Google’s global experience combined with the audacity of El Salvador will redefine the technological landscape.”