El Salvador has rejected the recommendation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to drop bitcoin as legal tender. The country’s finance minister reportedly “angrily” said, “No international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all.”

El Salvador Says No to IMF on Bitcoin

The government of El Salvador has rejected a recommendation by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to drop bitcoin as legal tender in the country.

The IMF urged El Salvador last week to drop bitcoin’s use as legal tender and dissolve Fidebitcoin, the $150 million trust fund created for the Bitcoin law.

El Salvador’s Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya told a local television station that bitcoin is an issue of “sovereignty.” According to the media, he “angrily” said:“No international organization is going to make us do anything, anything at all.”

“Countries are sovereign nations and they take sovereign decisions about public policy,” the finance minister added.

 

According to its analysis, “In the near-term the actual costs of implementing Chivo and operationalizing the Bitcoin law exceed potential benefits,” the IMF stated in its recent report on El Salvador.

The International Monetary Fund also recommended that El Salvador’s government start charging fees for the use of its digital wallet, Chivo. In addition, the IMF wants the Salvadoran government to stop giving away $30 in bitcoin to anyone signing up to use the Chivo wallet.