International Monetary Fund Spokesperson Gerry Rice warned that the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador could bring more risks and challenges, Bloomberg reported.
- Rice said Bitcoin as legal tender could introduce macroeconomic, financial, and legal issues that need very careful analysis. Regulation will be necessary to deal with such risks.
- The IMF is closely monitoring developments and is in talks with authorities regarding the matter. A meeting between an IMF team and President Nayib Bukele is scheduled Thursday.
- Congress this week passed a law mandating businesses to accept Bitcoin as a payment option. Bukele said the digital token will help low banking penetration and reduce remittance costs.
El Salvador’s bonds had the worst performance in emerging markets this week. BTC/USD is down 1.13%.