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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.

Source (https://news.bitcoin.com/el-salvador-rejects-imf-call-to-abandon-bitcoin-as-legal-tender/)

How is this going to affect the economy of El-Salvador, will IMF take any legal action against them or just allow them to have their way?

Well, the finance minister is right. Since it's just a recommendation from the IMF, there's no forcing of following the suggestion. And by the time that El Salvador has filed the law for declaring bitcoin as a legal tender up to its execution and application, that's already proving themselves that they're serious with this initiative. I hope that the IMF would just mind their own business and just let El Salvador do its own thing since they're aware of what bitcoin is.

Same as Marshall Islands then some 3 or 4 years ago when they announced plans for SOV (their national crypto). Didn't really follow the news much but to my understanding, IMF was not so much pissed about SOV as they were about the nation abandoning the US dollar -- but of course that and Venezuela's plans are very different from adopting a decentralised form of money. The thing is though I was sure sanctions were threatened then  (I could be wrong) -- not sure why this is only a recommendation.

However, it does seem to have worked in delaying SOV... as it still hasn't been issued and it's 2022. Perhaps that's simply what IMF wants. To delay the inevitable de-dollarisation.

EL Salvador president is completely PRO BITCOIN as he had given plenty of prediction about crypto specially Bitcoin , so this recommendation  will be denied as if the president is positive for bitcoin then why IMF will take its place against this?

good job EL Salvador , you truly proven how grateful you are for the crypto , and how you given this a chance to help your country .

just curious, what exactly can the IMF do and what "legal action" they can actually make against El Salvador? also, does the IMF really have that kind of power over the members of their organization?

The have no power, but if El Salvador asks for something from it's members they are less likely to go along with it.

Makes you wonder if this is step one in a plan. Step two2 would be getting miners, exchanges, BTC casinos, etc. to come to the country to operate out of there.
"Look we are crypto friendly, just pay this little^* bit of tax to operate out of our country and it's all good.

^* Little might go up depending on the current economic situation here, but you are not going to really leave once you are setup here are you? Didn't think so.....

-Dave

this president of El Salvador has a lot of courage to face the destroyers of countries (IMF) but he needs to be very careful because the destroyers of countries are very insistent and persuasive and they always end up getting what they want, we will see this battle how it will end. The president of El Salvador invested in bitcoin when the price of bitcoin was more than $40,000 and today he has high losses, I wonder how he is holding up? Will he not be charged in your country?

I think it was completely expected. El Salvador chose to adopt Bitcoin against the recommendation of the IMF, so it's not surprising that they won't listen to them now. What is also great from El Salvador is that, while they're not in a good place economically, they are not dependent on loans from the IMF. In my country, the IMF has a great leverage because of the loans we keep taking and the money we already owe, so it could stop crypto adoption. But in El Salvador, they don't have much to be afraid of. So, answering the question of it affecting the economy, I think the impact is going to be very small, unless the IMF figures out how to pressure someone else who does have strong ties with El Salvador and has more leverage.

El Salvador got the balls. They should be an example for the bigger countries who keep kissing IMF's butt and rely on their money while their people have a miserable life. Well done El Salvador. I'm sure more will follow this is only the beginning.

Of course they would their egos won't let them accept such outrageous recommendations because first of all, they have already taken a lot of steps and all sorts of efforts just to push bitcoin as being a legal tender. Not only that, the people also that are in El Salvador that are supporting this ideology will surely make their voices heard about this topic and may result to huge negative uproar. I admire such leaders who uas balls to stick to his words.

That was a clear message from a sovereign nation because El Salvador is an independent country, that's why they have the right to do what they want in its nation's financial policies and I guess that was a clear message to the IMF, and of course, there's nothing they can do about it unless they are playing dirty as we know that IMF like World bank is very influential because they are a Global Lender and I believe most countries in the world has a debt with IMF and WorldBank so I don't know what was the implication on El Salvador sides later on.   

The IMF cannot pressure the country of El Salvador to stop using bitcoin as a legal tender. I think El Salvador's policies are unanimous and strengthened in the laws of his government, so it is not easy for outsiders to influence the financial system which they have recorded in the laws of their country.

They really have some balls out rightly refusing refusing the demands of IMF, who would have thought a small country like El-salvador would have the courage to stand up against a giant organization like the IMF, the minister was right they have the right to make a sovereign decision as a sovereign country,  no need to dance to their tune, lets see what action great IMF with take against El-salvador.

It's just a recommendation and not an outright order after all, so they can freely decline it and not incur any penalties from doing so. IMF also does not have any jurisdiction over the decisions of El Salvador, though they can influence outside forces to mount pressure on the country.

El Salvador still has the dollar on their side though, and perhaps it's enough to keep IMF at bay in the mean time.

Getting miners to go there would be a great idea, but I don't think their grid is ready for that. They'd need serious investments like a nuclear power plant. With the way Bukele is running the country I wouldn't be surprised to see an online fundraiser for that pretty soon. He said the's the CEO of the country, so it's time to act like one and get some serious investors onboard. Their shore line is very long so maybe tidal wave generators?

They have two currency as legal tender at the moment. Why it bother IMF? Having only bitcoin as currency would be something they could have a look. This is ridiculous how IMF is trying to manipulate the freedom of countries decision taking. I don’t think this should be something El Salvador would follow.

That's because the IMF no longer accepts debt requests from El Salvador, which apparently no longer needs the financial assistance that the IMF offers. Just look at the suggested termination requests, isn't it obvious that the IMF concerns are getting clearer that there are better financial solutions that Bitcoin offers. It's highly unethical for an agency to actually try to suggest stopping certain country policies and suppressing freedom of payments.

Because IMF is a very powerful organization with the power to crumble a country's economy is the reason why member countries dance to their demands,  carry out their conditions even at the expense of such country's economic growth, but today, El-Salvador just prove that IMF can be denied of these their unreasonable demands, I don't see why they should interfere in such matters in the first place, El-Salvador is a sovereign nation that has the complete right to make decisions regarding their country,

Although this action will most likely bite El-Salvador in the butt at the long run, I don't think IMF will take this public refusal so likely,  this action just shows the whole world that IMF can be said NO to. Am impressed.
Btc will recover so they don't have to worry much about that.

such a small country with a preilsident that has the biggest courage. if this impresses the countries that also suffers under IMF oppression they might also join the path of El Salvador.

its no joke though, IMF has big brothers thats part of a big gang. Bukele should buy time at least until BTC is adopted by few other countries as legal tender so he'll not be singled out.

I'm not sure about legal action, but one of the functions of the IMF is that they do lend money to nation states.  They would be within their right to refuse any new loans to El Salvador if they wanted to.  That's a potential consequence President Bukele and Minister Zelaya might have to face.

It looks like El Salvador is fully committed to their choice to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender.
Personally, I think the IMF is so against it because if this choice proves successful for El Salvador in the long run, other countries will follow suit sooner or later.

What kind of legal action they could make anyway?

AFAIK, IMF urgency to remove the legal tender status of Bitcoin is due to mainly it posses to financial instability and other customer-centric issues. Thus I believe El Salvador does not have any obligation to follow what IMF suggest as far as I am concerned, otherwise, there may be some plausible legal action that they will make that I didn't know. After all, I believe El Salvador does indeed should know better about what their country should do instead of solely relying on other entities.

I don't think IMF can take any legal action against a country's decision on sovereignty. However, IMF holds a severe lending power which they can made unavailable for El-Salvador. And if IMF denies to lend them money for their needs, I am sure world bank will follow the same path even though these two organizations are different.

It's great to see how a small nation is holding onto their decision and not bending down in front of international pressure  i just hope bitcoin serves their economy well.

Yes, that's the only risk against the IMF, Elsalvador will eventually be excluded from getting a loan because it is considered a country that will not have economic stability according to IMF standards. I was wondering about the update on Elsalvador applying for a loan to the IMF last year ^[1], does it have anything to do with the rejection of the IMF recommendation (eg whether the proposal was rejected)?

[1] https://fortune.com/2021/10/19/el-salvador-bitcoin-imf-loan/?queryly=related_article

There are slim chances that IMF will be able to hold back El Salvador because the country has proven that their decision is fixed and there is no stopping from bitcoin adoption. So maybe IMF should set their own limit as they have no power anymore to intervene with once country's fixed decision. This will be the start of a more challenging role for Bukele as whatever the consequences of his actions will be thrown against him. I just hope he can manage the situation well.