Effects of the Bitcoin plan

[MarkRoberts]

According to Siobhan Morden, director of Latin America Fixed Income Strategy at Amherst Pierpont, the aspirations for Bitcoin under a more dictatorial administration would likely exacerbate worries about corruption, money laundering, and regulatory agency independence in a letter to Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), a tiny and isolated Pacific island government, was cautioned by the IMF in 2018 about its currency initiative.

The Fund said at the time that the potential advantages from revenue increases seemed to be far lower than the possible costs from reputational, economic, and governance problems, as well as Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism.

The Government rejected the warning and, in 2020, teamed with Algorand to construct a blockchain for the Marshallese sovereign, its first national digital currency (SOV). This year, though, there were no developments on the project.

El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, will meet with the IMF today to discuss the Bitcoin legislation, as the nation is negotiating a USD 1 billion program with the Fund.