© Reuters
Investing.com – In a report released last Friday, the International Monetary Fund warned El Salvador of the risks of expanding its reliance on bitcoin, as the country is one of the only countries to view BTC as a legal tender.
Note that the report was published following an expert mission to the Central American country.
We can read in this report that Salvadoran growth had been “robust” last year, but that vulnerabilities, in particular the link with the , remained.
The IMF has warned that reliance on bitcoin could make the country more vulnerable to money laundering and other illicit activities that could affect underlying stability.
“Although the risks have not materialized due to the limited use of bitcoin so far,” the report says, its use could expand, in part thanks to “further legislative reforms aimed at encouraging the use crypto-assets.”
In this context, the report judges that “the underlying risks to financial integrity and stability, fiscal sustainability and consumer protection persist.”
IMF experts also said it was “essential” for the Salvadoran authorities to provide “greater transparency on the government’s transactions in bitcoins and the financial status of the state-owned bitcoin wallet” known as Bitcoin. Shivo.
“Given the legal risks, fiscal fragility, and largely speculative nature of cryptocurrency markets, authorities should reconsider their plans to expand government exposures to bitcoin,” the report said.