IMF approves El Salvador’s $1.4B loan but imposes bitcoin restrictions

The International Monetary Fund approved the loan on the condition that El Salvador scale down its Bitcoin project.
The International Monetary Fund approved the loan on the condition that El Salvador scale down its Bitcoin project.
Authorities in El Salvador have agreed to end the use of bitcoin for tax payments by February 2025 in order to secure an IMF loan extension.
The IMF is still unhappy with El Salvador’s use of bitcoin at a sovereign level, and it’s pressing hard at the negotiation table.
An IMF working paper highlights how the pseudonymous nature of cryptocurrency presents problems for tax collection.