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El Salvador abandons Bitcoin as legal tender

(ticotimes.net)
927 points smallerfish | 1 comments | 04 Feb 25 00:00 UTC | HN request time: 0.357s | source
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portaouflop ◴[04 Feb 25 02:07 UTC] No.42926658[source]▶
IMF gave them 1.4 billion to abandon the “experiment”:

> The IMF made this a condition for a loan of 1.4 billion US dollars (1.35 billion euros). In December of last year, the IMF reached an agreement with President Nayib Bukele’s government on the loan of the stated amount to strengthen the country’s “fiscal sustainability” and mitigate the “risks associated with Bitcoin,” as it was described.

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I dislike cryptocurrencies as much as the next guy but this was clearly something else than a failure of the currency itself

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neilwilson ◴[04 Feb 25 05:46 UTC] No.42928513[source]▶
No country with its own money ever needs to get the IMF involved.

Largely because the only place the IMF can get your money is from you.

Currencies are public monopolies.

The problems always arise when a state starts issuing state backed liabilities in other denominations - as there is no way for a state to absolve itself of that debt without paying it back. It becomes a debtors prison.

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riffraff ◴[04 Feb 25 07:07 UTC] No.42929072[source]▶
Even if you have your own money you need stable foreign currency to operate.

It's not like you just choose to issue debt in foreign denomination cause it's fun.

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1. neilwilson ◴[04 Feb 25 11:31 UTC] No.42931046[source]▶
You don't. There is no requirement for the state to get involved in other people's money.

That's for the private sector to sort out - largely because they can go bankrupt and wipe out the debt when things inevitably go wrong.