El Salvador’s Exposure to Cryptocurrency is Minimal; Says Mossi

• Dante Mossi declared that El Salvador’s exposure to cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, is minimal.
• CABEI has provided El Salvador with almost all the funds to repay the debts of the country.
• The bank has restricted the country from using the recently provided amount to purchase any digital assets.

Dante Mossi, the Chairman of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) commented that El Salvador’s exposure to cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, is minimal, despite its status as the first country to accept bitcoin as legal tender.

Previously, in December 2022, the multilateral lender provided El Salvador with $450 million, ahead of a bond payment due in late January. It is noteworthy that the bank has helped the country by providing most of the funds it needs to repay the debts.

Notably, Mossi commented on the “real situation in El Salvador”:

We’ve seen this exposure and think it’s very small — it’s not significant. We are interested in investors also knowing the real situation in El Salvador.

In November President Nayib Bukele announced that the country is “buying one bitcoin every day starting tomorrow”.

According to the reports of the crypto analytics platform Crypto India, until then, the country had bought 2381 BTC at an average price of $45004, with a total loss of 63.2% in the BTC purchase. However, the actual BTC holdings of the country are still not disclosed.

As per the words of Mossi, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would proceed with its Article 4 mission, providing a macroeconomic assessment and recommendations to El Salvador.

In addition, CABEI collaborated with El Salvador government to compile information on debt sustainability including cryptocurrency disclosure which would be helpful for IMF review. Furthermore, the bank blocked the country from purchasing any digital assets using the recently provided fund, mentioning that “the use of the proceeds will be checked in six months”.

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