El Salvador holds the BTC bond plans as the finance minister of the country believes the ongoing price volatility of BTC which delays the bond launch and also, the country faces a human rights crisis right now so let’s read more today in our latest Bitcoin news.
El Salvador’s Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said the country will delay launching its anticipated BTC bond because of heavy price volatility and uncertain market conditions that resulted from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The news came at the same time that Amnesty International accused the country of “flagrant violations of human rights and criminalizing people living in poverty.” Zelaya was also asked if the situation with the $1 billion BTC bond issuance from a few months ago has changed since El Salvador holds the plans in place:
“No, not yet, the [Bitcoin] price continues to be disrupted by the war in Ukraine,” he added according to a rough translation. He continued “in the short term the variations are constant but in the long term it always tends to appreciate in value. There is a future and there is an economic innovation [in Bitcoin] that we must bet on.”
0 homicidios.#Seguimos https://t.co/Dzcs18bjpA
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) June 2, 2022
The plan for the bond was announced back in 2021 by the president of the country Nayib Bukele and half of the $1 Billion expected is to fund the construction of the Bitcoin City that is located near a volcano with the idea that the geothermal energy can be used for the the the BTC miners. The other half of the funds raised will be invested in BTC. The $1 billion bond was scheduled to launch in mid-March 2022 but Zelaya delayed the launch due to price volatility and gave a possible launch date around June and September 2022.
The mounting fears that the country will default on the $800 million bonds due in 2023, caused the rating agency Moody’s to downgrade El Salvador’s credit rating because of a lack of credible financing plans. The government was buying BTC since September 2021 with Bukele announcing that the country purchased another 500 BTC and the country is estimated to have lost more than $35.6 million from the BTC investments. In the meantime, the human rights advocacy nonprofit Amnesty International accused the country of committing human rights violations via ill-treatment of prisoners and arbitrary arrests.
A state of emergency was declared by President Bukele due to the rising homicide rate which was blamed on gangs and organized crime. The human rights group said the SOE changed laws and legal procedures which undermine the rights to defense, effective judicial remedy, and access to an independent judge.
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