El Salvador remains undeterred in its plan to release its Bitcoin denominated bond. According to a report, El Salvador plans to issue another $5 billion after issuing its initial $1 billion bonds next month.
While the Bitcoin bond is yet to launch, the country has already secured $500 million in verbal commitments for the Bitcoin bonds from investors.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin bonds set to launch despite criticisms
Samson Mow made the revelation while speaking to the Wall Street Journal. Mow is the chief strategy officer (CSO) of Blockstream, a leading provider of blockchain technologies, coordinating the country’s bond issuance. He previously revealed that the bond commitment mostly comes from Bitcoin whales and crypto hedge funds.
Mow added that El Salvador would not have any problem reaching its $1 billion targets. The official launch date of the bond is between March 15th to 20th, 2022.
However, reports show mixed reactions to the Bitcoin bonds issuance in the Central American country. The report cites a financial executive in the country calling the bonds a “meme” offering. The executive maintained that the plan would only succeed because of its novelty and not any fundamental value.
The country’s decision has also seen significant pushback from external market observers and global key players. Fitch Ratings, a globally renowned rating firm, downgraded El Salvador’s credit rating. The firm stated that El Salvador ran a high risk of defaulting on its long-term debts. The firm cited El Salvador’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender under President Nayib Bukele’s leadership as one of the major reasons for its concern.
More recently, US Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) have called for the United States to take some form of action to tackle the country’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. The senators noted that the move threatened the US dollar’s dominance as the world’s reserve currency.
Other countries are following suit
Despite the criticisms, many officials in the country remain convinced that Bitcoin can improve their economy. In response to the report from the US senators, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, asked for the US to stay out of El Salvador’s business.
Following El Salvador’s step, Ukraine has now legalized crypto. Mykhailo Fedorov, the country’s minister for digital transformation, announced today.
