Urged By IMF To Leave Bitcoin, El Salvador's President's Response Makes Laughing!

JAKARTA - Recently, El Salvador was reprimanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the use of Bitcoin as a legal tender in the country. However, President Nayib Bukele responded to the international agency's reprimand with a meme on his Twitter social media account.

The meme is a motion picture (GIF) depicting the main character in the famous tv series, The Simpson. In the post, Homer The Simpson character, edited with the IMF logo, is walking with both hands and head down. This seems to describe the condition of people who are less normal. Then, Homer's mother and daughter, edited with a Bitcoin image, were watching Homer behaving strangely and saying a sarcastic sentence.

"I see you IMF, great job," Homer's mother said in the meme.

Bukele himself did not explain the meaning of the upload. however, with the post, it seems that he is not heeding the IMF's insistence. The President of El Salvador also seemed to respond casually to the declining Bitcoin price. Moreover, he had time to make a meme showing that he worked at Mcdonald's to make money.

The post is said to have been made in response to many innuendos from netizens, most of whom said that Bitcoin miners must earn real money if the price of the cryptocurrency drops sharply.

El Salvador Gets Criticism from IMF and World Bank

El Salvador's decision to legalize Bitcoin as an official means of payment, cash equivalent, in September 2021 made the small nation a world first. In El Salvador, the cryptocurrency can be used for many things, with the help of the Chivo digital wallet. This allows Bitcoin holders there to use it as a means of purchasing food such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks, as well as paying taxes and other economic activities.

However, the decision received criticism from two international financial institutions, namely the IMF and the World Bank. The IMF highlighted the volatility of cryptocurrencies as well as the huge risks to financial balance and consumer protection.

The IMF's insistence is because, since Bitcoin became legal tender in El Salvador in September last year, its price has continued to fluctuate. In fact, the cryptocurrency was at its highest and lowest position.

In order to increase the adoption of crypto money, the government is willing to give out Bitcoin for free to residents, with a value of 30 US dollars or IDR 426.000 for each citizen, the only condition is to download the Chivo application. This move caused the IMF and World Bank to criticize El Salvador. According to the two institutions, making Bitcoin a legal medium of exchange could pose serious economic problems.

"Although the government of El Salvador has approached us to help Bitcoin (integrate the system), the World Bank certainly cannot support this (El Salvador), given the lack of transparency and the environment that adopts (Bitcoin)," the World Bank stressed.

"Adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender can pose risks in terms of financial and market integrity, economic stability, weaken consumer protection, and cause future disabilities," the IMF said, quoted by Kompas, Monday, January 31.