The CABEI executive supports El Salvador in its recognition of bitcoin. The institution is currently gathering an expert team to advise the government of Nayib Bukele on the matter.
For the Honduran banker Dante Mossi, Executive President of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), El Salvador has a lot of new challenges ahead in the face of its adoption of bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender.
According to the manager, the most challenging obstacle will be making the population understand that the first cryptocurrency does not physically exist.
Mossi said that there are topics related to digital assets that are very innovative, but that is also very hard to explain, especially when it comes to people who have been using fiat money for years. The executive stressed that cash does not exist in the cryptocurrency environment. This is an important aspect that needs time to get assimilated and is a “little by little” process.
Mossi explained during a virtual press conference held on the morning of this Monday, June 14. That the adoption of bitcoin will need many adaptations. Mossi highlighted that one of the most difficult challenges to understand for citizens is that the currency is not a physical means of payment, which is how citizens use to conceptualize a currency.
Regarding the steps that El Salvador will follow to adjust the new Bitcoin Law to current financial regulations, the official revealed that CABEI is creating a team of advisers. The group will sustain a series of meetings with the delegates of the Ministry of Finance and with other important representatives of the Central Bank of the Salvadoran Reserve.
When the working group will be established or when the meetings will begin remains unknown to the date. Mossi stated that technical advice was one of the main requests by the Salvadoran government to generate advances in the adoption of BTC as legal tender. The manager also said that CABEI will consult with its partners in Spain, Taiwan, and South Korea to learn about their experiences regarding the regulation of bitcoin.
Bitcoin as a Means of Payment in a Country Like El Salvador
The authorities of El Salvador have already clarified that the adoption of bitcoin will be as an alternative to the United States dollar, that is, both currencies will live in the market side by side. To re-create what this dynamic would look like, Mossi said that people who use BTC will gain the chance to pay for products and services using their cell phones or debit cards. While those users who prefer dollars will do so in cash or through available electronic methods.
Among other topics mentioned during the meeting with the media is that El Salvador has not made any request for funds on the trust that it intends to open to assume the risks of BTC volatility. This fund would be 150 million dollars.
The manager mentioned that various nations are using cash less and less and are foreseeing that this evolution will circle cryptocurrencies. Mossi defended them by saying that they lower costs in the case of sending remittances and that, as it is digital money, there are no resources available for printing banknotes and minting coins.
By: Jenson Nuñez
