El Salvador to Create $150M Bitcoin Trust to Facilitate Exchange to US Dollars

El Salvador’s government has agreed to create a $150 million bitcoin trust to facilitate exchange between bitcoin and U.S. dollars in the country, according to a report by local newspaper El Diario de Hoy.

El Salvador’s Minister of Economy, María Luisa Hayém Brevé, said there is a possibility of increasing the initial $150 million allocation, which was agreed to on Monday by the deputies of the Finance Commission of the Legislative Assembly.
In June, El Salvador passed a bill that treats bitcoin as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar. The bill goes into effect Sept. 7 and will require businesses to accept payment in bitcoin, although the country’s president and finance minister said businesses that did not would not be penalized.
The trust will be set up at the Development Bank of El Salvador and allow merchants to instantly convert bitcoin into U.S. dollars, offsetting their risk.

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Tanzeel Akhtar

Tanzeel Akhtar is a reporter based in London,UK.

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