El Salvador's president buys Bitcoins 'naked,' he boasts. His experiment is costing his nation millions
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador â Four months into El Salvador's experiment as the first and only country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal currency, the International Monetary Fund had seen enough.
Drop Bitcoin now, its board of directors warned in January, saying the cryptocurrency poses "large risks" to the financial stability of the nation and its citizens.
President Nayib Bukele fired off a response via Twitter: an internet meme that compared the IMF to Homer Simpson.
A power-hungry populist who brands himself the "CEO of El Salvador," Bukele has become one of the world's foremost Bitcoin evangelists since pushing a law through Congress that requires businesses to accept the cryptocurrency for goods and services.
His grand plan has so far produced tepid results.
