WB NIXES EL SALVADOR PLEA TO HELP WITH BITCOIN IMPLEMENTATION

The World Bank (WB) has said it cannot assist El Salvador's bitcoin implementation given environmental and transparency drawbacks, Rodrigo Campos reported for Reuters.

"We are committed to helping El Salvador in numerous ways including for currency transparency and regulatory processes," said a World Bank spokesperson via email.

"While the government did approach us for assistance on bitcoin, this is not something the WB can support given the environmental and transparency shortcomings."

Earlier on Wednesday, Salvadoran Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said the Central America country had sought technical assistance from WB as it seeks to use bitcoin as a parallel legal tender alongside the US dollar.

El Salvador's government did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters regarding the WB's decision.

The minister said ongoing negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been successful, although IMF said last week it saw "macroeconomic, financial and legal issues" with the country's adoption of bitcoin.

Zelaya said on Wednesday the IMF was "not against" the bitcoin implementation. The IMF did not respond to a request for comment.

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