Latam Insights: IMF to Confine Salvadoran BTC Purchases, Brazil BRICS Payment Bet

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has finally greenlighted a deal that was informally approved last year, granting the Salvadorean government a $1.4 billion credit facility. The arrangement seeks to improve Salvadoran finances in exchange for implementing a program that limits Bukele’s administration’s bitcoin moves.

The fund’s Executive Board passed the $1.4 billion loan and executed an immediate disbursement of $113 million. This is only the first tranche of the agreement, with the remaining funds being distributed in the next 40 months.

Furthermore, the fund expects this commitment to entice other organizations to offer their support to the Salvadoran administration, estimating that the total support would reach over $3.5 billion.

Read more.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced on Feb. 26 that Brazil will focus on developing secure payment systems during its BRICS presidency in 2025. Speaking at the BRICS Sherpas meeting in Brasilia, Lula da Silva stated:

Brazil is going during the period of its presidency to fully develop … transparent and safe payment systems.

The initiative is part of a broader strategy to strengthen financial infrastructure among BRICS nations, potentially reducing reliance on Western financial systems and enhancing economic cooperation within the bloc.

In addition to secure payment systems, Lula da Silva emphasized the need to expand trade between BRICS countries to further solidify their economic ties.

Read more.

The pilot of the Brazilian central bank digital currency (CBDC) has hit a roadblock. In a recently issued report detailing the results of the first phase of the pilot project, which finished last year, the Central Bank acknowledges that the possible implementation of this currency still lacks a key attribute: privacy.

The report states that, even after having examined several security approaches and technologies, the pilot has been unable to find an application that satisfies the needs of drex.

Three solutions were tested: Zether (by JPMorgan and Consensys), Rayls (by Parfin), and Starlight (by EY). While all of these serve to obfuscate the details of the transactions for third parties, they also hide them from the authorities, who must be able to review them for monitoring and compliance purposes, serving as an equivalent to bank transfers.

Read more.

To follow all the latest developments in crypto and the economy in Latin America, sign up for our Latam Insights newsletter below.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。