Ever since El Salvador legalized Bitcoin (BTC) as mainstream tender, President Nayib Bukele used Twitter on numerous occasions to announce the country’s BTC acquisitions. However, ALAC El Salvador — a non-governmental anti-corruption bureau — was recently denied information from a state development bank, BANDESAL, regarding El Salvador’s Bitcoin purchases and sales.
As a development bank for El Salvador, BANDESAL created a $150 million trust fund to guarantee the convertibility to dollars for citizens and merchants. The request for disclosure of El Salvador’s Bitcoin acquisition was denied on the grounds of confidentiality.
Snippet of BANDSEL’s response to ALAC El Salvador — a non-governmental anti-corruption bureau. Source: ALAC El Salvador
ALAC El Salvador refuted the denial by highlighting that the BTC purchases were made using public funds. Their official statement translated to:
“The confidentiality limits the possibility for citizens to access and receive information on the operations carried out with public funds by BANDESAL.”
In its refusal statement, BANDESAL said that no information related to the Bitcoin Trust (FIDEBITCOIN) could be shared by the trustee or its board of directors to safeguard national interests.
Publicly available information hints that El Salvador purchased 2,301 BTC to date, which has fallen in value over the past year from $103.9 million to roughly $45 million.
Related: Pro-crypto city of Lugano and El Salvador sign economic agreement based on adoption
Adding on to the country’s piling pressure to suffice its year-long Bitcoin purchases, Spain took over El Salvador’s spot to become the third-largest crypto ATM hub in the world.
El Salvador attained the third spot after installing 205 ATMs to support the country’s thriving Bitcoin economy, amounting to a network of 212 crypto ATMs. However, Spain recently recorded 215 active ATMs, representing 14.65% of European installations.
