The most distressed sovereign debt in the world because of Bitcoin!
Beware of naked millennial presidents bearing bitcoin.
El Salvador, economists say, is learning that lesson the hard way. President Nayib Bukele — who dropped the mic this month on Twitter by claiming he trades his country’s cash for bitcoin on his phone while “naked” — oversaw the cryptocurrency’s adoption as legal tender 3½ months ago. Since then, its plunging value, the vice president of Moody’s credit-rating agency estimates, has cost the national treasury up to $22 million worth of precious reserves. The country’s bonds have tanked. Fears of diminished financial transparency, meanwhile, have stalled a vital loan deal with the International Monetary Fund, which urged El Salvador on Tuesday to drop bitcoin as legal tender.
“El Salvador now has the most distressed sovereign debt in the world, and it’s because of the bitcoin folly,” economist Steve Hanke told Fortune. “The markets think that Bukele’s gone mad, and he has.”