Tomer Kantor: El Salvador, Bitcoin & The IMF
“When I went to El Salvador, I went to try and find the catch. What’s really happening there? What is this Bukele dictator actually doing there?
I went in there to to ask tough questions about Bukele.
It took me about a week to change my mind, to realise that’s not really the story. That people love him. They honestly adore him.“
On today’s podcast I’ve got my final Bitcoin film festival despatch for you today. I’m talking with the director of the film “Bond to Unbind. Bitcoin & El Salvador’.
Tomer Kantor’s film is a deep dive into the fascinating story of contemporary El Salvador. Spearheaded by its phenomenally popular president Nayib Bukele, El Salvador took the bold approach of not only passing the world’s first ever Bitcoin legal tender bill in 2021, but also of actively rallying against El Salvador’s traditional relationship with the IMF, including ignoring their pleas to rescind the Bitcoin law.
In the words of Fortune magazine:
“The International Monetary Fund’s board urged El Salvador to strip Bitcoin of its status as legal currency due to its large risks, highlighting a major obstacle for the nation’s efforts to get a loan from the institution.”
Seemingly unperturbed by the IMF’s passive-aggressive threats, El Salvador’s so-called Volcano bonds, which are the government’s Bitcoin-backed bonds also got regulatory approval at the end of 2023.
We discuss all this and more in the pod as well as talking about both of our personal experiences visiting the country since the law was passed.
Enjoy the conversation.