TL;DR Breakdown
- El Salvador government face probe after Bitcoin, Bitcoin ATM purchase.
- El Salvador government has been under fire since Bitcoin law introduction.
The El Salvador government is set to be investigated after its recent Bitcoin and Bitcoin ATM purchases.
According to Reuters, El Salvador’s Court of Accounts will be investigating a complaint about the government’s purchase of Bitcoin alongside how the El Salvador government built crypto ATMs.
The Court of Account is mandated to check the country’s public spending. The Court said it got a complaint on the 10th of September from a human rights and transparency group in El Salvador called Cristosal.
It noted that firstly it would carry out the legal analysis report and, in a timely manner, forward such report to the General Audit Coordination.
According to the Reuters report, the transparency group asked for an audit of the government’s Bitcoin purchases and a review of how the government managed to finance and carry out the construction of crypto ATMs in the country.
Bukele’s El Salvador government and Bitcoin debacle
It is worth noting that this probe of the El Salvador government is not the first the government would face due to its Bitcoin adoption law.
The Bitcoin project has raised ire among human rights activists in and outside of El Salvador.
It will be recalled that President Nayib Bukele announced in a Twitter post on Tuesday that there are 200 Chivo bitcoin ATMs up and running in the country and 50 machines installed in the U.S.
The President announced this while giving an update on the progress his government has made regarding their Bitcoin law. Apparently, the update by the President drew the ire of the transparency group, which obviously is against the country’s Bitcoin law.
Days back, Bitcoin was officially recognized as legal tender in the Central American country. Since the country’s legislature legalized Bitcoin in the country, the law has been embroiled in controversy.
After passing the Bitcoin law, the government has also been accused of intimidating, silencing, and harassing its most vocal critics.
