El Salvador to Create $150M Bitcoin Trust to Facilitate Exchange to US Dollars

El Salvador’s government has agreed to create a $150 million bitcoin trust to facilitate exchange between bitcoin and U.S. dollars in the country, according to a report by local newspaper El Diario de Hoy.

• El Salvador’s Minister of Economy, María Luisa Hayém Brevé, said there is a possibility of increasing the initial $150 million allocation, which was agreed to on Monday by the deputies of the Finance Commission of the Legislative Assembly.
• In June, El Salvador passed a bill that treats bitcoin as legal tender alongside the U.S. dollar. The bill goes into effect Sept. 7 and will require businesses to accept payment in bitcoin, although the country’s president and finance minister said businesses that did not would not be penalized.
• The trust will be set up at the Development Bank of El Salvador and allow merchants to instantly convert bitcoin into U.S. dollars, offsetting their risk.