El Salvador’s Parliament approves $150 million Bitcoin fund.

The Finance Committee of El Salvador’s Legislative Assembly approved the creation of a $150 million fund to back Bitcoin-dollar exchanges, according to El Diario de Hoy.

Economy Minister Maria Luisa Hayem Breve noted that the initial size of the trust could be increased.

“We have several teams to show the population how to use the Chivo wallet. We have developed a user-friendly app so that all Salvadorans can learn cryptocurrency transactions,” she said.

Hayem Breve acknowledged that residents have doubts and concerns about the use of bitcoin as an official payment method. However the whole world looks to El Salvador as a pioneer in financial technology, she added.

After the passage of the relevant bill, the opposition called it unconstitutional. A July poll showed that only 20% of residents approve the initiative.

In late August in the country began protests against the legalization of the first cryptocurrency.

The fund to guarantee transactions will be managed by the Salvadoran Development Bank (Bandesal).

Parliamentarians agreed to amend the country’s budget at the request of Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya and redirect $500 million from CABEI, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, loan originally earmarked to aid small and medium-sized enterprises.

Of these funds, $150 million will go to Bandesal to create the trust.

Another $53.3 million will be allocated to the plan to implement cryptocurrency, of which $23.3 million is allocated for the state program to install Bitcoin-enabled ATMs. $30 million will fund an initiative to encourage use of the Chivo wallet, under which authorities promised a one-off payment of $30 in bitcoin to every user after registering in the app.

CABEI backed El Salvador in the Bitcoin rollout. The World Bank declined to help the country, citing environmental and financial transparency concerns.

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