Unconfirmed Stablecoin Report Brings Confusion Amid Bukele’s Bitcoin Law

A Salvadorian economist has hit out at President Nayib Bukele and his younger twin brothers – after a report claimed that the Bukele family has been secretly planning the release of a stablecoin and a crypto wallet.

Per El Diario de Hoy’s website ElSalvador.com, economist Tatiana Marroquín, an outspoken critic of Bukele and the so-called Bitcoin Law – the act that is set to make bitcoin (BTC) legal tender in September – claimed that “the Bitcoin Law would be a mere ornament” if a government-run token were to come to fruition.

On Friday, El Faro, a newspaper that has found itself at loggerheads with Bukule and his regime, claimed it had seen videos of conference calls between Ibrajim and Yusef Bukele speaking to prospective investors from projects including WhizGrid, Cardano (ADA) and Algorand (ALGO) about a government-issued token called the collon dollar, and an accompanying state-run wallet app. The two men allegedly claimed they represented their brother in the talks and the newspaper added that it had seen documents that back up the claims in the videos.

El Faro’s digital editor Daniel Lizárraga was expelled from El Salvador earlier this month as part of an increasingly bitter dispute between the newspaper and the Bukele regime.

El Faro quoted a government spokesperson as stating that the stablecoin plan had been “discarded,” but the newspaper also quoted an unnamed source as stating that the move was still live.

Marroquín, who has been critical about all things BTC Law-related in the past, added that if Bukele’s alleged stablecoin plans were to come to fruition, there could be major disruption ahead. She said:

“We would be facing all the economic effects of a new currency issue and de-dollarization, although not so aggressive. However, this would ultimately be the creation of a monetary policy tool. It would affect all the economic factors that currently support dollarization.”

On Twitter, Marroquín remarked that there was a clear “conflict of interests” in this matter, claiming that it was apparent that “half of the Bukele family manages public funds.”

Back in June, she also hit out at a Mexico-based bitcoiner who had told her to “study” the token “because you don’t understand bitcoin,” claiming:

“You should […] stop recommending that I study the economy of my own country, of which the only thing you probably understand is the word ‘bitcoin.’”

El Diario de Hoy also quoted the Coordinator of the Legal and Anti-Corruption Advisory Center (ALAC), Wilson Sandoval, as stating that the alleged stablecoin plan would be “a non-democratic decision” and “based on zero technical experience and economic ignorance.”

Sandoval added:

“Salvadorians have not voted for Bukele’s brothers to implement public policies.”

He also opined that a government-run stablecoin could “be disastrous in economic terms, since the decisions involved merely represent personal and business interests” and would not be intended “to really improve the economic situation of Salvadorian households.”

Elsewhere, other media outlets that have traditionally been hostile to both Bukele and the Bitcoin Law, are continuing to feature comments from critics of the new act.

Rubén Zamora, the former Salvadorian Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, wrote, in a column for La Prensa Gráfica, expressing his distaste for a recently launched government advertising campaign extolling the virtues of BTC.

Zamora wrote that despite the campaign’s efforts “to convince us that bitcoin is our salvation” had sought to vilify banks.

He added that BTC’s “libertarian” credentials as a monetary instrument were “illusory,” as governments have already “begun to regulate it.”
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