Bitcoin purchase information from El Salvador cannot be made public: Trustee

As the development bank for El Salvador, BANDESAL has established a $150 million trust fund to guarantee citizens' dollar convertibility and traders.

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Since El Salvador legalized Bitcoin (BTC) as a public tender, President Nayib Bukele has taken to Twitter numerous times to announce the country's BTC acquisitions. However, ALAC El Salvador - a non-governmental anti-corruption office - was recently denied information from a state development bank, BANDESAL, regarding El Salvador's Bitcoin purchases and sales.

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As the development bank for El Salvador, BANDESAL has established a $150 million trust fund to guarantee dollar convertibility for citizens and merchants. The request for disclosure of the acquisition of Bitcoin by El Salvador was rejected for confidentiality reasons.

Excerpt from BANDSEL response to ALAC El Salvador — a non-governmental anti-corruption office. Source: ALAC El Salvador

ALAC El Salvador rebutted the denial pointing out that the BTC purchases were made using public funds. Their official statement translated to:

"Confidentiality limits the possibility for citizens to access and receive information on operations carried out with public funds by BANDESAL."

In its denial statement, BANDESAL stated that no information related to the Bitcoin Trust (FIDEBITCOIN) may be shared by the trustee or its board of directors to protect national interests.

Publicly available information indicates that El Salvador has purchased 2,301 BTC to date, which has fallen in value over the past year from $103.9 million to around $45 million.

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