2 years ago
The authorities of El Salvador plans to connection tiny and medium-sized companies (SMEs) $10 cardinal successful crypto-based loans arsenic of the archetypal 4th of 2022.
Acumen, a Solana-based lending and borrowing platform, volition supply U.S. dollar backing to El Salvador's National Commission for Micro and Small Enterprises (Conamype), a authorities entity that plans to allocate financing to section informal entrepreneurs and self-employed workers, Conamype's president Paul Steiner told CoinDesk.
Acumen's loans volition person an yearly involvement complaint of 6% to 7%, though it could scope up to 10%, Acumen's task manager Andrea Gómez told CoinDesk.
According to Steiner, 86% of the companies successful El Salvador run successful the informal assemblage and bash not person entree to banking services. Of that percentage, 98% trust connected unregistered lenders offering loans astatine yearly involvement rates of 2,300%, connected average, helium added.
"They are indebtedness sharks charging betwixt 20% and 25% per month. That is what we privation to avoid," Steiner said.
According to Steiner, the authorities has been successful talks with Acumen since October 2021, pursuing the support of bitcoin arsenic ineligible tender successful the Central American country. In parallel, it holds negotiations with antithetic crypto lending platforms looking to supply loans to Salvadoran SMEs, Steiner said, adding that, if signed, the agreements could full $200 million.
Acumen volition person crypto to stablecoins — USDC oregon tether — and nonstop U.S. dollars to Conamype, which plans to present U.S. dollars to Salvadoran SMEs and entrepreneurs done the state-owned slope Banco Hipotecario, Steiner said.
Vice versa, Salvadorans volition wage superior and interests successful U.S. dollars and the authorities volition instrumentality U.S. dollars to Acumen, Steiner said.
El Salvador's authorities and Acumen are inactive defining details of the agreement, said Gomez, who added that the merchandise volition beryllium acceptable successful the archetypal 4th of the year.
According to Gomez, Acumen presently has 15,000 users and was authorized arsenic a lender by the Central Bank of El Salvador successful November 2021.
Andrés Engler is simply a CoinDesk concern newsman based successful Argentina, wherever helium covers the Latin American crypto ecosystem. He holds nary crypto.
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