El Salvador has paid an average of about $46,000 per coin, for a loss of 56 percent, or around $59 million, according to the tracking website nayibtracker.com.
El Salvador’s pro-Bitcoin president was again at it on Thursday, increasing his nation’s losing cryptocurrency investment by nearly $1.5 million.
Following the publishing of the purchase, President Nayib Bukele stated on Twitter: “Bitcoin is the future! Thank you for the affordable prices. According to Bukele, his government bought 80 Bitcoins for $19,000 each. The average amount the government paid for its prior $105.6 million shares was less than half of that.
El Salvador has paid an average of about $46,000 per coin since last September, according to the tracking website nayibtracker.com, for a loss of 56 percent, or around $59 million. “I see that some people are frightened or anxious about the #Bitcoin market price,” Bukele said in mid-June when the digital currency dropped below $20,000 at the time. “My suggestion is to stop focusing on the graph and start living. When the bear market ends, your investment in #BTC will greatly increase in value, he said at the time. The secret is patience.
In May, when he bragged about “buying the downturn” in the price of the currency, Bukele, who made the cryptocurrency legal money last year, was still a fervent supporter. But since then, the currency has retreated much further.
Alejandro Zelaya, El Salvador’s finance minister, has attempted to put a positive spin on the issue by claiming that since El Salvador hasn’t sold any of its Bitcoins, it hasn’t actually experienced any losses. Even if they don’t sell the distressed asset, most businesses and governments do deduct the value of what accountants refer to as “unrealized loss.”
Zelaya argued that El Salvador’s investment in Bitcoin “doesn’t even represent 0.5 percent of our budget,” and that its decline “doesn’t really matter that much.” In a nation where nearly one-fifth of the populace survives on less than $5.50 per day, it could be difficult to sell.
El Salvador rejected a suggestion from the International Monetary Fund in January to stop accepting Bitcoin as legal cash. El Salvador was advised by the IMF to dissolve the $150 million trust fund it established when it declared cryptocurrencies legal cash and to restore any leftover money to its treasury.
Bukele has hailed Bitcoin as a means of bringing millions of individuals who did not previously have bank accounts into the financial system, therefore greatly increasing financial inclusion. He has also discussed the concurrent tourism campaign aimed at Bitcoin fans. Bukele spearheaded the effort to include Bitcoin in the legal tender system alongside the dollar. In June 2021, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador declared it the first to do so.
