Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is on a BTC buying spree, moreover, there are no signs of it coming to an end in the near future.
According to a tweet from Bukele, the government took advantage of the latest Bitcoin decline by depositing 420 BTCs into its treasury earlier today.
“It was a long wait, but worth it. We just bought the dip!”
The President followed up the tweet with another, in which he claimed that the recently acquired tokens had already generated a profit within hours of being purchased. When comparing the two tweets, Bitcoin’s price increased by 0.4 percent on the charts in the time between them.
How do we make a profit if 1 #BTC= 1 #BTC?We have a trust fund accounted in USD, but the trust is funded by both USD and BTC. When the BTC part revalues in comparison to the accounting currency (USD), we are able to withdraw some USD and leave the trust with the same total.— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) October 27, 2021
Furthermore, Bukele went on to say that the profit was gained as a result of the country’s Bitcoin trust being rebalanced. It retains both Bitcoin and US Dollars, allowing the government to make gains in USD while maintaining its crypto holdings.
The country’s total Bitcoin holdings increased to 1,120 BTCs after a recent purchase of 40 BTCs for $24.6 million. At the time of publication, this was valued at $66.2 million. The average BTC purchasing price in El Salvador is roughly $53,000 per coin.
Bukele has long been an opportunist in the Bitcoin game, taking advantage of price drops in the cryptocurrency to boost his country’s holdings at a reduced cost. El Salvador made its first Bitcoin purchase on September 6th, when it purchased 200 BTCs in two batches.
When the digital asset was made legal tender across the country the next day, the country purchased another 150 BTCs. After that, on September 19, El Salvador’s Bitcoin trust received an additional 200 BTCs, bringing the total to 700 BTCs.
#Bitcoin Con la inversión hecha ayer, El Salvador tiene 700 criptomonedas llegando a un total en dólares de poco más de $35M. Con el precio actual del bitcoin, el país podría perder hasta $11 millones de dólares… pic.twitter.com/sCGKdqYRo3— Disruptiva (@Disruptiva2) September 20, 2021
Despite the criticism levelled against Bukele for the manner and opacity with which these purchases were made, the crypto-community couldn’t help but note the worth of the acquisition.
Within the millennial stoner culture, the word 420 is often used. For example, EGarrett, a Reddit user, stated,
“I’m starting to believe he’s doing this on purpose. Actually, now that I check he was born in 1981 so he probably is. Funny to see the results of millennials starting to inherit the world.”
In any case, some of the scepticism around the island nation’s use of Bitcoin as legal cash appears to be dissipating. According to reports, many people have been swapping their dollars for Bitcoins.
Bukele also recently reported that more money is being deposited into Chivo ATMs for Bitcoin transfers than is being withdrawn.
He also released data indicating that residents are using Bitcoin to transfer up to $2 million in remittances every day, avoiding the exorbitant commission costs they were previously charged.