The Bitcoin held by El Salvador is now worth more than $150 million, With Bitcoin hitting ATHiIts profits have crossed $50 million.
The bold move was made by its President, Nayib Bukele, under which El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as a legal tender in 2021, which followed Bitcoin purchases. He had announced that the government would start purchasing 1 BTC per day, and it has now got approximately 2,380 BTC valued at $158.5 million.
At Bitcoin’s brief new ATH on March 5, it was worth $164.7 million, 53% more than El Salvador’s aggregate cost basis.
Recently, Bukele had commented using a renowned meme of Mr. Bean where he criticized the mainstream international media for not recognizing the country’s bitcoin gains owing to its debt structure.
“When Bitcoin’s market price was low, they wrote literally thousands of articles about our supposed losses. Now that Bitcoin’s market price is way up, if we were to sell, we would make a profit of over 40%, and our main source of BTC is now our citizenship program,” the president claimed last week.
Bodies like the World Bank and IMF have also criticized the country’s take on Bitcoin.
In November 2022, during crypto winter, El Salvador and Microstrategy also faced criticisms due to the BTC plunging to $15000. However, Bukele has high ambitions in the crypto world and has believed in its potential since the start. It has been exploring investment in Bitcoin’s avenues.
Despite the continuing gains, El Salvador remains isolated and sidelined among nation-states by adopting a “Bitcoin standard.” No official announcements have been made, even with other countries like South America following the same.