HomeCryptoBitcoinEl Salvador, Bukele buys another 150 Bitcoin and argues with Peter Schiff

El Salvador, Bukele buys another 150 Bitcoin and argues with Peter Schiff

El Salvador’s strategy has become one of investing public money to buy Bitcoin during downturns. This happened again this weekend, with the purchase of an additional 150 BTC.

“Buy the dip”: El Salvador adds another 150 Bitcoin

Last weekend, Bitcoin suffered a 20% drop to below $43,000. During this slump, El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele returned to his “buy the dip” strategy, i.e. buying in a bear market, and put another 150 Bitcoin into the state’s coffers, announcing the purchase as usual via Twitter:

El Salvador bought Bitcoin at an average price of around $48,000 and as the president explained, for a few minutes failed to buy at the minimum price reached by BTC. 

It is perhaps one of the most “bargain” purchases made by the country. Last weekend, during “Black Friday” which also saw declines in the crypto market, El Salvador had bought 100 BTC at around $53,000. A month earlier, as soon as BTC had fallen below $60,000, as many as 420 BTC had been bought.

Nayib Bukele
Nayib Bukele with laser eyes

The discussion with Peter Schiff

This buying spree was harshly criticized by a well-known Bitcoin detractor, economist Peter Schiff. 

“There’s a lot more dips coming.  How much taxpayer money do you intend to waste?”

Bukele’s response was not long in coming:

“None.

We’re already in the green from our last purchase, in less than 24 hours.

You know boomer, we have 44,106 oz of gold in our reserves.

Worth $79 million, down 0.37% from a year ago.

If we had sold it a year ago and bought #Bitcoin, it would now be valued at $204 million”.

Peter Schiff was unfazed and replied: 

“You’re in the green for now. Let’s see how long it lasts. Plus you’re still in the red on the #Bitcoin you bought on last weeks’s dip. You are making a huge bet using other people’s money. It’s not likely to end well for them or you!”.

Peter Schiff is right: looking at the latest Bitcoin purchases, excluding the one on 4 December, the value of the previous ones has fallen. So it can easily be said that it is a losing investment for now. 

However, El Salvador’s policy is to continue betting on a rise in the price of Bitcoin, justifying this addition to the state’s reserves. It is also true what Bukele says: gold reserves have remained more or less stable in value, unlike Bitcoin. The volatility of which is always a risk not to be underestimated. 

On a lighter note, Peter Schiff’s son, Spencer Schiff, has also entered the debate and challenged his father’s position:

After all, every time Peter Schiff launches into catastrophic predictions on the price of Bitcoin, the Twitter community reminds him of the failure of all the previous times he prophesied the end of Bitcoin. As in 2018:

 

old tweet peter schiff
An old tweet from Peter Schiff

Justin Sun also buys 150 Bitcoin

During this weekend of dramatic decline, El Salvador was not the only one to buy 150 Bitcoin. In a tweet exchange that took place with Nayib Bukele, it emerges that Justin Sun, CEO of TRON, has also bought 150 BTC. 

Justin Sun is said to have initially bought “only” 100 BTC, and then accepted the challenge to buy 50 more. 

According to analysts, this wave of new purchases, also favoured by El Salvador’s behaviour, led the price of Bitcoin to partially recover its losses and to struggle at the moment to regain the $50,000 mark. 

The decline, on the other hand, would have been due to fresh warnings about US policies to curb inflation. Bitcoin is, after all, a hedge against inflation, and if inflation is reduced, the need to invest in a safe haven asset diminishes. It remains to be seen whether the much-anticipated tapering will put an end to Bitcoin’s bull run or whether the downturn of the past few days is not only a breather on the way to more ambitious goals. 

Eleonora Spagnolo
Eleonora Spagnolo
Journalist passionate about the web and the digital world. She graduated with honours in Multimedia Publishing at the University La Sapienza in Rome and completed a master's degree in Web and Social Media Marketing.
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