The recent rise in the price of Bitcoin has brought great news for El Salvador as well.
About a year ago, President Bukele announced that the country would start buying BTC again.
Yesterday, Bukele himself communicated that their investment has so far generated an unrealized profit of over 3.6 million dollars.
Summary
El Salvador’s investment in Bitcoin and the latest news on the country’s balance
The chart posted by Bukele shows the various Bitcoin purchases of El Salvador.
The first one was in September 2021, when BTC became legal tender in the country. At that time, the price was above $50,000.
Later they made nine more purchases, five of which were above $40,000 and four were below.
Starting from November 2022, however, they have started a daily purchasing plan.
As seen from the graph, the overall average purchase price was $55,000 in 2021, then dropped just above $40,000 when daily purchases began. In fact, these were started when the price of BTC was around $16,000.
The average daily purchase price is still above $40,000, but only slightly. The recent rise in the price of Bitcoin above this figure has made the investment profitable.
They have purchased more than 3,140 BTC in total, whose current total value is about $130.9 million. Having invested a total of about $127.3 million, the unrealized gross profit amounts to $3.62 million.
Nayib Bukele’s comment
The Salvadoran President commented on this news by writing that, after thousands of articles ridiculing their alleged losses (calculated based on the market price at the time they were written), now, instead, with the current market price, they would not only recover 100% of the investment if they decided to sell, but could also make a profit of 3,620,277.13 USD.
However, Bukele also specifies that they actually have no intention of selling because their goal has never been to speculate in the medium/short term.
He wrote:
“We are fully aware that the price will continue to fluctuate in the future, this does not affect our long-term strategy.”
Interestingly, he also asks the authors of those articles to retract their statements, stating that he would be responsible if they retracted, offered apologies, or at least acknowledged that El Salvador is indeed profiting from that investment now.
However, it is difficult to imagine that such apologies will come, also because in fact until a few days ago the investment was effectively in loss.
It should not be forgotten that elections will be held in El Salvador in February.
The outgoing President
In theory, the outgoing President Nayib Bukele would not be able to run for office again, as the Salvadoran Constitution would prohibit re-election for a second term.
However, he has decided to self-suspend in order to be able to run again.
Although many believe that this procedure should be considered unconstitutional, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice has, however, confirmed the legitimacy of his candidacy for a second term.
So he is definitely the candidate to beat, especially because in his four and a half years as president he has accomplished a lot.
There are also many doubts about his authoritarianism, but El Salvador is certainly not a country known for its democracy. In fact, in the past it has been ruled by several dictators or military juntas, so Bukele’s authoritarian behavior is nothing new in the Central American country.
The pro-Bitcoin turning point: from genesis to the latest news in El Salvador
The pro-Bitcoin turn is precisely thanks to Bukele, and it was made in 2021, that is, two years after the beginning of his presidency.
While the use of BTC for payments has not spread, despite being legal tender in the country alongside the US dollar, the pro-Bitcoin turn has still brought benefits to the country.
First of all, it has attracted attention and has significantly increased tourism. On the other hand, those who have BTC to spend in El Salvador can do so without any problems.
In addition, it has provided Salvadoran institutions with the opportunity to study alternative solutions to their problems, such as volcano bonds, which, however, have yet to see the light.
Above all, however, it has transformed El Salvador into the crypto hub par excellence of Latin America, to the point that it is hypothesized that it could become the Singapore or Hong Kong of the new continent.
Undoubtedly, the United States dominates the Americas in this regard, but among the countries of Latin America, El Salvador is the ideal place to start and manage crypto activities. And let’s not forget that the only two major non-Latin states in America are the USA and Canada.
