Bitcoin
El Salvador Continues Daily Bitcoin Acquisition Amid Market Crisis
Main conclusions
- El Salvador continues its daily Bitcoin purchases, reinforcing its commitment to the leading cryptocurrency.
- The country is considering developing a private investment bank to facilitate transactions in Bitcoin and US dollars.
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Bitcoin’s price has fallen in recent days amid mounting selling pressure from Mt. Gox refunds and a bleak economic outlook. Despite this, El Salvador still buys one Bitcoin (BTC) per day.
According to data from BitInfoCharts, a cold wallet controlled by the government of El Salvador has accumulated 1 BTC since mid-March, when Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele transferred the country’s BTC assets to the cold wallet and published the address.
At the time of the transfer, El Salvador held about 5,600 BTC, worth more than $400 million. Bukele called the wallet El Salvador’s “first Bitcoin piggy bank.”
The March revelation also marked the first time the president publicly disclosed El Salvador’s Bitcoin wallet address. Previously, he only updated information about new Bitcoin purchases on social channels.
El Salvador’s steady Bitcoin purchases are part of Bukele’s daily buying strategy. The president announced in 2022 that the country would begin buying one Bitcoin per day starting November 18, 2022.
The activation of the strategy followed a historic move in September 2021, when El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
Previously, Bukele said that the country does not just buy BTC, but accumulates it through passport sales, currency conversions, mining operations and other government services.
According to Reuters, on May 15, 2024, El Salvador mined 473.5 Bitcoin (BTC) using geothermal energy from the Tecapa volcano.
El Salvador recently revealed its plans to advanced Bitcoin integration in its banking system. The government has reportedly put forward a reform proposal to create a private investment bank that allows trading in Bitcoin and the US dollar.
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