President Nayib Bukele, via a Monday tweet, announced that El Salvador has added another 500 Bitcoin to its pile following the latest dip that the world’s most popular cryptocurrency has been experiencing. The country’s latest addition is worth $15.5 million as of the time of purchase.
Since El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender, the country has been doing almost everything to increase its pile including buying the dip. The Central American country’s president tweeted last year September after purchasing 150 Bitcoin that “They can never beat you if you buy the dips” adding that “We just bought the dip. 150 new coins! El Salvador now holds 700 coins.”
El Salvador’s latest addition of 500 Bitcoin is the country’s largest purchase of the cryptocurrency since adopting it as a legal tender and adding it to its balance sheet.
President Nayib Bukele via his tweet shared that the country purchased Bitcoin at an average price of $30,744. The country’s total Bitcoin reserve is now 2,301 Bitcoin worth about $71.7 million at current prices, according to Bloomberg.
President Nayib Bukele has been an advocate of Bitcoin and believes that it could transcend the country to bigger levels despite several warnings from global monetary bodies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was infuriated after El Salvador announced its adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender. The body didn’t hold back on its opinions on the move. A statement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urging that the country rescinds its decision on Bitcoin made clear the body’s stance on El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin. Directors at the IMF emphasized the risks associated with Bitcoin. The statement said these directors “stressed that there are large risks associated with the use of Bitcoin on financial stability, financial integrity, and consumer protection, as well as the associated fiscal contingent liabilities”.
Despite the backlashes he has received, El Salvador’s President has big plans for Bitcoin. In November last year, he announced “Bitcoin City” adding that this new city will be totally based on Bitcoin. According to the information from the President, “Bitcoin city” will be located along the Gulf of Fonseca situated near a volcano. The idea is to make the volcano a source of power for Bitcoin mining. It is the government’s plan to provide energy for both Bitcoin mining activities and the city from the volcano. The country also announced plans to issue a $1 billion US “Bitcoin bond”, a tokenized financial instrument developed by Blockstream, on Liquid Network. $500 million, out of this amount will be used to construct energy and Bitcoin mining infrastructure while the balance of $500 million will be used to acquire more Bitcoin, the President said.
Bitcoin is down more than 8% in the last 24 hours, and it’s nearly 55% off its November all-time high. As of the time of completing this draft, Bitcoin was trading at $31, 743.20, hours after falling below $30,000.
