El Salvador’s government might really be on a cryptocurrency-focused mission as the Central American country has added more Bitcoins to the tune of 150 Bitcoins, raising its total Bitcoin holdings to 700 Bitcoins. The country made the announcement of the purchase of the additional Bitcoins after the price of Bitcoin fell 5 percent to a low of about $45,000 in the Asian session.
El Salvador recently became the first country to adopt flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin as a legal tender. Bitcoin which was trading above the $50,000 margin fell more than 10 percent, losing up to $9,000 in value on Bitcoin’s adoption. The country took the opportunity to buy the dip amidst the criticisms that it received from global financial bodies, financial experts, and citizens.
“They can never beat you if you buy the dips”, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said as he announced the country’s new acquisition of 150 Bitcoins. The excited President took to his Twitter platform to announce the buy. “We just bought the dip. 150 new coins! El Salvador now holds 700 coins”, he said. He didn’t fail to encourage, more like insist, other countries to join El Salvador in acquiring Bitcoin as he ended his Twitter thread advising other presidencies to buy Bitcoin.
El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as a legal tender for quite a number of reasons and these reasons have started to become apparent. El Salvador, through the President’s legal advisor – Javier Argueta, recently announced plans to exempt foreign investors from paying taxes on Bitcoin profits. This move, from all indications, is being made to bring foreign investments, and encourage local entrepreneurs and foreign investors to see the country as a viable ground to plant their businesses.
El Salvador’s Bitcoin-related decisions have been hugely criticized but its activities have led to other countries starting to warm up to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Ukraine is looking to make Bitcoin legal, not adopt as a legal tender, in the country following El Salvador’s adoption. Other Central American countries are reportedly beginning to draft laws in favor of Bitcoin.
As of the time of drafting this article, Bitcoin was trading at $44,953.50.
