According to Cointelegraph, El Salvador is celebrating the third anniversary of adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, a move that made it the first country in the world to do so on September 7, 2021. The initiative aimed to promote financial inclusion, streamline remittance payments, and attract financial innovation.
President Nayib Bukele's decision to adopt Bitcoin has positioned El Salvador as a pioneer in the digital asset space. Alex Momot, founder and CEO of Peanut Trade crypto trading platform, remarked that while it is too early to declare the initiative a complete success, the country has certainly reaped some benefits. El Salvador has been dollar-cost-averaging into Bitcoin since 2021, purchasing one Bitcoin per day. As of now, the country's Bitcoin holdings have generated over $31 million in profit, according to the Nayib Bukele Portfolio Tracker website. The average buying price for El Salvador's Bitcoin was $43,877 per BTC, which is currently trading at $54,300.
Momot highlighted that the financial gain strengthens Bukele's position, adding credibility to his bold cryptocurrency experiment. El Salvador currently holds a total of 5,865 Bitcoin, valued at over $318 million, according to the country's treasury website. Despite initial criticism, especially after Bitcoin's price fell from its all-time high of $69,000 in November 2021 to as low as $16,000 during the bear market, the country has managed to turn a profit.
While El Salvador's adoption of Bitcoin has been closely watched, only one other country, the Central African Republic, has followed suit, adopting Bitcoin as legal tender in April 2022. Larger economies have remained hesitant, likely due to their dependence on relationships with international creditors who oppose such moves. Brazilian lawmakers have shown interest in establishing a legal framework for Bitcoin adoption, but concrete regulations have yet to be developed.
