El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said that if they sell all their current Bitcoin, they will profit more than 40%, equivalent to 41.6 million USD.
“When the price of Bitcoin was low, there were thousands of articles about our estimated losses. And now, when the price of Bitcoin increases, we will profit more than 40% if we sell,” he wrote on social network X on February 28.
Bukele also said that recently, they got more Bitcoin mainly from the citizenship program. Accordingly, those who "donate" Bitcoin to the government will be offered citizenship. However, he did not disclose this number. Bukele also said he has no intention of selling Bitcoin.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele speaks during a ceremony in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador on February 8, 2022. Photo: Reuters
From Bukele's tweets, CoinDesk calculates that El Salvador currently has 2,381 Bitcoins in its treasury with a total value of $147 million. The average purchase price of these Bitcoins is $44,292.
The price of the world's largest cryptocurrency increased 40% in February, to nearly 61,150 USD per coin. This is the largest monthly increase since December 2020.
According to CoinDesk, this week's sharp price rally was fueled by massive capital inflows into spot ETFs. Besides, the market is also recording a trend of consolidating goods before the "halving" event expected to take place in April, according to Reuters. This is an event that takes place every four years, halving miners' rewards.
El Salvador legalized Bitcoin in September 2021, becoming the first country in the world to adopt digital currency as a national currency. This was expected to reform El Salvador's economy, turning the poor country in Central America into a pioneer in the financial revolution.
Investing in Bitcoin is not President Bukele's only crypto-friendly initiative. At the end of 2021, Bukele also announced plans to build a “Bitcoin City” funded by Bitcoin bonds.
The rush to buy Bitcoin, along with a series of strong support for cryptocurrencies, has boosted El Salvador's tourism industry. However, this move also makes international officials skeptical about transparency.
According to VNE