El Salvador set a new record by legalizing Bitcoin in 2021; the decision was solely made by the young president of the nation. In the initial days, the decision was rarely appreciated, but since the past few quarters, a boost in the adoption of BTC has been observed. 

Nayib Bukele, a 43-year-old president of El Salvador, is mostly criticized for favoring digital assets, especially Bitcoin. The nation got its first BTC office in December 2022; the head of the nation also wants to establish a separate Bitcoin city. 

According to an X post of Director of the Bitcoin Office of El Salvador, Stacy Herbert wrote “ President Bukele announces that El Salvador will no longer acquire External Debt to finance the next General Budget of the Nation.”

President Bukele announces that El Salvador will no longer acquire External Debt to finance the next General Budget of the Nation.El Salvador is on the path to true freedom. https://t.co/EXnh9EWaNj

— Stacy Herbert (@stacyherbert) September 16, 2024

In an interview with Time Magazine, Nayib emphasized legalizing Bitcoin in El Salvador, yet he also believes that he has not gotten the response he expected.

According to available information, El Salvador first bought 400 BTC in September 2021; the purchase amount was $20.9 million. Data available on the website of Bitcoin(dot)gov(dot)sv states that until publishing the nation holds 5,874 Bitcoins worth $343,879,03.06.   

Since March 2024, without fail, against the backdrop of the 1 bitcoin per day operation, El Salvador has added one Bitcoin to its national treasury. 

Other Market News Updates

This week has become disastrous for decentralized finance and lending fell victim to bad actors resulting in losses of over $6 million in cryptocurrencies. Delta Prime, a DeFi and a lending protocol based on the Arbitrum chain, lost a chunk of funds in a theft on September 16, 2024.  

The issuer of USDC has made a major announcement to relocate its HQ to New York City; as per speculation, the consortium might soon get the SEC’s approval over its ICO. 

Circle filed an ICO application with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission at the beginning of 2024. It is seeking a review by the regulatory commission to expand its presence in the leading market worldwide.  

Crypto Market Price Updates

When writing the fear and greed index powered by CoinMarketCap, it was at 26, reflecting a fear sentiment in the vast market; despite fear, the market’s trading volume is up 70% intraday. 

Until publishing the cryptocurrency market capitalization was $2.04 trillion with an intraday decline of 2.83%. At the same time, Bitcoin, the termed pioneer of the market, was trading at $58,516 with a decline of 2.64% in trading prices. 

Despite tumbling prices, BTC’s market dominance continues to surge reaching over 57% adding over 14% in the past six months. A major decline in Ethereum price has been observed in the past 24 hours; experts claim that the recent whale moment has driven the decline; trading at $2,305 with a drop of 4.38%.