El Salvador President Bukele Buys 80 more Bitcoin

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, announced Thursday that he bought 80 bitcoin, at a time when the legal tender cryptocurrency maintains a downward trend and is around 20,000 dollars.

“El Salvador I buy today 80 btc (at $19,000 each),” the president wrote on Twitter, in English. “Bitcoin is the future, thanks for selling cheap,” he added.

Faced with the decline in the price of cryptocurrencies and the criticism his administration is receiving, on June 19 the president said that “patience is the key” when investing in bitcoin.

“I see that some people are worried or anxious about the price of bitcoin in the market”, “my advice: stop looking at the chart and enjoy life. If you invested in #BTC your investment is safe and its value will grow a lot after the bear market (pessimistic markets and falling prices)”, stressed the president at that time.

In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country to accept bitcoin as legal tender on par with the dollar. At that time a bitcoin was around 44,000 dollars.

Last November 10, the bitcoin had its historical quotation over 68,000 dollars. Then it has maintained a downward trend, dragged down by the collapse of other cryptoassets, amid turbulence in those markets. 

The government created the electronic wallet Chivo Wallet so that Salvadorans can operate in that asset and facilitate the sending of remittances, without paying high commissions.

This Thursday, the president of the Central Reserve Bank (BCR), Douglas Rodríguez, reported that El Salvador received from January to May a total of 3,145.6 million dollars in family remittances, with a growth of 3.9% compared to the same period of 2021.

Most remittances arrive through the banking system and other agencies of that service, but those sent by Chivo Wallet do not reach 2% of shipments.

“Remittances through Chivo Wallet registered from January to May $52 million with zero costs and commissions for sending them,” Rodriguez assured.

On May 10 Bukele announced that El Salvador bought 500 bitcoins, taking advantage of the low price. With the new acquisition this Thursday, the country accumulated 2,381 units of the asset.