In global finance, few nations have made headlines as consistently as El Salvador, thanks to its bold and unprecedented embrace of Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, spearheaded by Nayib Bukele. Bukele’s vision for economic transformation through crypto has sparked both praise and skepticism on the international stage.
All that said and done, as El Salvador embarks on this uncharted financial journey, the world watches with bated breath to see if Nayib Bukele’s gamble will lead the nation toward true financial freedom or encounter unforeseen challenges.
Nayib Bukele goes after crypto naysayers
El Salvador’s Congress accepted President Nayib Bukele’s appointment of his private secretary as the country’s interim leader on Thursday, allowing him to campaign for reelection despite a constitutional prohibition.
In the national elections on February 4, Bukele will run for a second five-year term for the New Ideas party. Vice President Félix Ulloa was also given permission to run again as Bukele’s running mate.
While Bukele is well-liked in El Salvador for his vigorous battle with the gangs that have long terrorized the country, he has faced international criticism for consolidating power and failing to respect human rights.
Another issue Nayib Bukele has been fought for is the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender in the country. Multiple global financial behemoths, such as the IMF, have cautioned Bukele not to go the crypto route to financial freedom.
After much criticism, the current Bitcoin Bull Run has put the president in good economic books. Nayib Bukele took to X and wrote
El Salvador’s Bitcoin investments are in the black! After literally thousands of articles and hit pieces that ridiculed our supposed losses, all of which were calculated based on Bitcoin’s market price at the time.
Nayib Bukele
As of this writing, the current value of Bitcoin (BTC) is $43,234.17, accompanied by a 24-hour trading volume of $23,177,299,559.05. This reflects a 24-hour price decrease of -1.38% and a 7-day price increase of 14.67%.
The current crypto market cap stands at $1.65 trillion, reflecting a change of -1.61% over the last twenty-four hours and 88.39% over the past year. At present, Bitcoin holds a market capitalization of $844 billion, signifying a 51.13% market share. The market capitalization of stablecoins, meanwhile, is $130 billion, representing a 7.89% share of the total crypto market capitalization.
How much is El Salvador’s Bitcoin investment worth now?
With that price, how much does El Salvador have in BTC investment? Let us do the math. El Salvador has 2,765 bitcoins, according to all available information and nayibtracker.com. According to the recent price, the nation has $119,420,073 million worth of BTC.
According to a BBC report, El Salvador spent $120 million on Bitcoin. The $120 million Nayib Bukele’s administration has spent on coin purchases, however, is only a fraction of the public expenditures used to promote Bitcoin to Salvadorans since the country became the first to declare it legal tender in parity with the US dollar, the country’s major currency.
The government spent a lot of money on the development of the Chivo Wallet application, on the installation of ATMs, which mostly do not work, on a $30 bonus for all citizens over 18 years of age, on propaganda and international events.
When you add up all the expenses, the result cannot be positive. The result is in red – and in intense red.
Oscar Picardo, director of the Institute of Sciences at the Francisco Gavidia University, in San Salvador, El Salvador
Nayib begs to differ. According to his post on X, “With the current Bitcoin market price, if we were to sell our Bitcoin, we would not only recover 100% of our investment but also make a profit of $ 3,620 277.13 USD (as of this moment).” He adds that the nation has no intention of selling its holdings.
Of course, we have no intention of selling; that has never been our objective. We are fully aware that the price will continue to fluctuate in the future, this doesn’t affect our long-term strategy.
Nayib Bukele
As like the rest of the crypto community, Bukele is “waiting” to see the trajectory the market will take.
With an expected bull market with the help of BTC Halving and Bitcoin ETFs, analysts project that BTC will hit $125K. With that, El Salvador’s BTC investments stand at $345,625,000M.
According to Statista Research Department, El Salvador’s national debt is $25.75 billion as of 2023. The International Monetary Fund defines general government gross debt as all liabilities that require payment or payments of interest and/or principal by the debtor to the creditor at a future date or dates.
With that, it is unlikely that El Salvador will offset its debt by Bitcoin alone. But it’s sure a start.
