El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, pictured in November 2021, was a speaker at the Latin Bitcoin Conference en Playa Mizata
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, pictured in November 2021, was a speaker at the Latin Bitcoin Conference en Playa Mizata. AFP / MARVIN RECINOS

KEY POINTS

  • Data shows El Salvador has 2,681 Bitcoin holdings purchased at an average cost of $42,600
  • Bukele said the country's Bitcoin strategy extends to government services aside from mining
  • El Salvador became the first country to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021

Crypto-friendly El Salvador has earned millions from its Bitcoin strategy, the latest data shows, and President Nayib Bukele has proudly shared that the country's BTC trove is moving forward in four different avenues.

Data from a website tracking Bukele's Bitcoin activity showed that El Salvador saw a 69% growth on its initial capital so far. In total, the country's Bitcoin treasury is now worth over $209 million as of Wednesday. It holds a total of 2,682 BTC that was acquired at an average cost of $42,600 apiece.

Cryptocurrency YouTuber and Bitcoin advocate Daan de Rover wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the Central American nation "is now in a $83m profit on their Bitcoin investment strategy!" Bukele reshared the post, revealing where El Salvador puts its Bitcoin to work: the country's passport program, BTC conversion to USD for local businesses, mining, and government services.

It is worth noting that El Salvador passed its Bitcoin Law in mid-2021, becoming the first country to give the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency a legal tender status, and Bukele was the law's proponent. Since then, BTC was allowed for use in various payment transactions such as tax payments, services, goods, and more. Bukele has also floated building an ocean-side Bitcoin City -- inspired by ancient Greece's infrastructure but fueled by cryptocurrency.

El Salvador started purchasing Bitcoin in 2021. When Bitcoin was trading at around $16,000 – in the lows – late in 2022, Bukele said the country will buy one Bitcoin per day.

Late last month, Bukele said he was waiting for mainstream media to write about El Salvador's BTC gains. "When Bitcoin's market price was low, they wrote literally thousands of articles about our supposed losses ... it's very telling that the authors of those hit pieces, the 'analysts,' the 'experts,' the 'journalists,' are totally silent now," he said. He reiterated that El Salvador won't sell just yet.

Dubbed as the "Bitcoin Nation" by crypto enthusiasts, El Salvador had been short on cash and public debt accelerated in recent years. The country has since sought a billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but the fund asked El Salvador to "reconsider" its Bitcoin Law.

Bukele's vice president, Felix Ulloa, told Reuters that El Salvador will retain BTC as legal tender, especially now that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). "Not only will it (the law) be maintained. At this moment, it enjoys the greatest credibility in the entire world," he said.

Read more