Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
Emerson Flores/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images
- El Salvador has lost $56 million on its bitcoin bullishness, according to calculations by Bloomberg.
- On Tuesday, President Nayib Bukele hinted on Twitter that he may buy the dip.
- The Central American nation holds 2,301 bitcoins on its balance sheet after approving bitcoin as legal tender last year.
The bitcoin crash that has seen over 65% of the token’s value erased is hitting El Salvador in a big way after it approved the crypto as legal tender in September.
The country has lost roughly $56 million by betting on bitcoin, according to calculations by Bloomberg, which tracked purchases using President Nayib Bukele’s tweets.
Since September, El Salvador has bought 2,301 bitcoins for an average of $45,908 per token and at a total cost of about $105.6 million. On Wednesday, bitcoin was down 3.8% at $21,339, marking the ninth consecutive drop and the longest losing streak since 2014.
Despite the setback, Bukele suggested Tuesday in a tweet that he may be looking to buy the dip.
—Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) June 14, 2022
The Central American nation has an $800 million bond payment due in January, and the bitcoin slump has raised concerns for cash-strapped El Salvador. According to Bloomberg, El Salvador’s dollar debt is the worst-performing in Latin America this year.
On Monday, Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya, expressed little concern about the bitcoin turmoil.
“When they tell me that the fiscal risk for El Salvador because of Bitcoin is really high, the only thing I can do is smile,” he said at a press conference, according to Reuters. “The fiscal risk is extremely minimal.”
