El Salvador embarks on $ 21 million crypto buying spree as Bitcoin becomes legal

[ad_1]

Top line

El Salvador acquired around $ 21 million worth of bitcoin on Monday, President Nayib Bukele said, backing the crypto market before making history on Tuesday by becoming the first country in the world to officially adopt digital currency as legal tender. .

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has championed the country’s use of bitcoin as a currency.

Getty Images Highlights

El Salvador bought its first 400 bitcoins in two batches on Monday, worth an estimated $ 21 million based on the value of bitcoins at the time of the announcement, according to a series of tweets from Bukele.

Bukele said the country intended to buy significantly more when the first round of 200 bitcoin was announced.

The purchase comes as El Salvador makes history as the first country to legalize bitcoin on Tuesday.

The law enacting the change, overwhelmingly approved in June, places bitcoin alongside the U.S. dollar as El Salvador’s national currency.

Bukele said he hopes the initiative will boost foreign investment, financial inclusion and create jobs, and that bitcoin can be used to make purchases and pay taxes.

Bitcoin’s value jumped around 2% to just under $ 53,000 on Tuesday morning following Bukeles’ tweets, although the volatile token fell around 3% later in the morning, its value the most. highest since the cryptocurrency market collapsed three months ago.

Key context

El Salvador’s decision to adopt bitcoin as legal tender is controversial, and questions about logistics have been raised both at home and abroad. Polls suggest most Salvadorans are against the idea and many have taken to the streets to protest the change. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said its plans could threaten an early deal with the country, while some economists warn the country will become a haven for financial crime and the potential environmental impact of bitcoin , which uses huge amounts of electricity. Some of these criticisms, including environmental impact and crime, which are certainly significant issues, are often raised as if they were overwhelming and without reference to efforts to remedy the problem or the context. Bitcoin could be mined using electricity generated from clean sources, for example, and the popularity of cryptos among criminals is only a small fraction of illicit financial transactions. Many are excited about the change and Bukele has been open in his hopes that he will attract a new cohort of entrepreneurs to the country.

Large number

$ 30. This is how much each citizen downloading the government’s bitcoin wallet, Chivo, will receive in bitcoin.

Further reading

El Salvador becomes crypto lab with Bitcoin gamble (FT)

El Salvador makes history as the first country in the world to make bitcoin legal (Forbes)

Tanzania considers crypto, boosts Bitcoin as nations line up behind El Salvador to embrace decentralized finance (Forbes)

Solana leads massive Altcoin and Bitcoin rally as JPMorgan warns crypto markets are bubbly again (Forbes)

[ad_2]