Salvadoran president posts meme wearing McDonald’s uniform

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The Salvadoran president, a crypto enthusiast, seems to accept the recent precipitous fall of bitcoin: after all, if the management of a country does not work, there is always McDonald’s.

Nayib Bukele, whose country was the first to adopt bitcoin as legal tender last year, changed his Twitter profile picture on Saturday to one showing him wearing the uniform of a McDonald’s employee after the recent plunge cryptocurrency has sent bitcoin down 45% since November.

Bitcoin continued its slide on Monday, falling nearly 3% in the past 24 hours at noon in New York.

Bukele’s tongue-in-cheek post is part of a popular internet meme where long-term holders of crypto assets, also known as HODL’ers, or those who “hold on for life”, joke about their next career if their investments fail.

As of Monday morning, the price of a bitcoin was just over $34,000 — down more than 45% from early November, when it hit an all-time high of $67,582 — wiping out more than a trillion dollars worth.

But the crypto crisis hasn’t deterred Bukele, who has earned a reputation as an aggressive buyer. On Friday, the government purchased 410 bitcoins for $15 million, the president announced on Twitter.

Bukele’s new Twitter profile picture referenced an internet meme in which crypto investors joked about their next career if the value of the digital currency plummeted.AFP via Getty Images

In September, El Salvador purchased $26 million worth of bitcoin before officially unveiling its adoption in September. The government claims that bitcoin will promote economic inclusion for 70% of its citizens who do not have access to traditional financial services.

Residents were encouraged to use bitcoin to pay taxes, buy homes, and buy goods and services with the digital asset.

In November, Bukele announced that his government would build a coin-shaped “bitcoin city” at the base of a volcano, where he would deploy geothermal energy to power bitcoin mining.

Under Bukele’s leadership, El Salvador has built a bitcoin wallet totaling over 1,500 digital coins, worth around US$53 million.

In September, Bukele’s government became the first in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.AP

The tiny Central American country also plans to issue a $1 billion 10-year bitcoin bond.

But analysts are not so optimistic about Bukele’s bet. Rating agency Moody’s told Bloomberg that El Salvador’s purchase of bitcoin is “pretty risky” given the government’s past liquidity problems.

According to Moody’s, the country’s burgeoning bitcoin wallet could hamper its ability to repay lenders.

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