Nayib Bukele announces Bitcoin prescription for El Salvador: 1 BTC per day

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As the first nation in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in September 2021, El Salvador is returning to its days of buying BTC after a months-long hiatus in bearish market conditions.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced on November 16 that the Central American nation would start buying BTC daily from November 17. The announcement comes nearly three months after the country made its last purchase of BTC in July 2022.

We’re buying one #Bitcoin every day starting tomorrow.

Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) November 17, 2022

El Salvador started buying BTC in September 2021, just after making it legal tender. At the time, BTC was in the midst of a bull market and every purchase the nation made seemed lucrative as the price hit a new all-time high every two weeks. However, with the advent of the bear market in the second quarter of 2022, El Salvador’s first BTC purchases began to look like a gamble with heavy losses.

According to public records, El Salvador currently holds 2,381 BTC at an average purchase price of $43,357. So, the country spent nearly $103.23 million on its purchase of BTC and the value of the same BTC currently stands at $39.4 million.

Total history of BTC purchases in El Salvador

The announcement of a new BTC buying routine at a time when the major cryptocurrency is trading at a fresh cycle low could help El Salvador offset some of its losses in the coming months.

Beyond the losses suffered by the tiny nation on its purchases of BTC, the major cryptocurrency has helped to significantly reduce the cost of cross-border remittances and has also boosted the tourism sector.

Related: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Ruling: Adoption Tracking One Year Later

Cointelegraph reporter Joe Hall is currently on the ground in El Salvador and only survives on BTC. Some early updates from Hall suggest that BTC is accepted at the majority of tourist sites, but mobile apps and services need more refinement.

Lunch the day afternoon in El Navegante

HUGE sign: #Bitcoin accepted here

The server is wearing a @Strike t-shirt, the chef is wearing a Strike hat (srsly).

I tried to pay the bill. The waiter spends 15 minutes looking for an outlet.

He asks his neighbor to turn on Chivo so I can pay pic.twitter.com/9HaHG8qclQ

Joe Nakamoto (@JoeNakamoto) November 14, 2022

BTC adoption in El Salvador might not look very promising at the moment due to the intense crypto winter. However, looking at the history of Bitcoin’s price cycle, the nation can easily offset its losses in the next bull cycle by simply holding onto its BTC purchase.

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