Over the weekend, cryptocurrency markets saw a significant crash, with Bitcoin falling below $5,000 for the first time since December 2017.
During this tragedy, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced on Twitter that his country had made its largest purchase yet of Bitcoin. He wrote: “El Salvador just bought the dip! 500 coins at an average price of $30,744.”
According to CoinMarketCap, El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings are now worth $15 million — but this figure doesn’t account for the fact that some of those coins were purchased at lower prices.
Bukele has been a proponent of cryptocurrency throughout his presidency and has taken several steps to promote it within his country. Last year, he launched a program called “Bitcoin for Everyone” which aimed to educate citizens about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies so they could use them in financial transactions or hold them as assets.
He also introduced a law allowing citizens to pay taxes using the cryptocurrency — which they can do through an app called Pay Directo (Direct Payment). The app currently supports Bitcoin and Ethereum but will expand its offerings in the future through partnerships with other companies.
The latest addition, valued at $15,372,000, takes the country’s Bitcoin count to over 2,300, valued at around $71.3 million considering the current Bitcoin price of $31,000. The new purchase is the largest ever purchase of Bitcoin by the country, which had earlier bought 420 Bitcoin at once.
The announcement was made via Twitter by Bukele who posted a video where he gave details about how he wanted to buy 21 bitcoins as part of his efforts to reduce poverty in the country.
“I want to tell you something very important,” said Bukele in Spanish during his televised speech on Thursday evening. “I have 21 bitcoins that I bought with my own money and I’m going to give them away for free.”
To mark the 21st day of the last month of the 21st year of the 21st century, Nayib Bukele announced the purchase another 21 bitcoins. As of writing, the Bitcoin price was trading at $31,254, nearly 9% down in the last 24 hours. The price drop comes with a $3,082 slump in the last 24 hours from a high of $34,461.
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