El Salvador Portfolio Turns Surplus
Bitcoin Rises 150% Since Early This Year
El Salvador's Bitcoin (BTC) portfolio, which bet the nation's fortune on the cryptocurrency boom two years ago, has finally turned profitable.
Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, announced on his X account on the 4th (local time) that "El Salvador would recover 100% of its investment and gain about $3.62 million (approximately 4.7 billion KRW) in profit if it sold Bitcoin at the current market price."
He added, "El Salvador obviously has no intention of selling Bitcoin, and although price fluctuations are expected in the future, it does not affect the long-term strategy."
He also pointed out, "Bitcoin opponents should also mention the fact that El Salvador is making profits as much as they previously claimed it was incurring losses from BTC investments."
President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, who posted the so-called 'Laser Eye' composite photo symbolizing Bitcoin optimism in 2021 [Image source=X]
Currently, El Salvador is reported to hold a total of 2,744 Bitcoins at an average purchase price of $40,479 (approximately 53.18 million KRW). According to cryptocurrency market monitoring sites such as CoinMarketCap, as of 1:51 PM on the 5th, Bitcoin is trading around $41,794 (approximately 54.9 million KRW). Bitcoin surpassed the $40,000 level the previous day and quickly jumped to around $42,000 (approximately 55.17 million KRW).
El Salvador began investing in Bitcoin in September 2021 by injecting $10.3 million (approximately 1.35 billion KRW) from the national treasury. However, shortly after, cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin repeatedly declined due to inflation crises and interest rate hikes by central banks worldwide.
Despite massive losses, the El Salvador government has increased its Bitcoin investment. At that time, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has risen more than 150% from the beginning of this year to the present. However, predictions about future momentum are divided.
Michael Oruk, Chief Market Strategist at Jones Trading, told the U.S. financial media Bloomberg, "The combination of expectations for spot ETF approval and hopes for interest rate cuts has triggered another speculative frenzy in (cryptocurrency)."
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