The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has announced that the nation has purchased another 150 Bitcoins to add to their holdings of the famed cryptocurrency. The central American nation earlier this year became the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender and the continued investment appears to signal that the country is going all in on the move, which could have huge economic ramifications for El Salvador and the world at large.
Bukele made the announcement as Bitcoin's price has fallen 30% in recent months, claiming that as the price was low, it was the perfect time to increase holdings. El Salvador now holds 1,220 Bitcoins in total, worth around $60 million.
The president is banking on the nation using the currency more widely and the price of the cryptocurrency increasing over the years ahead.
The decision to move to Bitcoin was made by the young president for a number of reasons. Firstly, because the price of Bitcoin could very well increase over time and, secondly, because it cuts down transaction fees that harm the El Salvadorian economy. At the moment, millions of Salvadorians live and work in the United States and send money back to their families living in the country. This money transferred through banks often comes with a 20% transaction fee. The use of Bitcoin cuts out that transaction fee and could see El Salvador making millions of dollars more every year.
Few Salvadorians are yet to get Bitcoin wallets themselves, and the cryptocurrency is not particularly useful for making small purchases due to the time-lapse in transactions and the wild fluctuation in Bitcoin price, which some economists say could fundamentally undermine the economy of the nation. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday that El Salvador should not be using Bitcoin and that such a move could lead to a financial crisis.
Bukele is currently overseeing a Bitcoin mining project to generate more of the coins through the use of El Salvador's volcanoe.s These can be used to produce the electricity that runs the supercomputers that eventually lead to new Bitcoins being harvested. Time will tell whether the move to Bitcoin is a success or failure.
[Based on reporting by: Reuters]
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