El Salvador Is Sitting on $84M Profit From Its Bitcoin Holdings
President Nayib Bukele said in an X post that the Central American nation is earning bitcoin revenue from four different avenues.
Mar 12, 2024 at 7:48 a.m. UTC
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El Salvador’s bitcoin (BTC) treasury is sitting on $84 million in unrealized profit on the holdings it first started acquiring in September 2021.
Bitcoin’s 250% rise over the past year has catapulted the Central American nation’s bitcoin treasury to over $206 million as of Tuesday, a 69% gain on initial capital so far. It holds 2,681 BTC, data shows, acquired over 12 separate purchases at an average cost of $42,600.
In 2021, bitcoin went on equal footing with the U.S. dollar in El Salvador after a historic “Bitcoin Law” made it the first country to recognize bitcoin as a legal tender. Since then, goods, services and taxes can all be paid for in bitcoin.
As such, President Nayib Bukele indicated in a Tuesday post that the nation is earning even more bitcoin in the form of revenue from other services. These include revenue from a citizenship passport program, which converts bitcoin to U.S. dollars for local businesses, bitcoin mining, and revenue from government services.
The country introduced its “Freedom VISA” in December, doling out residency to a maximum of 1,000 people per year who invest at least $1 million worth of bitcoin or tether (USDT) stablecoins. Successful applicants receive long-term residency permits and have a path to full citizenship, as reported.
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Shaurya is the Deputy Managing Editor for the Data & Tokens team, focusing on decentralized finance, markets, on-chain data, and governance across all major and minor blockchains.