Bukele’s ‘Bitcoin Piggy Bank’: El Salvador’s Reserves Now Stand At 5,851 BTC
Veronika Rinecker is based in Germany, studied international journalism and media management. She specializes in politics and regulation, energy, blockchain, and fintech. Since 2017, she has been...
El Salvador, the first country to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender, continues to accumulate the cryptocurrency.
Since March 16, 2024, a cold wallet believed to be owned by the Salvadoran government has acquired one Bitcoin every day, according to recent data from blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.
This consistent buying strategy has added 162 Bitcoins to the country’s reserves, bringing the total to 5,851 as of August 23, 2024. The current market value of these holdings stands at approximately $357.2 million.
Arkham Intelligence data also reveals the daily purchase pattern on this particular wallet. Interestingly, while most purchases were for one Bitcoin, there were a few instances where the amount purchased was less than $1.
Crypto analyst EmberCN estimates in his X post from Aug. 23 that the average cost per Bitcoin in El Salvador is around $44,835. This translates to a potential upside of $93.45 million (+35%) based on current market prices.
El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, initiated this daily buying program in March 2024 and stated his intention to continue until Bitcoin becomes “unaffordable.”
When the purchases began, El Salvador transferred 5,689 Bitcoin to the cold storage wallet, then valued at $386 million. Bukele famously referred to this wallet as the country’s “first Bitcoin piggy bank.”
We've decided to transfer a big chunk of our #Bitcoin to a cold wallet, and store that cold wallet in a physical vault within our national territory.
You can call it our first #Bitcoin piggy bank
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