The El Salvadorian government’s holdings in Bitcoin are currently valued at over $150 million. El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings are estimated to be $50 million more than their cost basis based on the most recent data available from the resource Bitcoin Treasuries.
Minimal Cost Basis Bitcoin Returns in El Salvador
Since El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal cash in 2022, the nation’s holdings have grown from pitiful during the bear market to unprecedented wealth.
Its president, Nayib Bukele, declared that the government will begin buying 1 Bitcoin every day. As a result, the government has accumulated about 2,380 Bitcoin ($158.5 million).
This was worth $164.7 million on March 5, 2024, when Bitcoin reached its new all-time highs, which is a full 53% higher than El Salvador’s aggregate cost basis. The average cost to purchase a Bitcoin was $44,300.
Bukele, who was reelected last month, attacked mainstream media coverage of the government’s economic policies in a recent X (previously Twitter) remark.
They literally created thousands of articles on our alleged losses when the price of Bitcoin was low. Since the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed, our primary source of BTC is now our citizenship program. If we were to sell, we would profit by over 40% (only from market purchases), he asserted last week.
The fact that the writers of those controversial articles, the so-called “analysts,” “experts,” and “journalists,” have completely stopped talking is instructive. “We won’t sell, of course; at the end, 1 BTC = 1 BTC (this was true when the market price was low and it’s true now”
Ahead of the Pack?
El Salvador continues to be a standout among nation states implementing a “Bitcoin standard,” despite the attention it has received for its Bitcoin shift.
Though there have been reports that countries in South America and beyond are planning to follow suit, no formal announcements have been made as of yet.
Samson Mow, whose startup JAN3 seeks to “accelerate hyperbitcoinization,” is among those most optimistic about nation-state adoption in the near future.
During an interview with The Bitcoin Podcast, Mow noted that nation-states, together with corporations and institutional purchasers through the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, will be among the major buyers moving forward.
“As it continues to rise, there are price-insensitive buyers,” he clarified, referring to regular investors who make considerably smaller purchases.
