El Salvador has revealed a significant increase in Bitcoin holdings, in a bold move that cements its position as a pioneer in cryptocurrency adoption.
President Nayib Bukele announced that the Central American country transferred $400 million worth of Bitcoin to a cold wallet.
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 🇸🇻
It's not much, but it's honest work 😂 pic.twitter.com/dqzedykxT1
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 14, 2024
Bukele took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the news, calling the cold wallet “our first Bitcoin piggy bank.” The wallet, secured in a physical vault on national territory, currently holds 5,689.68 BTC.
This announcement shattered previous estimates that El Salvador's Bitcoin reserves were believed to be significantly lower.
Public trackers had previously valued the country's assets at less than 3,000 BTC ($205 million).
Bukele hinted earlier this week that El Salvador is acquiring Bitcoin not only through direct purchase, but also through innovative means such as the sale of passports, currency conversion for businesses, mining operations and government services.
By linking his country's Bitcoin assets to a specific address for the first time, Bukele broke away from the updates he had previously made only through social media posts.
El Salvador made headlines in September 2021 as the first country to accept Bitcoin as a treasury asset, at the time the cryptocurrency was trading around $52,000 per coin.
Since then, Bitcoin's value has risen and surpassed its ATH level of $69,000.
*This is not investment advice.
