El Salvador’s unrealized profits on its Bitcoin investment briefly surpassed $360 million after BTC reached a new high above $106,000 earlier today. The country’s president, Nayib Bukele, shared a screenshot of its portfolio, showing that its investment has already doubled in value.
According to the shared portfolio, El Salvador has invested $270.42 million in buying Bitcoin, and its acquisition is now valued at $632.65 million, a 128% increase. Although BTC has now fallen back to $104,000, El Salvador remains with significant profits, which highlights the success of the Bitcoin reserve strategy.
The Central American country currently holds 5,966 Bitcoins and has been buying one BTC per day, in line with Bukele’s pledge in November 2022. According to data from Arkham Intelligence, its last purchase was one BTC for $103,190 on December 15.
New IMF loan could remove BTC as legal tender in El Salvador
Meanwhile, the success of El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserve strategy has not been enough to convince international organizations. The country might soon have to amend the laws that made Bitcoin a legal tender in September 2021.
According to Financial Times, El Salvador is negotiating a $1.3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and parts of the loan’s terms could affect the Bitcoin law.
The reports noted that the IMF wants the El Salvador government to remove the law mandating the acceptance of Bitcoin as legal tender and instead make it voluntary for businesses to choose whether to accept BTC. Bitcoin adoption in the country could suffer a setback if this term is included.
However, the impact might actually be minimal given that local adoption of Bitcoin for payment is already low and, as some experts noted, almost non-existent. A survey by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in 2022 shows that only 20% of companies in the country accept Bitcoin as a form of payment, and an even smaller percentage of El Salvadorians use BTC for transactions.
Still, the IMF’s opposition to El Salvador’s Bitcoin policy is unsurprising. The organization has warned that the costs and risks of making Bitcoin legal tender outweigh the benefits. It identified multiple risks at the time, including BTC price volatility, use for illicit activities, and financial instability.
However, BTC has come a long way since then, with widespread institutional adoption boosting its price. El Salvador bonds have benefited from that performance, increasing in value. Still, the IMF has called for transparency in El Salvador’s Bitcoin policy.
More countries eye strategic Bitcoin reserves
While El Salvador’s Bitcoin law might not have boosted local adoption, the success of its Bitcoin Reserve has been enough to spark global interest in creating Bitcoin reserves. In the US, president-elect Donald Trump has already promised to create one.
He reiterated this promise recently, and two states in the US – Pennsylvania and Florida – have already proposed Bitcoin reserve bills. Other states such as Wisconsin and Michigan have also shown interest in Bitcoin, mostly through the acquisition of Bitcoin investment products,
Meanwhile, other countries are also considering the idea. The South Asian country of Bhutan is one of the biggest sovereign holders of Bitcoin, with over $1 billion in BTC holdings through its mining contracts. Other countries, such as Russia and Thailand, are also considering Bitcoin reserves.
Several sovereign nations are considering hoarding Bitcoin in reserve. Meanwhile, demand from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other institutional buyers continues to increase. Analysts believe that Bitcoin could hit seven figures in the coming years.
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This articles is written by : Fady Askharoun Samy Askharoun
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