El Salvador Buys Another 162 BTC

The El Salvadoran government has increased its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings with the addition of 162 BTC to its national reserves.

According to data from Arkham Intelligence, a cold wallet belonging to the Central American country now holds 5,851 BTC valued at $356.4 million. The recent acquisition is part of the country’s national policy of buying one BTC every single day, which began on Mar. 16, 2024.

Source: Arkham Intelligence

El Salvador’s Bitcoin Accumulation Plan

The Central American nation has been increasing the amount of BTCs it owns over the past five months. According to the country’s inflow chart, one BTC has been added to the wallet every day, with the most recent purchase costing $60,500.

However, there have been days when the wallet made BTC purchases totaling less than $100. The overall strategy shows a consistent commitment to increasing its cryptocurrency reserves, regardless of the quantity of acquisitions.

A crypto analyst, EmberCN, noted that El Salvador paid an average of $44,835 per BTC for its holdings. With the latest investment, the country currently has an unrealized profit of $93.45 million. The country started its first “Bitcoin piggy bank” project by transferring 5,689 BTC, which was worth $386 million at the time, into a cold wallet.

萨尔瓦多地址每天购买 1 枚 BTC 已持续超过 5 个月，增持 160 枚 BTC ($10.31M)。

萨尔瓦多政府冷钱包地址从 3 月 16 日开始每天买入 1 枚 BTC，至今一直持续没有中断。到目前已持续超过 5 个月，增持 160 枚 BTC。

目前萨尔瓦多政府持有的 BTC 数量为 5,850 枚 ($355.83M)，成本均价为… pic.twitter.com/RIHFfYrFZi

— 余烬 (@EmberCN) August 23, 2024

Balancing Crypto Use and International Relations

Notably, El Salvador established a mempool space to promote openness regarding its BTC holdings. Thus, the public can access and audit the nation’s cryptocurrency holdings using this online portal, which gives the government’s digital currency policy an extra degree of transparency.

Furthermore, the country is exploring the use of cryptocurrencies for international trade and growing its Bitcoin reserves. In line with this objective, it has proposed trading with Russia using cryptocurrency.

This proposal is one way El Salvador can conduct financial dealings with Russia since its official currency is the US dollar. The United States and its allies have placed sanctions on Russia due to its ongoing conflict in Ukraine.