The president of El Salvador just bout 420 BTC!

[NeuroticFish]

Is a pet clinic a luxury or an urgent need for a country like El Salvador? I have nothing against pets, but some much richer countries do not have such clinics either - I believe that this money could be spent much better on building hospitals for people, kindergartens, schools...

Indeed, he should spend the funds better, instead of spending on "what he likes". For example building more power plants so the country doesn't have to buy from the neighbors would have been a better choice. Your list is also great.
On the other hand, if he wouldn't have been going by "what he likes", Bitcoin may have not been there either (not yet).

[livingfree]

The thing that matters to the majority is the fact that they've just bought another bunch of bitcoins.

Although it's part of his political career and policy towards bitcoin and there are many citizens that do not agree with him. This guy believes bitcoin and just as we, we're believing it.

But on him, every time a few dip comes, there's probably a plan to buy hundreds of it. While for the small timers like me, only a few decimals can do.

[watergold]

You can't really say this is a dictator, can you?

I'm not sure about this. regardless of dictator or not I like the policies he has applied to bitcoin today.
but this goes back to bukele himself i don't know what he's doing behind his back and it could be a dictator in your opinion right or wrong

Not sure where the money is coming from to buy those BTCs. Not that it’s a massive amount, but I’m sure their citizens would like to have the BTCs properly sourced. The second comment on the Twitter screenshot suggest that, perhaps, they are selling-off part of the Trust’s USDs to purchase more BTCs (or it could be from another origin).

this is the strongest possibility that happened.
because it takes quite a lot of funds to buy that much bitcoin.
and maybe they will continue to buy in installments little by little when bitcoin experiences corrections and declines.
and this is a pretty good thing for elsavador themselves as they have now amassed over 600 bitcoins and continue to plan to add more.
I think this is pretty good to see how it goes.

[michellee]

That’s a good thing especially for a president who makes Bitcoin a legal tender. Most likely he’ll be looking forward to long term results as we’re currently in the bullish period that is Q4. However, nothing is guaranteed and no promises that the bullish run of BTC will continue or will remain at consolidation range between $58k to $62k in my opinion.

I guess he can wait until the price starts to increase more than the price he bought and doing a long-term holding will not be a problem to them. It is a good decision to buy bitcoin at dip as he can hold his bitcoin and not sell it for the long term. If the price can start another rally and somehow surpasses $70k, his profit will be bigger while he can keep the rest of Bitcoin for the next ATH.

Even if the price is down or stable at $58k-$68k, he can use that moment to buy more bitcoin. But he still needs to be careful as the market will not always go up and have a bull run because the bear run can come anytime.

[Woodie]

Are these bitcoins the president bought suppose to be the property of the citizens of El Salvador since his brought this news into the public domain or this is a private purchase...but looking at the quantity its high likely for the citizens?? And I appreciate that his in the forefront  but could he delegate this to someelse...maybe to the ministry of finance or some treasury department if these coins happen to be for the citizens let them post the public address for transparency and accountability reason's.

 

[kryptqnick]

It's currently worth almost 26 million dollars. It's a ton of money for a president to have, especially in such a poor country. So unless he bought it with personal funds but is going to share somehow with the public (by donating it to socially important causes), I don't think it's a nice gesture. First and foremost, it's not about Bitcoin but bragging about having so much money to spare on investments in a country where 8.5% of the population have less than $3.20 per day, and almost a quarter lives in poverty. The matter's even worse if it's taxpayers' money that he's playing with and making decisions about investments.

[DdmrDdmr]

One possible source of data to keep an eye on is the government’s transparency portal on fiscal budgets:
https://www.transparenciafiscal.gob.sv/ptf/es/PTF2-Datos_Abiertos.html

Going briefly over the portal, I’ve only managed to come-up with some accounting information with references to bitcoin. Namely, the database entry labelled "Ejecución del gasto por clasificación presupuestaria" (data as of September 2021 so far) allows us to download a pdf with data related to open budgets. The pdf includes 4 entries related to Bitcoin:

1412  Financiamiento al Fideicomiso para Operativizar la Circulación de Moneda Digital Bitcoin 2021 (september)-> 100 M $ (payment planned)
1412  Financiamiento al Fideicomiso para Operativizar la Circulación de Moneda Digital Bitcoin 2021 (october)-> 50 M $ (programmed, 25$ commited)
1416  Bono Bitcoin 2021 (September) -> 0 $
1416  Bono Bitcoin 2021 (October) -> 30 M $ (programmed)

The former 2 aggregate to the 150M $ Trust fund we know about. The latter 30M $ suggest a budget to pay out bitcoin redemptions, which I thought was all budgeted under the 150 M $ allocated to the Trust.

I haven't seen anything else much, but some quarterly reports are not due until end of year, and I’m not really well acquainted with their information. Perhaps someone more local (if there’s anyone around here from there) can find other sources within the portal that may be of interest to track and pinpoint these purchases.

[blatchcorn]

You can't really say this is a dictator, can you?

They bought 420 BTC, but I can't understand how they're so sure it'll go upwards. It's a whole country in the central America; their behavior seems like a teenager's who just learnt about the magic of Bitcoin in 2011 and bought bunch. I can't say Bitcoin is the least fluctuating asset at the moment and hence, the greatest investment strategy for a country.

Also, why would a dictator want to promote Bitcoin, a currency which is against their polity?

This happens if you don't have democracy and some insane person got the power. I don't know the reason of buying BTC at such high price by leader of the state? May be he is trying to become "COOL" as Musk.
They have made BTC legal tender but I don't think its a wise move, since decentralized BTC is all about democracy and not dictatorship.

[TheNineClub]

I wonder if any of that hahaha profit will go towards the poverty-stricken in that country, or to crime regulation. I mean, I do appreciate El Salvador accepting bitcoin, but I am interested to see how much of that profit will go back to the people and how much is just a Twitter stunt.

[Fundamentals Of]

Nayib Bukele is quite interesting in how he leads the country. I guess he really has a big influence in his government. It seems he has the power to make something done even if he does not have the sole authority over what happens to the country's finances.

He is from the ruling party which has a majority in parliament and makes all decisions without having to depend on anyone else. Some call him a dictator, but the man has only tried to do something positive for his country - if he fails to do so, some other people will win the next election and perhaps reverse all his decisions.

Yes, but I'm still wondering how the parliament has easily bought Bitcoin, a technology more than half of its members might not have even thoroughly understood, during the quick dip as if tens of millions of dollars is a small amount of money which requires no lengthy deliberation, processes, and approval. It's as if the cash is just lying there available waiting for a dip to happen.

They actually don't have the luxury to spend that big of an amount on something unnecessary.

Is a pet clinic a luxury or an urgent need for a country like El Salvador? I have nothing against pets, but some much richer countries do not have such clinics either - I believe that this money could be spent much better on building hospitals for people, kindergartens, schools...

It's not even just a clinic. It is a hospital, a huge and luxurious hospital for animals. I hope this is not the kind of misappropriation El Salvador under Bukele is involved in buying dips.

[so98nn]

Though it is admirable to see a dictator making efforts to put his country on a modern fortier, then also if I were citizen of this country I would have been terrified by this news. I would have been happy before, but this guy is buying many times now and not to forget this is nations money collected from the taxes and needs to be used for the funding of national development. I am not sure how daring they are to put it all in the bitcoin itself.

What if someone sees this as an opportunity and sell their btc and we see sharp fall in the prices? This would be terrifying tbh, you will loose the country's development fund and salaries of government employees. Not sure how they are playing this game.

[Shenzou]

You can't really say this is a dictator, can you?

They bought 420 BTC, but I can't understand how they're so sure it'll go upwards. It's a whole country in the central America; their behavior seems like a teenager's who just learnt about the magic of Bitcoin in 2011 and bought bunch. I can't say Bitcoin is the least fluctuating asset at the moment and hence, the greatest investment strategy for a country.

Also, why would a dictator want to promote Bitcoin, a currency which is against their polity?

This happens if you don't have democracy and some insane person got the power. I don't know the reason of buying BTC at such high price by leader of the state? May be he is trying to become "COOL" as Musk.
They have made BTC legal tender but I don't think its a wise move, since decentralized BTC is all about democracy and not dictatorship.

I don't think that he comes up as a dictator, as he didn't force people to use bitcoin and removed the regular financial systems, he just gave them an option and incentive to use it and bring in many crypto investors and companies  to the country or at least i think that what they are aiming for since it is starting to become a safe haven for crypto and bitcoin, and for the most part he has been right and logic with his decisions and they don't seem to come as a form of dictatorships, otherwise i am really starting to see that he is making his presence and trying to come out as an influencer and making announcements about his moves and investments to somewhat to try to influence the market.  

[Dr.Osh]

I suspect that this will encourage its people to buy bitcoins as well. pretty good when he bought bitcoin and it went up to $60k. however, The president of El Salvador probably won't announce that when the price drops, but may buy more.
it's just that, if it's like this, I'm afraid that if the price of bitcoin decreases, many will give negative comments about this. It's good that he has already taken advantage of it, but if not, it will be a lesson to his people that bitcoin has huge fluctuations. however, I hope the price of bitcoin continues to rise so that people will be more impressed with cryptocurrencies.

[worle1bm]

I wonder if any of that hahaha profit will go towards the poverty-stricken in that country, or to crime regulation. I mean, I do appreciate El Salvador accepting bitcoin, but I am interested to see how much of that profit will go back to the people and how much is just a Twitter stunt.

That we could estimate from the nation infrastructure development in few years and the residents will most probably make us aware about the future scenario that how the profits were being utilised by the government to improve the country's financial conditions over the table.They have made some huge profits in these time like cashing out the profits but yes we can't figure out how the funds will be used until they only post about buying the dips an all that.But hope they are used in right Manner and no scam allegations rise in El Salvador for funds inappropriate use.

[Kakmakr]

Nayib Bukele  really stuck his head out there, because his decision to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender, angered the "Puppet Masters" of this world. They already threatened him by warning him that international loans to his country will stop, if he continue on his new path. (Giving them the finger, earns him points in my good books)

I am not saying that dictatorship is correct, but his decision to give Bitcoin an opportunity to help with remittance to his country and to reduce banking fees in a country filled with poverty, is definitely commendable. 

[Lucius]

Indeed, he should spend the funds better, instead of spending on "what he likes". For example building more power plants so the country doesn't have to buy from the neighbors would have been a better choice. Your list is also great.
On the other hand, if he wouldn't have been going by "what he likes", Bitcoin may have not been there either (not yet).

We can conclude that on the one hand, his priorities don't make much sense ($4 million pet clinic), while on the other hand his if we can call it "stubbornness" still results in El Salvador doing what many have only dreamed of - that Bitcoin becomes a legal tender in one country. I personally cannot say at this point whether he is a positive or a negative for his people, but he definitely has the guts to pull moves that seem controversial - of course depending on the angle from which they are viewed.

Yes, but I'm still wondering how the parliament has easily bought Bitcoin, a technology more than half of its members might not have even thoroughly understood, during the quick dip as if tens of millions of dollars is a small amount of money which requires no lengthy deliberation, processes, and approval. It's as if the cash is just lying there available waiting for a dip to happen.

We cannot know that members of their parliament do not understand what Bitcoin is, maybe the president taught them the basics, because he is very well versed in everything related to Bitcoin. In addition, although the prevailing opinion is that the whole process of implementing Bitcoin in El Salvador was done hastily, many forget that for more than a year there was a Bitcoin Beach project in that country that turned an entire area into a Bitcoin zone. I think everything the president does has a foothold in long-term plans that are in line with the laws in that country.

It's not even just a clinic. It is a hospital, a huge and luxurious hospital for animals. I hope this is not the kind of misappropriation El Salvador under Bukele is involved in buying dips.

It is an illogical move from our perspective, but perhaps it is just one of the projects happening in that country that we do not know about. However, I have already written that this money could certainly have been spent on some other essential things, but obviously the animal welfare society in that country has a very strong lobby🐱

[Natalim]

Nayib Bukele  really stuck his head out there, because his decision to accept Bitcoin as a legal tender, angered the "Puppet Masters" of this world. They already threatened him by warning him that international loans to his country will stop, if he continue on his new path. (Giving them the finger, earns him points in my good books)

I am not saying that dictatorship is correct, but his decision to give Bitcoin an opportunity to help with remittance to his country and to reduce banking fees in a country filled with poverty, is definitely commendable. 

That's right, dictatorship is not bad at all if the policy is to help the economy of the country to improve.

Supporting bitcoin by legalizing it and buying it tells complete confidence from this country.
Actually, I think the title is a bit misleading since the BTC that they bought is not for the personal funds of the president, it's for the country.

[lumierre]

You can't really say this is a dictator, can you?

They bought 420 BTC, but I can't understand how they're so sure it'll go upwards. It's a whole country in the central America; their behavior seems like a teenager's who just learnt about the magic of Bitcoin in 2011 and bought bunch. I can't say Bitcoin is the least fluctuating asset at the moment and hence, the greatest investment strategy for a country.

Also, why would a dictator want to promote Bitcoin, a currency which is against their polity?

I am afraid I can't agree with you that Bitcoin is against polity of Salvador. Everything is completely opposite to this, some months ago, Salvador accepted Bitcoin as one of a national currency, so now it is completely legalised there.
What is more, Salvador is not the only country that buys crypto. The country with the biggest number of Bitcoin on account is Bulgaria.

[BlackHatCoiner]

I am afraid I can't agree with you that Bitcoin is against polity of Salvador.

I assume they have dictatorship. If they do, then it's against their polity. What's the reason they would want a currency that distinguishes money from state? This is exactly what bitcoin does.

Everything is completely opposite to this, some months ago, Salvador accepted Bitcoin as one of a national currency, so now it is completely legalised there.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. The citizens can use a payment method with no intermediates and I find this against their polity.

What is more, Salvador is not the only country that buys crypto. The country with the biggest number of Bitcoin on account is Bulgaria.

Proof or just assumption?

[DdmrDdmr]

<...>

Actually, that information is still being echoed in many sites as real (i.e. https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/treasuries/#countries), although perhaps somebody from Bulgaria may have further insights as to whether the alleged decommissioned 213,519 bitcoins are indeed still in possession of the government, and more specifically, is there any public record that shows this on their balance.

El Salvador though has part, if not all, of those BTCs invested in the Trust related to the Chivo System. I haven’t read anywhere that these purchases are a separate balance to the Trust itself, so in that sense, they are largely tied to ops, and not so much as a reserve I’d say.