Bukele, despite breaking his country with Bitcoin, is an example in South America

Last year, El Salvador surprised the world by becoming the first country to accept cryptocurrencies as legal tender and since then the government has bought hundreds of them.

The measure was approved in June 2021 expeditiously by the country’s Congress, which, with its pro-government majority, has facilitated the policies of the President Nayib Bukele, a politician who came to power in 2018 with a very well-orchestrated electoral campaign and a perfectly studied presence on social networks.

His iron and fierce fight against crime and gangs in San Salvador they have placed him as a hero for many, but also as a dictator for others.

With all this, the president managed to make the cryptocurrency come into force on September 7, convinced that it will be a benefit and would transform the country’s economy, dollarized two decades ago.

That day, the government bought 400 coins at an average price of $47,500 per coin, for a total of 18 million 700 thousand dollars. For May 9, 2022 the real value of these coins in the market was 14 million 220 thousand 400 dollars, which implies a loss of 24% of the initial value according to the follow-up that specialized firms on Wall Street have made of the Salvadoran case.

Even so, on June 30, the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, again announced the purchase of 80 Bitcoins for more than 1.5 million dollars at a time when the value of the crypto asset has fallen by nearly 60% in 2022.

“El Salvador today bought 80 BTC (Bitcoin) at $19,000 each! Bitcoin is the future! Thanks for selling cheap,” the president posted on Twitter in a message in English.

In the meantime, The best-known cryptocurrency in the market continues in free fall, which will close the first half of 2022 with losses of almost 60% of its valueaccording to data from Bloomberg consulted by the Efe agency.

Despite this, the head of the Treasury of El Salvador, Alejandro Zelaya, has assured that the country has not experienced any loss, since no coins have been sold. However, local media reports indicate that in mid-June the official said that some coins were sold to finance the construction of the Chivo Pets veterinary hospital.

An independent survey conducted by the Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce and Industry in March revealed that Only 14 percent of businesses in the country have transacted with bitcoin since it was introduced in September, and only 3 percent said they saw any business value in it.

All this situation has caused that in January 2023, El Salvador will have to pay 800 million of its debt. And, for now, with the traditional sources of credit closed after a failed negotiation with the International Monetary Fund, neither Bukele nor El Salvador have the money to face that payment.

Even with these financial setbacks, Bukele’s popularity has not been affected, as polls show that more than eight in 10 Salvadorans continue to support the presidentdue in part to his popular strategy against criminal gangs and fuel subsidies that have eased the blow of global inflation.

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Meanwhile, Bitcoin enthusiasts and entrepreneurs argue that the introduction of Bitcoin transformed El Salvador’s image into that of a technological pioneer and created financial opportunities for its citizens outside of conventional banking systems.

Source-www.debate.com.mx