The president who traded Bitcoin made money

The President of El Salvador made money

On February 29, 2024, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele tweeted that as the price of Bitcoin rises, El Salvador's Bitcoin holdings have made a profit of more than 40%. Bukele also said that El Salvador has no plans to sell Bitcoin.

It is reported that El Salvador’s average holding cost is US$44,292, and its treasury holds a total of 2,381 bitcoins.

A few days ago, on February 25, 2024, Nayib Bukele, who supports Bitcoin, was successfully re-elected as the President of El Salvador with 87% of the votes. As early as 2021, President Nayib Bukele had promoted Bitcoin as the legal currency in El Salvador.

Additionally, El Salvador’s Vice President Felix Ulloa said Bitcoin will remain the legal tender in El Salvador during President Nayib Bukele’s second term. He doubled down on his support for the Central American country to adopt cryptocurrency as legal tender.

Not only that, on December 8 last year, El Salvador launched a new "Citizenship by Investment" project, issuing residence visas and a path to citizenship to 1,000 people willing to invest $1 million in BTC or USDT in the country. Tether provides technical support for El Salvador's free visa program. The process requires a non-refundable deposit of $999 in the form of Bitcoin or USDT. If all places are filled, it will raise $1 billion for El Salvador.

El Salvador’s enthusiasm for cryptocurrency is, of course, inseparable from the support of Nayib Bukele. Who is he?

Bitcoin Presidential Biography

Nayib Bukele is the current president of El Salvador, in office since June 1, 2019. He is the first president in the history of El Salvador who does not belong to the two major political parties (FMLN and ARENA).

He was the mayor of Nueva Cuscatlán and San Salvador, and the founder of the Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas) party. He won the 2019 presidential election with 53% of the vote, breaking the monopoly of traditional political forces.

Bukele was born on July 24, 1981. His father is a businessman. Bukele studied law at the University of Central America, but did not graduate. He started his own advertising company at the age of 20 and later expanded into other areas such as telecommunications and media. He is also an avid football fan and once served as vice president of the Salvadoran Football Federation.

Bukele's political career began in 2012 when he ran for mayor of Nueva Cuscatlán as a candidate of the FMLN (National Liberation Front) party and won with 49% of the votes. During his term, he implemented a series of social and infrastructure projects that improved the quality of life and security of citizens. He participated in the mayoral elections of San Salvador in 2015 with the same party and easily won the leadership of the largest and most important city in El Salvador with 89% of the votes.

Bukele's campaign slogan was " Nueva Ideas, Nueva Generación" (New Ideas, New Generation) , and he promised to break corruption and injustice in El Salvador, improve economic and social conditions, reduce violence and immigration, and strengthen cooperation with the international community. He defeated his opponents from the FMLN and ARENA parties with an absolute majority in the election, becoming the youngest president in El Salvador's history.

After taking office, Bukele launched a series of policies and programs aimed at achieving his campaign promises.

Bitcoin evangelist

A major move by Bukele was the official implementation of the Bitcoin Law on September 7, 2021, making El Salvador the first country in the world to use Bitcoin as legal tender.

Bukele believes that this move will help promote financial inclusion, reduce the cost of remittances, attract foreign investment, create jobs and increase economic growth.

His government has created a digital wallet called Chivo, giving away $30 in bitcoin to every citizen who uses the wallet, and has set up more than 200 free bitcoin ATMs across the country. His government is also gradually buying bitcoins from the international market and plans to keep them as a national strategic reserve.

Bukele’s Bitcoin Law has received mixed reactions both at home and abroad, with some praising it as an innovative and forward-thinking move and others criticizing it as a risky and irresponsible move.

Some international institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), have expressed concerns about El Salvador’s Bitcoin law, arguing that it could pose legal, financial, and macroeconomic risks and challenges.

In addition to the Bitcoin law, El Salvador’s Ministry of Education has partnered with nonprofit NGO Mi Primer Bitcoin/My First Bitcoin (MPB/MFB) to add Bitcoin (BTC) education to public school curricula by 2024.

It can be said that My First Bitcoin is a Bitcoin education project in El Salvador , claiming to have educated more than 10,000 students in 2022, and is expected to expand its scale 25 times and educate more than 250,000 students in 2023. The group has visited many national, high school and vocational schools to give relevant lectures and issue Bitcoin course certificates to students who pass the test.

Earlier, Milena Mayorga, the El Salvadorian ambassador to the United States, said on Twitter that she held a meeting with other representatives of El Salvador and Joe Esparza, the deputy secretary of state of the Texas government, to discuss the opening of a second Bitcoin embassy and the expansion of business and economic exchange programs.

Final Thoughts

This article profiles the life and achievements of Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, particularly his innovation and leadership in promoting Bitcoin as legal tender.

We started with Bukele’s Twitter announcement of El Salvador’s profitable Bitcoin holdings, reviewed his victory in the 2024 re-election, and the content and impact of his Bitcoin law passed in 2021. In addition, El Salvador has some initiatives and achievements in Bitcoin education and diplomacy.

It can be said that Bukele is a president who dares to reform and innovate, and we believe that he can bring more opportunities and development to El Salvador through Bitcoin.