El Salvador, which focuses on "bottom-fishing", has purchased at least 1,801 Bitcoins

El Salvador has purchased another 410 bitcoins for $15 million, President Nayib Bukele said on Twitter on Friday.

According to announcements so far, the country has purchased at least 1,801 bitcoins.

El Salvador purchased an additional 410 bitcoins for $15 million, according to a tweet from Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Friday.

“Some people are really selling at a very low price,” Bukele wrote in English, referring to bitcoin hitting a six-month low that day.

Bukele posted his tweet at 5:18 p.m., after the price of bitcoin fell to around $36,630 at 4:54 p.m. local time, according to CoinMarketCap data. The price of bitcoin continued to fall throughout the night.

Bukele's Jan. 21 tweet was in response to an older Jan. 14 tweet in which the president wrote, "I think I may have missed the dip this time." But in his most recent update, he said, "No, I was wrong, I did not miss (the dip)."

Most of what we know about the volume and timing of bitcoin purchases in El Salvador comes from Bukele’s tweets, where he often mentions that the country has just “fished the dip.” This refers to the strategy of buying Bitcoin at a “discount” when the price of Bitcoin has fallen significantly, which in theory will create gains for the buyer when the price of Bitcoin eventually rises again.

Based on what we know about El Salvador’s purchase history, the country has now purchased at least 1,801 Bitcoins. According to Bukele’s announcement, El Salvador had accumulated 1,391 Bitcoins before the latest tweet. In a news report on January 12, Bloomberg calculated that Bukele’s announced Bitcoin purchases to that point would cost El Salvador $71 million.

According to Bukele’s tweet, the details of El Salvador’s Bitcoin purchase are as follows:

Total Bitcoins to date: 1,801

January 21, 2022 - 410 BTC ($15 million at time of purchase)

December 21, 2021 - 21 BTC

December 4, 2021 - 150 BTC (purchased at an average price of $48,670)

November 26, 2021 - 100 BTC

October 27, 2021 - 420 BTC

September 19, 2021 - 150 BTC (total 700)

September 7, 2021 - 150 BTC (total 550 BTC)

September 6, 2021 - 200 BTC (secondary purchase)

September 6, 2021 - 200 BTC (first purchase)

Source: The Block’s analysis of Bukele’s tweets about buying Bitcoin

But both Salvadorans and industry analysts have raised questions about how the country can buy Bitcoin, not only because of market conditions, but also because Bukele's comments on social media are often puzzling. For example, on December 4, Bukele tweeted: "Missed the bottom by 7 minutes." The same day, he also revealed that he trades Bitcoin on his mobile phone. When Bloomberg mentioned Bukele's mobile phone trading in a tweet about a recent article, he responded with another word: "naked."

Not surprisingly, people are wondering how exactly Bukele decides when and how to buy Bitcoin. In early January, when El Salvador’s Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya appeared on the local interview show Frente a Frente, he mentioned the existence of a team entirely dedicated to Bitcoin trading. An audience member asked what method the government uses when buying and selling Bitcoin, and wanted to know if this strategy includes tools such as asset management, algorithmic trading, or technical analysis.

“Of course there is technology involved, and there is a process for buying Bitcoin,” Zelaya responded, without elaborating further.