El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Confirms Country Has Purchased First 200 Bitcoins

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele confirmed on Monday that his government has purchased the first batch of 200 bitcoins ahead of the introduction of a new law on September 7 making the digital currency legal tender.

“As the deadline approaches, our brokers will buy more bitcoin,” Bukele said, referring to the Sept. 7 deadline for full implementation of the new bitcoin legislation.

El Salvador just bought its first 200 Bitcoins.

As the deadline approaches, our brokers will buy more.

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) September 6, 2021

The purchase is part of a new $150 million Bitcoin fund passed by El Salvador’s Congress last week. The fund will be used to facilitate the conversion of Bitcoin into U.S. dollars before the new law is implemented. At current prices, this BTC purchase is worth a little over $10.36 million.

In June, El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender. While the decision was praised by the Bitcoin community, critics of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund warned that the new strategy was not a good idea. Recently, domestic opposition, especially from retirees, led to hundreds of people protesting against the new Bitcoin law across El Salvador.

Perhaps surprisingly, Bank of America recently outlined at least four potential benefits of accepting Bitcoin in El Salvador. In a report published in July, the bank said that the country’s adoption of BTC could simplify remittances, promote financial digitization, provide consumers with more choices, and open the country to foreign investors.

The new Bitcoin law enables Salvadorans to hold Bitcoin as part of a long-term investment strategy or withdraw cash at 200 ATMs installed across the country. The country is also building infrastructure to support a state-issued Bitcoin wallet called Chivo. The Chivo wallet will have its own ATMs where citizens can withdraw cash 24 hours a day without paying commissions.