El Salvador buys 500 Bitcoins amid market sell-off

Amid a drastic dip in the crypto market, El Salvador has made the move to purchase more than 500 bitcoins. The nation’s president, Nayib Bukele, announced via Twitter that they have “bought the dip” at a discounted price of $30,744. 

As it stands, the crypto market has lost billions through an ongoing heavy sell-off, with Bitcoin having shed more than 50 percent from its all-time high. 

Some believe this may the downfall of cryptocurrency, with wild speculations taking the crypto community by storm. In an interview with Fox Business, crypto billionaire Brock Pierce predicted that Bitcoin is “either going to go to $1 million a Bitcoin or zero”.

Despite the uncertainty, HODLers draw on history to argue that this isn’t the end of the top crypto, as it’s previously fallen over 90 percent in price before a skyrocketing recovery. 

In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. Since that time, the Salvadorian government has bagged its way up to 2301 BTC periodically. However, while their Bitcoin reserve is currently worth over US$72.3 million, it’s lost an estimated US$30 million in value on the back of the crash.

Despite this, President Bukele remains bullish on the digital currency, with plans to issue bitcoin bonds at a date not yet set. According to El Salvador’s treasury minister, Alejandro Zelaya, the country is paying attention to market conditions and “waiting for the right moment” to proceed with the bond issuance. 

Early in the new year, the Salvadorian president predicted that the price of bitcoin would reach US$100k in 2022. Although contrarily, the flagship currency is continuing its decline which began in December of last year, with little sign of recovery in sight.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is sitting at a price of $31,416.32 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $82,259,439,860 USD.