The president who speculated on Bitcoin made money

Source: W3C DAO

The President of El Salvador made money

February 29, 2024 , El Salvador President Nayib Bukele tweeted that as the price of Bitcoin rose, El Salvador’s Bitcoin positions have made profits of more than 40%. Bukele also said 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 President of El Salvador with 87% of the vote. And as early as 2021, President Nayib Bukele had pushed to make Bitcoin the legal currency of El Salvador.

In addition, El Salvador Vice President Felix Ulloa stated that Bitcoin will remain El Salvador’s legal tender during President Nayib Bukele’s second term. He doubled down on his support for Central American countries to adopt cryptocurrencies as legal tender.

Not only that, on December 8 last year, El Salvador launched a new “Citizenship by Investment” project for 1,000 people willing to invest US$1 million in BTC or USDT issues residency visas and a path to citizenship for people, and Tether powers El Salvador’s Freedom Visa program with technical support. The process requires a non-refundable deposit of $999 in Bitcoin or USDT. If all slots are filled, it would raise $1 billion for El Salvador.

How El Salvador is keen on cryptocurrency is of course inseparable from the support of Nayib Bukele. Who is he?

Bitcoin President’s Life

Nayib Bukele is the current president of El Salvador, since June 2019 Taking office on the 1st. 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 mayor of Nueva Cuzcatlán and San Salvador and founder of the Nuevas 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 running his own advertising agency 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 El Salvador Football Federation.

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

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

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

Bitcoin’s evangelist

A major move by Bukele is in 2021 The Bitcoin law was officially implemented on September 7, making El Salvador the first country in the world to use Bitcoin as legal tender.

Bukele believes that this move will help promote financial Inclusiveness, lowering remittance costs, attracting foreign investment, creating jobs and increasing economic growth.

His government has set up a digital wallet called Chivo to do this, giving away $30 in Bitcoin to every citizen who uses the wallet, and has established more than 200 across the country Free Bitcoin ATM. His government has also gradually purchased Bitcoin from the international market and plans to use it as the country's strategic reserve.

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

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

In addition to Bitcoin laws, El Salvador’s Ministry of Education has partnered with non-profit NGO Mi Primer Bitcoin/My First Bitcoin (MPB/MFB) to add Bitcoin (BTC) education to the program by 2024 into public school curriculum.

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 in 2023 Expanded 25 times and educated over 250,000 students. The group went to many countries, high schools and technical and vocational schools to give relevant lectures, and issued Bitcoin course certificates to students who passed the exam.

Previously, El Salvador’s Ambassador to the United States Milena Mayorga stated on Twitter that she held a meeting with other representatives of El Salvador and Joe Esparza, 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.

Written at the end

This article introduces the life and political achievements of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, especially his promotion of Bitcoin as a Innovation and leadership in fiat currencies.

We start with Bukele’s announcement on Twitter that El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings are profitable, review his re-election victory in 2024, and the content of his Bitcoin law passed in 2021 and impact. In addition, El Salvador also 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. We believe that he can bring more opportunities and development to El Salvador through Bitcoin.