El Salvador’s Losses Swell Even As President Nayib Bukele Adds Another $1.5 Million

El Salvador formally adopted bitcoin as a legal tender on September 7 last year, when the flagship cryptocurrency was valued at around $50K. Bukele’s government has continually bought BTC ever since despite sharp criticism from U.S. lawmakers, the banking industry, crypto industry pundits, and the International Monetary Fund — as well as demonstrations against Bitcoin adoption by his own citizens.

El Salvador Is Down Bad On Its Bitcoin Gamble

Its last accumulation of bitcoin was in May when it bought 500 bitcoins at an average price of 30,744 for a total of $15.3 million. The nation’s millennial, bitcoin-loving president Bukele has spent nearly $104 million on BTC in total. However, the country’s bitcoin treasury has a value of around $44 million today. That’s 57% less than what Bukele paid for the coins.

Since its record high of $69,044.77 in November 2021, Bitcoin has lost 71.8% of its value, currently trading at $19,447.66, according to data from CoinGecko.

Earlier this month, El Salvador’s finance minister Alejandro Zelaya noted that the market correction posed an “extremely minimal” risk to the cash-strapped country, adding that the alleged multi-billion-dollar loss on its holdings represented less than 0.5% of its national budget.

President Bukele will likely continue tweeting when he purchases more bitcoin. He has previously indicated that he makes the trades on his phone, naked.