El Salvador Buys Another 150 Bitcoin Amid Market Crash

Following a crash in the crypto market, El Salvador has purchased an additional 150 Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 700 Bitcoin. 

El Salvador Accumulates on Bitcoin Dip

El Salvador has bought the Bitcoin dip.

The country’s president Nayib Bukele announced on Twitter Monday that El Salvador had added 150 Bitcoin to its crypto reserves. 

We just bought the dip.

150 new coins!

El Salvador now holds 700 coins.#Bitcoin🇸🇻

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) September 20, 2021

According to data from CoinGecko, Bitcoin has plummeted around 7.3% in the last 24 hours. Buying the dip, however, doesn’t necessarily mean buying the bottom. The price of Bitcoin was around $45,700 when Bukele announced the news on Twitter and has since shaved off about $2,000 in value.

“They can never beat you if you buy the dips,” said President Bukele, adding a note that he was offering “Presidential advice” in a joke reference to the “not financial advice” disclaimers often pitched in the crypto ecosystem.

The entire cryptocurrency market lost more than $200 billion on Monday, likely caused by escalating fears surrounding Evergrande’s possible collapse. Evergrande, the second-largest property developer in China, has been unable to pay off the interest on its $300 billion debt, losing more than 85% in share price this year and causing ripples across the entire Chinese equity market.

While many are worried that Evergrande’s debt woes will spill beyond China to negatively affect global equity and cryptocurrency markets, others, including Messari senior research analyst Mira Christanto, argue that the situation has been blown out of proportion.

Evergrande FUD: What the China property market really looks like, what the CCP does and how it impacts #crypto. Let's deal with facts.

1st we look at the sector and how leverage compares among the top 30 stocks. #Evergrande isn't even at the top pic.twitter.com/ICB9LGQl2n

— Mira Christanto (@asiahodl) September 19, 2021

Either way, El Salvador’s President Bukele doesn’t seem worried about the recent price crash and remains long-term bullish on Bitcoin. With its latest purchase, El Salvador now holds 700 Bitcoin worth about $30.2 million at current prices.

On Sep. 7, El Salvador made history by becoming the first country in the world to make Bitcoin legal tender. The decision, however, wasn’t totally free of problems, facing strong criticism from international organizations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as well as opposition parties in El Salvador. On Sep. 10, the human rights organization Cristosal filed a complaint with the Court of Accounts—an autonomous body under the constitution of El Salvador—to review the authorization process of El Salvador’s Bitcoin adoption.

Many citizens have also shown disapproval of the government’s Bitcoin experiment. Earlier this month, on the country’s Independence Day, thousands of Salvadoreans took to the streets to protest the new Bitcoin law, carrying placards that read “We don’t want Bitcoin” and “No to dictatorship.” Some of the Bitcoin ATMs the government installed as part of the rollout were burned down amid the protests.