El Salvador President 'Delighted' as Bitcoin Price Hits Record High
El Salvador and Bhutan are seen as two countries that benefit from the sharp rise in Bitcoin prices, as both own large amounts of this cryptocurrency.
“I told you so,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele wrote on X on November 12, as Bitcoin rose from $68,000 to $88,000 per coin. The digital currency is now worth $90,600 per coin, according to CoinMarketcap data.
Data released by SpotOnChain earlier this month showed that El Salvador now owns 5,933 Bitcoins, worth $533 million. Since November 5, when the US presidential election took place, Bitcoins have brought the country an additional $133 million.
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and Bitcoin icon. Photo: CoinEdition
According to portfolio tracker Nayib Bukele, El Salvador first bought Bitcoin in September 2021 when it legalized the cryptocurrency. It then went on to buy about 10 times in varying amounts. Since the collapse of FTX in late 2022, the country has been buying one Bitcoin every day. The average price El Salvador has bought is nearly $44,000 per coin.
In late 2021, President Bukele announced plans to create a “Bitcoin City” and encourage cryptocurrency trading in the country. His government also granted citizenship to anyone who donated Bitcoin to the country. These moves have boosted El Salvador’s tourism industry, but have also raised international concerns about transparency. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that Bitcoin could destabilize El Salvador’s national economy.
Another country that holds twice as much Bitcoin as El Salvador is Bhutan. According to data from blockchain tracker Arkham Intelligence, the South Asian country has around 12,574 Bitcoins, making it the fourth-largest holder of Bitcoin in the world. At $90,000 per coin, Bhutan holds more than $1.13 billion, or more than a third of its GDP.
However, unlike El Salvador, which regularly buys and publicly supports this digital currency, Bhutan is more discreet. According to Forbes , the Bhutanese government has quietly spent millions of dollars to build a system of Bitcoin mining factories, mainly located in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The country is said to have four Bitcoin mining farms, built in a rectangular shape, with data center cooling systems, power lines and high-power transformers connected from a nearby hydroelectric plant in the middle.
Bhutan has never disclosed the location or extent of its Bitcoin mining farms. Even when it became the first country to build a national Bitcoin mine four years ago, few outsiders knew of its existence. It was only discovered through satellite imagery .
Bao Lam
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