Do you remember when El Salvador started buying Bitcoin while the market was crashing?
Today the country holds more than 6,100 BTC, worth roughly $460 MILLION at current prices.
Back then, a lot of economists said it was a historic mistake.
The man behind the decision was President Nayib Bukele. In 2021 he announced that El Salvador would make Bitcoin legal tender and start accumulating it as part of the country’s reserves. Most people thought it was reckless, especially because Bitcoin had already fallen hard from its highs.
But Bukele kept buying anyway.
The first purchases were a few hundred BTC, and then the government continued adding more during the 2021–2022 bear market. At one point the country was sitting on huge unrealized losses, which only made the criticism louder.
What’s funny is that Bukele leaned into the idea instead of backing off. At one point he even said the country would buy one Bitcoin every single day, basically dollar-cost-averaging like a retail investor… except it was a nation doing it.
Today El Salvador’s average purchase price is estimated to be around $42,000 per BTC. With the market where it is now, the country is sitting on hundreds of millions in unrealized profit.
And that’s not even the weirdest part.
El Salvador also started mining Bitcoin using geothermal energy from volcanoes, literally turning volcanic heat into $BTC .
So what once looked like a crazy gamble is now one of the most unusual national reserve strategies in the world.
Now I’m curious.
If your country announced tomorrow that it would start buying Bitcoin for its reserves… would you see it as a smart move for the future, or a massive risk?👇👇