President Nayib Bukele announced the milestone on Twitter, telling followers his country “just bought its first 200 coins.”
Bukele noted the Central American nation will be buying more bitcoin as the deadline approaches to make El Salvador the first nation to officially recognize a cryptocurrency as legal tender. The president tweeted early Monday afternoon:
At the current bitcoin price of $52K for 1 BTC, the purchase is worth approximately $10.4 million.
Bukele also expressed gratitude toward the blockchain technology and Bitcoin industry for the innovations his government has enthusiastically embraced:
“Tomorrow, for the first time in history, all the eyes of the world will be on El Salvador. #Bitcoin did this.”
The bitcoin purchases will allow the government to provide liquidity for its new bitcoin economy so that businesses, households, and individuals can make or accept payments in BTC if they choose.
On Tuesday, El Salvador will be the first nation in history to adopt Bitcoin or any cryptocurrency as its official money. The Salvadorian Congress approved the radical financial, technological, and economic experiment in June with 62 out of 84 votes.
The primary cryptocurrency won’t be the country’s only money, as it will continue to use the US dollar as an official currency the way it has since 2001.
But many are still worried that bitcoin price volatility, or even an outright collapse of the 12-year-old currency, will cause problems for citizens of El Salvador. That led to massive anti-bitcoin protests in the country a week ago.
Still, El Salvador will not be replacing the dollar, will not require anyone to accept bitcoin, and will offer facilities for instant convertibility between the two currencies.
It seems President Nayib Bukele’s bold foray into adopting Bitcoin has spurred other Latin American countries to hasten adoption. Last month, Cuba rushed to join El Salvador.
The island nation didn’t take its reforms as far as the Central American country, but has legalized and regulated cryptocurrencies. Meanwhile, Honduras just got its own Bitcoin ATM. Reuters called it a symptom of the “Bitcoin fever” sweeping the world.