After losing $ 60 million in Bitcoin, El Salvador’s president buys more

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele must truly believe Bitcoin-or love to lose money.

Not deterred by the huge losses his strategy of using public funds to invest in BitcoinBukele announced last night that he spent another 1.5 million dollars to buy 80 BTC for 19,000 dollars per coin.

“El Salvador today bought 80 BTC for $ 19,000 each,” the Central American politician tweeted, “Bitcoin is the future, thank you for selling cheap,” he said.

Prior to the latest announcement, Bukele had invested around $ 104 million to buy 2,301 BTC at an average price of $ 45,171, according to his own tweets. Yesterday, when Bitcoin fell to $ 19,000, El Salvador’s Bitcoin stash was worth $ 43,719,000, indicating a loss for the country of around $ 60.2 million.

With this latest purchase, Bukele would bring the average price invested per Bitcoin down from $ 45,171 to $ 44,219. This means that Bitcoin must skyrocket to $ 44,219 (more than 100%) for Bukele to recoup the investment made on behalf of his country – without making any profit yet.

The strategy of accumulating Bitcoin after massive falls has also been replicated by other optimistic long-term Bitcoin investors. Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, recently announced a new $ 10 million Bitcoin acquisition, bringing the company’s Treasury to $ 129,699 BTC at an average price of $ 30,664. This represents about $ 1.3 billion in losses, but like Bukele, Saylor does not seem so concerned about Bitcoin’s short-term fluctuations.

Besides doubling down on Bitcoin despite heavy losses, Bukele’s last purchase was remarkable for another reason. The president shared for the first time new details about the process by which he buys his country’s BTC.

Bukele showed screenshots of several BTC purchase orders that were executed for exactly $ 19,000.

If the split screens correspond to the account used to buy El Salvador’s Bitcoin, it means that the president is using a traditional centralized exchange for his trades and not an over-the-counter (OTC) desk, which would be a more logical choice for high profile trader.

It may also mean that Bukele does not make market price purchases, but allows open “limit” purchase orders. In this case, the order was partially filled upon completion as the price of Bitcoin touched exactly $ 19,000.

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