El Salvador’s Bitcoin trust has netted $4 million in gains
El Salvador’s president shared his plan to use the profits made from Bitcoin in setting up a pet hospital on Saturday
El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele announced via a Twitter thread over the weekend that the recently netted Bitcoin profits would be redirected into funding a veterinary project. Bitcoin once again broke the $1 trillion market cap milestone as it surpassed $55,000 last week. El Salvador stood out as one of the gainers as the country’s Bitcoin Trust swelled.
President Bukele said that the country had gained about $4 million in profit from the most recent Bitcoin run. He added that the sum would be used to build a pet hospital in the country. He also clarified that none of the Bitcoin the South American country held in its reserve would have to be used for the hospital construction.
“By the way, we’re not selling any #BTC, we’re using the USD part of the trust since the BTC part is now worth more than when the trust was established. By the way, the Pet Hospital will probably appreciate in relation to the USD. #Bitcoin, on the contrary, is a deflationary currency,” he wrote.
The President also gave further details about the proposed hospital project, detailing that it would be equipped to handle 128 emergencies, 64 surgeries, 32 x-ray procedures and 384 consultations each day. The project marks one of the first major societal benefits from El Salvador’s Bitcoin decision, which will go a long way in mitigating how divisive it has been.
Prior to the official launch of Bitcoin as an official currency, some Salvadorans took to the streets to bemoan the decision, saying that it was an oppressive one. Some alleged that it was meant to extend the regime of Bukele. International bodies such as the IMF also chipped in and fired warnings to El Salvador before it officially launched Bitcoin as legal tender.
Most recently, Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s Reddit post appeared to question President Bukele’s tactics in pushing for Bitcoin adoption. Buterin’s main point of contention is that the Salvadoran population lacked adequate education on cryptocurrencies.
“This tactic of pushing BTC to millions of people in El Salvador at the same time with almost no attempt at prior education is reckless and risks a large number of innocent people getting hacked or scammed. Shame on everyone (ok, fine, I’ll call out the main people responsible: shame on Bitcoin maximalists) who are uncritically praising him,” he said.
