El Salvador President Nayib Bukele Transfers $400M Worth BTC To Vault: 'Call It Our First Bitcoin Piggy Bank'

The Central American country of El Salvador said it strengthened the security of its Bitcoin BTC/USD investments.

What Happened: This week, the nation transferred $400 million in Bitcoin to a safer storage option known as a cold wallet. 

President Nayib Bukele took to the social platform X to share the news and described the move as establishing “our first #Bitcoin piggy bank.”

A cold wallet is a form of cryptocurrency storage that is not connected to the internet, which reduces the risk of hacking. It is typically a physical device, like a USB drive or a specialized hardware wallet, that safely stores the user’s private keys offline. Cold wallets are considered one of the most secure methods for holding cryptocurrencies long-term.

Bukele shared a photo showing the balance of the cold wallet, which contained 5,689.68 BTC. Based on the value of Bitcoin on Thursday, this amount translated to a total sum of $411 million. 

Earlier, it was thought that El Salvador’s Bitcoin investment was smaller, with estimates showing they held under 3,000 BTC, valued at around $205 million.

We've decided to transfer a big chunk of our #Bitcoin to a cold wallet, and store that cold wallet in a physical vault within our national territory.

You can call it our first #Bitcoin piggy bank 🇸🇻

It's not much, but it's honest work 😂 pic.twitter.com/dqzedykxT1

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 14, 2024

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Why It Matters: Bukele said that the country’s approach to increasing its Bitcoin holdings includes selling citizenship, exchanging currencies for business transactions, as well as profits from Bitcoin mining and government services.

El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserves boast an $84 million potential gain since their initial investment in September 2021.

The Central American has made history by becoming the first nation to integrate Bitcoin into its treasury, starting the endeavor in September 2021 when the cryptocurrency’s value was near $52,000 per coin. 

Price Action: At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin was $68,000, down 7% in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

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Photo by Gobierno Danilo Medina on Flickr