El Salvador buys hundreds of bitcoins and makes history

By: Bharggavi Ssayee

September 7, 2021 6:42 AM

El Salvador, a (Adigital) golden country? - It is done. In recent hours, El Salvador has become the first country in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, and in the process, the first sovereign nation to acquire bitcoins with the perfectly official aim of strengthening its growth and ensuring its to come up. Coordinated discreetly, almost arrived by surprise, this historic event takes place under the dumbfounded gaze of the IMF and all that the planet has financial regulators of all stripes, and one filled with pride (and a little disbelief sometimes) bitcoiners around the world.

200 bitcoins for a historic day

It is a suspended moment, a moment of unique convergence, between the fantasy of libertarian cypherpunk and geopolitical black swan, and the qualifiers can sometimes be missing as the event is as historical as it is somewhat surreal. Indeed, on September 7, 2021, a date that will now go down in crypto-monetary history, an independent nation offered Bitcoin one of the last statuses that was still missing from its record since its appearance 12 years ago: that of money. legality of a country, on par with the dollar.

And it is, as often in recent months, through the voice of its chief communicator and current president Nayib Bukele that the announcements are linked and mark the starting point of a week where the occurrences “Bitcoin” and “Salvador ”Will invade newsrooms around the world and saturate news feeds.

And President Bukele, after having taken the world by surprise by announcing a handful of weeks ago the coming “bitcoinization” of El Salvador, then stated his desire to make his country a homeland of ecological bitcoin mining, before to unveil the distribution to all its fellow citizens by airdrop of $ 30 in bitcoins on the national payment application Chivo, has just struck a blow by letting it be known that the small Central American nation had just acquired its first 200 bitcoins.

“El Salvador has just bought its first 200 bitcoins. Our brokers will buy a lot more as the deadline approaches ”

President of Salvador Nayib Bukele

A Blitzkrieg-type strategy, as the Salvadoran strongman knew that such steps could only succeed by striking hard and quickly, leaving the United States, the UN or the IMF very little time to issue their obvious reservations, reservations relating mainly - who will be surprised? - to the classic risks of money laundering or global economic destabilization.

This acquisition of 200 units of bitcoins (for an approximate sum of approximately 10.5 million dollars at the current price) is part of El Salvador's desire to devote 150 million to the constitution of a fund allowing both conversions with the dollar, and the possibility of making BTC available to the population who would request it.

It will be recalled that the use of bitcoin by Salvadorans will remain optional and will only offer additional freedom to the population. It can, if it wishes, continue to use the US dollar (El Salvador gave up its national currency in 2001, due to galloping inflation, preferring the US currency).

An international “Bitcoin day”

Despite its relative youth, Bitcoin's history already includes its share of emblematic dates and various commemorations (we will think in particular of “Bitcoin Pizza Day”). It did not take long for initiatives to emerge to celebrate this historic day with dignity.

Michael Taylor, the boss of Microstrategy, the largest private economic player holding bitcoins to date, was quick to echo a strong initiative: that on September 7, everyone buys bitcoins for $ 30 by means of his choice, thus echoing the sum distributed to each of the citizens of El Salvador.

This initiative, born on a Reddit lounge with 3 million members, could have a visible effect on the market price, while Bitcoin seems determined to leave the bar of $ 50,000 behind.

If by any chance you wish to participate in this international momentum, know that the initiative is coordinated across the world and its different time zones. It will thus be advisable to acquire your precious satoshi at 6 p.m. French time, if you want to participate in this moment of community harmony.

The future is not written and there is no doubt that the response is already feverishly organized in padded offices, from Washington to Davos. Indeed, for a certain established order, the “Bitcoin threat” will never have been so concrete from now on.

Indeed - and whether or not you are an aficionado of the creation of Nakamoto - it is impossible to deny the exponential organic growth of Bitcoin. A growth which will have seen it pass from the status of computer experimentation between a handful of ultra-sharp geeks-developers, to that of state currency, in the space of less than 5000 days. So, and this is what the History books will remember, even if the Salvadoran initiative were to fail, Bitcoin has already succeeded.