El Salvador Moves Significant Portion of Bitcoin Holdings to Cold Wallet, President Bukele Announces

El Salvador Moves Significant Portion of Bitcoin Holdings to Cold Wallet, President Bukele Announces

Crypto News – El Salvador‘s President Nayib Bukele has announced a significant move in the country’s bitcoin strategy, revealing that a substantial portion of their bitcoin reserves has been transferred to a cold wallet. In a post shared on X platform during Friday morning Asia time, Bukele described the setup of the cold wallet as El Salvador‘s “first bitcoin piggy bank.”

“We’ve made the decision to move a considerable amount of our Bitcoin into a cold wallet, which will be securely stored within a physical vault located within our national borders,” Bukele stated.

Accompanying his announcement was a screenshot displaying that the designated address had received 5,689.69 BTC, valued at approximately $406 million at the time of posting. This revelation signifies a nearly twofold increase from previous estimations based on public trackers, which had pegged the country’s bitcoin holdings at around $200 million.

Bukele had previously intermittently disclosed El Salvador‘s bitcoin holdings via social media whenever acquisitions were made. However, this latest disclosure marks the first instance where Bukele has associated the country’s holdings with a specific address.

Under Bukele’s leadership, El Salvador boldly embraced bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, a move that garnered global attention. Since then, the country has also embarked on periodic purchases of bitcoin as part of its ongoing strategy.

This development comes on the heels of Bukele’s recent re-election for a second term as president, signaling continuity in his administration’s approach to cryptocurrency and its integration into El Salvador’s economy.