El Salvador has introduced its own website to provide proof of its Bitcoin reserves, using on-chain data to monitor the country’s holdings. The online Bitcoin treasury of El Salvador offers real-time information on the nation’s Bitcoin reserves, which currently stand at 5,748 BTC, equivalent to approximately $360 million. This comes as the price of Bitcoin exceeds $62,700 as of 8:20 a.m. UTC.
Over the past week, El Salvador has purchased seven BTC valued at over $438,000. In the past 30 days, the country has added a total of 31 BTC, worth $1.94 million, according to the website.
These purchases are in line with El Salvador’s objective of adding one Bitcoin to its treasury every day. In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. The government’s aim is to promote financial inclusion, facilitate more efficient remittance payments, and attract financial innovation.
President Nayib Bukele’s decision to adopt Bitcoin received criticism when the price of Bitcoin dropped from its previous all-time high of $69,000 in November 2021 after the collapse of the FTX exchange. El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings suffered significant losses during the bear market when Bitcoin fell to as low as $16,000.
Since 2021, El Salvador has been dollar-cost-averaging into Bitcoin, with an average buying price of $43,097 per BTC. With the current price of BTC above $62,000, El Salvador has an unrealized profit of over $57.4 million on its Bitcoin holdings, according to the Nayib Bukele Portfolio Tracker website.
According to popular venture capitalist Tim Draper, El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings could serve as a significant lifeline for the country. Draper believes that if the price of Bitcoin reaches $100,000, El Salvador could become financially independent and pay off its loans to the International Monetary Fund.
Many crypto analysts have predicted that BTC will surpass the $100,000 mark during the 2024 to 2025 bull cycle. A research report by Bitfinex analysts, shared with Cointelegraph, suggests that following the 2024 halving, Bitcoin could reach a cycle top of over $150,000.
The price movement of Bitcoin will largely depend on institutional inflows from US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. After three consecutive weeks of net outflows, US Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total of $413 million in net inflows in the past week, according to Dune Analytics.
Analysts believe that altcoins will reach their bottom in early summer before the start of a bull run.