Note that Buquele does seem to be a big fan of cryptocurrency. In particular, this is evident from his Twitter where he regularly mentions digital assets. For example, here’s a tweet from the second half of September, where the president talked about buying an additional 150 bitcoins.

And it was done at a slumping exchange rate, so at least here Nayib and his team acted professionally. As a result, BTC surged 40 percent in October, earning the country millions of dollars. And there’s already somewhere to spend them.

How Bitcoin is being used

The last round of bitcoin purchases by the government brought another 420 BTC into the state budget. El Salvador has thus accumulated a total of 1,120 coins worth approximately $69 million. Several million of that amount will be spent on building schools, Buquelet said.

Here’s the president’s rejoinder, in which he spoke about the state’s plans. The quote is quoted by BusinessInsider.

I want to make an announcement: several million dollars of our profits from the rise in the price of Bitcoin will be invested in building the first 20 schools in the country – fully equipped and modern.

Which means, in essence, the profits will be spent to good use. Moreover, Bukele is sure to score extra political points in this way, as he was the one who initiated the investment of public funds into Bitcoin. At the same time the citizens were not asked for their opinion on the matter - although they will benefit from it now.

Bukele has also not missed a chance to assert his right to legalise Bitcoin.

Most interestingly, the opposition was against the Bitcoin law and cryptocurrency purchases.

It is important to note here that the country has been lucky with the timing of investments and the acceptance of Bitcoin as a means of payment, as the cryptocurrency has really risen since September. However, back in May and early summer, it suffered a series of notable declines that ended in losses for some investors. Obviously, in this case, the opposition would clearly be right - albeit temporarily.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele

As we noted, the Salvadoran government’s policy on cryptocurrency has had many critics both inside and outside the country. Representatives of the International Monetary Fund have also opposed the Bitcoin adoption strategy. But as we can see, so far Nayib Buquele’s initiative has only brought positive consequences.

Another news item this week is the sentencing of Joseph James O’Connor, a suspect involved in money laundering, account fraud and Twitter hacking. O’Connor, also known by the alias PlugwalkJoe, stole over $784,000 in Bitcoin, Etherium and Lightcoin between March and May 2019. To do this, he switched SIM cards of his victims from a New York-based cryptocurrency company to access their personal accounts.

As a reminder, swapping SIM cards invalidates the card of the real number owner and allows the fraudster to access the number without their knowledge. This is how hackers gain access to accounts at cryptocurrency exchanges, as many tie two-factor authentication to their phones, where temporary passwords for account logins arrive.

Joseph James O’Connor

PlugwalkJoe has also been implicated in the famous hacking of dozens of celebrity Twitter accounts that took place last summer. Back then, accounts of US politicians, major US companies and celebrities were “advertising” fake cryptocurrency giveaways. The scheme was orchestrated by several fraudsters, some of whom were arrested independently of O’Connor. They managed to steal a total of $118,000 in Bitcoin with this scam.


We think the idea of introducing Bitcoin as a means of payment in El Salvador was a success - as was buying the coins at public expense. Although the way to promote cryptocurrencies was not the friendliest, the state and its residents will surely benefit in the end, especially if BTC and other coins continue to grow. It is likely that other governments will do the same, making Bitcoin essentially an international currency - at least in a small list of countries - within a few years.