El Salvador’s Bitcoin Bet Pays Off: $357M Paper Profit as Holdings Hit $644M

Nayib Bukele’s high-risk crypto gamble just turned into Wall Street’s nightmare—a nation-state flipping the bird to traditional finance. El Salvador’s Bitcoin stash now sits at $644 million, racking up $357 million in unrealized gains. Not bad for a ‘volatile asset’ the suits said would crash and burn.

While hedge funds nurse their 2% Treasury bond returns, the Central American trailblazer keeps stacking sats. The original ‘Bitcoin Beach’ experiment just became a masterclass in asymmetric upside—and a middle finger to IMF debt traps.

Of course, bankers will call it luck. Crypto natives know better: this is what happens when you buy the dip while everyone else panics.

El Salvador’s BTC Treasure Trove

President Nayib Bukele shared a screenshot on X that revealed that El Salvador’s BTC portfolio, which is now worth more than $644 million, was built on an initial investment of $287.1 million. As such, this has translated into over 124% profit margin.

Despite ongoing scrutiny from global financial institutions, El Salvador has remained firm in its BTC accumulation strategy. Bukele, who led the move to legalize bitcoin in 2021 as a means of boosting financial inclusion, has consistently dismissed external pressure to roll back the program.

According to the data compiled by Bitcoin Treasuries, the Central American country’s holdings of 6,181 BTC position it as the sixth-largest sovereign BTC holder across the world, with the US topping the list, followed by China, the UK, Ukraine, and Bhutan, respectively.

Bitcoin Bet Marches On Despite IMF Constraints

Last December, El Salvador agreed to scale back its Bitcoin-focused policies as part of a financing arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. The package, which includes a $1.4 billion loan and is expected to total over $3.5 billion, came with conditions that aimed to reduce crypto activity in the country.

The IMF had previously warned of possible risks tied to El Salvador’s BTC holdings. Complying with the deal, lawmakers approved reforms in January of this year, such as making Bitcoin acceptance optional for businesses rather than mandatory.

However, Bukele made it clear that the cryptocurrency remains a central part of his vision. In a post on X, the country’s President insisted that the buying strategy will continue despite international agreements while asserting that El Salvador stood firm even when it was globally criticized and largely abandoned by the broader crypto community.