El Salvador’s Bold Bitcoin Strategy Pays Off as BTC Hits Record Highs

El Salvador just schooled Wall Street—again. As Bitcoin smashes through all-time highs in 2025, the country's controversial crypto gamble is delivering eye-watering returns.

The ultimate HODL nation

While traditional investors hedged and fretted, Nayib Bukele's government doubled down on Bitcoin adoption. Now? Their treasury's crypto reserves are up over 300% since 2021—proving even nation-states can diamond-hand better than your average crypto bro.

Strategy beats skepticism

Early critics called it reckless. Today, El Salvador's Bitcoin bonds are outperforming most emerging market debt, and their Chivo wallet system processes more transactions than some legacy payment networks. Take that, Jamie Dimon.

The cynical kicker

Of course, no one's mentioning how all those 'stable' reserve currencies lost 40% of their purchasing power during the same period. But hey—that's fiat for you.

Strategy’s record-breaking reserves

On August 13, Michael Saylor, chairman of Strategy, announced that the company’s Bitcoin holdings had reached a record valuation of $77.2 billion.

This figure nearly doubles the firm’s $41.8 billion portfolio from 2024 and marks a staggering 40-fold increase from the initial $2.1 billion invested starting in 2020.

According to Saylor Tracker, the company now holds 628,946 BTC, yielding more than $30 billion in paper profits.

Strategy’s average purchase price stands at $73,301 per bitcoin, and the company has continued to expand its bitcoin-focused offerings, including new BTC-backed financial instruments.

El Salvador’s bitcoin windfall

El Salvador, an early adopter of bitcoin as legal tender, is also celebrating outsized returns.

President Nayib Bukele revealed the country’s bitcoin holdings have grown to $768.85 million from an initial investment of $300.5 million, generating a profit of approximately $468.3 million—a gain of 155%.

El Salvador’s disciplined dollar-cost-averaging strategy has been highlighted by blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain, which noted that following the same daily buying approach WOULD have yielded a 115% return for private investors.

Pushback from critics

Despite these successes, both Strategy and El Salvador have faced skepticism.

Critics initially questioned Saylor’s aggressive bitcoin acquisition strategy, while global institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have repeatedly cautioned El Salvador against further bitcoin integration.

The IMF recently claimed that some of the country’s reported bitcoin purchases may be internal wallet transfers rather than new acquisitions.