The first country to make Bitcoin legal tender, El Salvador has also become the first nation state to routinely buy the Bitcoin dips.
When on "Bitcoin Day," the day the Central American nation's Bitcoin Law went into effect, Bitcoin dropped from $52,000 to to the $47,000 range, Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele first showed his "BTFD" (buy the [expletive] dip) mentality. Having bought the country's first 200 bitcoin in the early morning hours of September 7th and doubled the stack to 400 later in the day, Bukele announced his government was "buying the dip," bringing the total at the end of the day to 550 bitcoin — and adding a Twitter-level troll aimed at the IMF to Bukele's timeline.
Now, El Salvador is back at it: early on Monday, Bukele revealed another purchase of 150 bitcoin after the Bitcoin price dropped to the $45,000 range. El Salvador now holds 700 bitcoin, worth $31.8 million at press time.
Bukele added, "They can never beat you if you buy the dips," as well as "Presidential advice" in a Tweet thread.
For almost two weeks now, Bitcoin has been legal tender in the country of 6 million. Chivo, the government-provided wallet designed to allow citizens to receive bitcoin and immediately convert it to U.S. dollars upon receipt, has recorded more than 1.1 million signups so far, according to Bukele. Commenting on the adoption of the nation's Bitcoin wallet, he wrote, "it seems like we'll be able to bank more people in one month than the nationalization and privatization of traditional banks did in 40 years."
Chivo is giving a $30 signup bonus to its users, paid in bitcoin.
Critics of El Salvador's parallel legal tender have voiced concerns over Bitcoin's volatility, which they believe will negatively impact the life savings of Salvadorans.
To attract more investments to the country, El Salvador's government recently revealed plans to exempt foreign investors' bitcoin holdings and income from taxes.