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Today we relive the journey of Salvador’s Laser-Eid President Naive Buquere.
It was a year ago today that El Salvador wisely moved its strategic Bitcoin reserve to cold storage. The country currently sits at BTC for over $500 million.
I’ll fix the money
The old saying is, “Do you want to be right or make money?”
Salvador President Naive Bukere has proven that he can do both.
Bitcoin was first and foremost free money to Bucquere, as was for activists such as Alexei Navalny and the Canadian Free Convoy.
In late 2017, election officials reportedly threatened to freeze funds for his campaign as Bukele was preparing to run for president. His new party, Nuevas Ideas (New Ideas), was initially labelled “Movimiento Ciudadano” or “Civic Movement.” This sought to disrupt the two-party political machine that had been in power since the Salvador civil war in the 1980s.
However, the government had pushed to ban donations to civic movements for political purposes. Even after these efforts stagnated, citizen movements were told to follow the same laws as political parties that require legally to be formally approved before fundraising.
Buquel seemed to suggest that the idea of Nuevas would accept Bitcoin instead. And when the central bank repeatedly shared on Twitter that Salvador Bitcoin is not a fiat currency, and that fraudulent individuals or businesses cannot legally raise funds from the public with cryptocurrency, Bukere replied.
“When they can’t stop moving and use all the state machines to achieve that.”
A day later, Bukele tweeted, “Well, it’s official, I’ll use Bitcoin,” and tagged the official Salvadoran Central Bank account.
Under Buquere, El Salvador bought Bitcoin at both Bear Market and Blu Market. The orange line is the price of Bitcoin, while the orange shaded area is the BTC balance in El Salvador.
The Nuevas idea was successfully registered about six months before the election. In just three days, well over the 50,000 required, we collected 200,000 support signatures.
In February 2019, Bukele won 54% of the vote, and was launched by June, becoming the youngest president in nearly 200 years of history.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin was at the bottom of the tough bear market, retreating from nearly $20,000 to under $3,200 in 14 months.
It was around this time that the second domino was set up for Buquer.
Bitcoin forever
As California surfer and local volunteer Michael Peterson said, he was approached by an anonymous donor in early 2019 to create a Bitcoin-based circular economy in Elzonte, the beach town of Salvadra.
Over time, Bitcoin became increasingly accepted as a payment in town, and Elzonte became known as “Bitcoin Beach.”
Peterson helped distribute funds to support the work programme for young people who picked up trash, fixed the damaged water system, and paid BTC to local youth for repairs to roads.
Bitcoin Beach has funded educational grants for high school students’ commutes, bus rides, snacks and even universal basic income for 600 families during the pandemic.
The following June, Bitcoin Miami, in 2021, Buquer announced a radical plan for El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin as fiat currency along with Bitcoin.
The next day, Bukel put on a laser eye in his Twitter profile picture, keeping his evolution in a complete bitcoiner. The Legislative Assembly in El Salvador approved the Bitcoin bill in the same week.
Three months later, the Bitcoin Act came into effect, making El Salvador the first country in the world to adopt BTC.
El Salvador mined Bitcoin with volcanic energy shortly after Bitcoin became legal currency
Despite the rocky rollout amidst the protest, over 1.1 million users had downloaded the official Chivo wallet in the first 11 days. Each one will be free and free to board the country of Bukere, with Bitcoin worth $30.
The main character’s energy
Every great hero needs an antagonist. For Bukele, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is on the world stage.
Less than five months after the Bitcoin Act was passed, the IMF had urged El Salvador to drop Bitcoin as fiat currency. They had suspended loan consultations and warned that it would be difficult to secure funds in the future.
These moves led to concerns that El Salvador would default on that loan. Fitch even downgraded Salvador’s debt, following the Bitcoin Act’s one-year anniversary.
Undeterred Bukere soon announced that El Salvador would purchase one BTC indefinitely every day. According to Nayibtracker, El Salvador currently holds 6,114 BTC worth $507 million, and is 78% ahead.
El Salvador ultimately repaid $800 million in bonds as a sign of financial strength.
Fitch slams El Salvador’s debt in response with three notches, saying that the default is “no longer seen,” and Bukel was re-elected in February 2024 with a landslide victory nine months later.
Late last year, Salvador bonds significantly outweighed other emerging market debt as Bitcoin recovered above $100,000. Bukel said it “in the first history in history, Bitcoin has driven sovereignty in traditional markets.”
Bukele’s Bitcoin story is bittersweet as it is. Since adopting Bitcoin, the IMF had negotiated terms for a $1.4 billion loan to El Salvador.
The IMF required El Salvador to drop Bitcoin as fiat currency, reverting it to a private sector option payment method, and again forcing taxes to be paid only in US dollars. Without a doubt, the biggest Bitcoin experiment of history to date ended too soon.
