-
El
Salvador
moved
more
than
5,000
BTC
into
a
cold
wallet
this
week. -
The
disclosure
by
President
Nayib
Bukele
nearly
doubles
the
country’s
known
stash
of
the
digital
asset.
Bitcoin-forward
Central
American
nation
El
Salvador
this
week
moved
$400
million
worth
of
bitcoin
(BTC)
–
“a
big
chunk”
–
into
a
cold
wallet,
according
to
its
President,
Nayib
Bukele.
In
a
post
on
X
(formerly
Twitter),
Bukele
referred
to
the
new
setup
as
“our
first
#Bitcoin
piggy
bank.”
El
Salvador
stored
the
cold
wallet
“in
a
physical
vault
within
our
national
territory,”
he
said,
including
a
photo
of
a
wallet
that
held
5,689.68
BTC,
worth
$411
million
at
Thursday’s
prices.
A
bitcoin
treasury
of
that
size
places
El
Salvador’s
holdings
far
higher
than
previously
believed.
Even
on
Thursday,
public
trackers
place
the
nation’s
trove
at
less
than
3,000
BTC
($205
million).
Earlier
this
week
Buckle
teased
that
the
country
was
not
simply
buying
BTC
but
also
getting
it
by
selling
passports,
through
currency
conversions
for
businesses,
from
mining
and
from
government
services.
The
revelation
represents
the
first
time
that
Bukele
has
tied
his
nation’s
holdings
to
a
specific
address.
He
previously
relied
solely
on
social
media
posts
to
make
claims
about
the
size
of
his
trove,
providing
occasional
updates
whenever
El
Salvador
bought
more.
El
Salvador
became
the
first
country
to
purchase
bitcoin
as
a
treasury
asset
in
September
2021,
when
a
single
coin
cost
around
$52,000.
On
Thursday
BTC
prices
were
north
of
$72,000,
though
in
the
past
24
hours
the
asset
has
traded
above
$73,000
and
as
low
as
$68,000.
The
on-chain
transfers
into
El
Salvador’s
cold
wallet
occurred
over
the
past
week,
though
the
majority
arrived
Thursday.
Most
of
the
bitcoin
held
in
that
wallet
came
from
Bitfinex,
according
to
Arkham
Intelligence.