El Salvador’s Bitcoin Stash Rises Above $500M, but Bhutan Story Might Be Even Bigger

Bitcoin’s
face-ripping
rally
on
Monday
pushed
the
value
of
El
Salvador’s
BTC
above
$500
million
and
the
tiny
Kingdom
of
Bhutan’s
holdings
above
$1
billion.

Data
from
El
Salvador’s
Bitcoin
Office

shows
the
country’s
bitcoin
stack
at
just
less
than
5,932
tokens.
With
the
price
at
$87,000
at
press
time,
that’s
worth
roughly
$516
million.

Impressive
as
El
Salvador
President
Nayib
Bukele’s
Bitcoin
bet
might
be,
the
Kingdom
of
Bhutan’s
story
might
be
even
better.

The
tiny
South
Asian
state,
with
a
population
of
just
800,000
(vs.
El
Salvador
at
6.4
million),

is
sitting
on
a
bitcoin
stash
of
12,574
tokens,

per
Arkham
Intelligence,
worth
$1.1
billion
at
the
current
price.

Put
another
way,
the
value
of
Bhutan’s
bitcoin
holdings
amounts
to
more
than
one-third
of
the
country’s
GDP
of
just
under
$3
billion.
El
Salvador’s
$500
million
in
bitcoin
amounts
to
just
1.5%
of
its
GDP.

Bhutan’s
holdings
have
reportedly
been
accumulated
through
bitcoin
mining,
as
the
Himalayan
nation
has
an
abundance
of
hydroelectric
power.
The
country,
in
September,
was
reported
by
Arkham
to
likely
to
be
the
fourth
biggest
nation-state
bitcoin
holder.

After
purchasing
bitcoin
on
a
few
occasions
during
the
2021
bull
run,
El
Salvador
began
dollar-cost-averaging
into
the
top
cryptocurrency
in
November
2022,
and
was
in
the
black
on
its
holdings
by
December
2023,
according
to
Bukele.
El
Salvador’s
bitcoin
strategy
has
been
a
constant
sticking
point
with
the
International
Monetary
Fund,
which

has
raised
concerns
about
the
nation’s
fiscal
situation.

But
that
situation
apparently
continues
to
improve.
The
country
today

said
that
it
intends
to
buy
back
$2.5
billion
of
its
dollar-denominated
debt.

According
to
Bloomberg,
El
Salvador’s
debt
has
returned
4.7%
since
the
election
of
Donald
Trump
last
week.