The President announced the purchase via Twitter, stating “We just bought the dip.”. In a reply post, Bukele said “They can never beat you if you buy the dips,” adding that this was now “Presidential advice”. Although Bukele’s passion project of introducing Bitcoin as legal tender in the country is still underway, it is not without its hurdles.
To facilitate the introduction of Bitcoin as legal tender, the government established a $150 million fund to finance the necessary infrastructure. Since then, the government has been in a flurry to introduce the ‘Chivo’ wallet and associated cryptocurrency ATMs. As of this week, there are currently over 200 Bitcoin ATMs across the country.
According to Coin ATM Radar, El Salvador now has the third-highest number of bitcoin ATMs across the world. Only the United States and Canada now have more. In total, El Salvador’s bitcoin ATMs account for 0.7% of all such machines worldwide, while the US and Canada lead with 86.4% and 6.6%, respectively.
