Nayib Bukele – the president of El Salvador – revealed that the government had repaid its $800 million bond plus interest on the same day it was due to mature.
The settlement of the link comes despite pessimistic opinions that the nation will face financial difficulties due to its forays into bitcoin.
“We just paid in full”
The Salvadoran political leader, who is among bitcoin’s biggest supporters, announced the news on Twitter, regretting that most international media did not carry the information. At the same time, they were among the first to doubt that the country would be able to repay the $800 million bond that matured on January 23.
Over the past year, almost every legacy international news outlet has said that because of our “#Bitcoins gamble”, El Salvador was going to default on its debt by January 2023 (since we had an $800 million bond maturing today).
Literally hundreds of items https://t.co/rEiK7K13U4
—Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) January 24, 2023
He specifically referred to the New York Times, which claims in July last year that El Salvador’s decision to buy bitcoin at the macro level could damage its monetary network and prevent it from paying its debt. Bukele further said that the bond was settled without having to sign an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Changpeng Zhao (CZ) – CEO of the world’s leading crypto exchange, Binance – praised El Salvador for meeting its financial obligations.
The country’s finance minister – Alejandro Zelaya – has also confirmed the payment of several million bonds:
“Unfortunately, for the disinformation campaign of some national and international media, we are announcing that today we have completed the payment of the 2023 bond for $800 million, plus interest.”
The press service of the presidency would have Told Reuters that the government recently paid $604.1 million and interest of $23.4 million, as well as completing two more transactions in 2022.
El Salvador: The Land of Bitcoin
El Salvador legalized bitcoin in September 2021 and its authorities remained supportive even during the prolonged bear market.
El Salvador also took advantage of the difficult macroeconomic situation to buy more digital assets. Latest data shows he holds 2,381 BTC, but the number could be higher since President Bukele sworn that the government will buy one bitcoin per day in mid-November. However, there is no information on whether the shopping spree is going as promised.
The nation is currently sitting on major paper losses due to the depreciation of the cryptocurrency market. El Salvador has spent more than $103 million to build up its reserve over the years, which is worth nearly half as much now.
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