APHOTOGRAFIA
- El Salvador will use a "few million" of its bitcoin profits to build 20 schools, President Nayib Bukele said Tuesday.
- The president spoke at an event where he laid the first stone of a bitcoin-funded veterinary hospital.
- El Salvador recently bought another 420 bitcoin to bring its total holdings to 1,120, worth around $69 million.
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El Salvador will use some of its profits from its bitcoin holdings to fund 20 schools in the Central American country, according to an announcement by the president on Tuesday.
Live tweets came from Casa Presidencial, the office of President Nayib Bukele, as part of an event at which he laid the first stone of a $4 million veterinary hospital funded by bitcoin.
El Salvador recently bought 420 more bitcoins after the coin fell below $59,000, which brought its total holdings to 1,120 bitcoins, which are now worth roughly $69 million at the current price.
"I want to announce that with a few million that we have left from the profits of bitcoin we are going to build the first 20 schools, fully equipped and modern," the president said via a Casa Presidencial tweet.
"The funny thing is that the opposition was against the bitcoin law and the purchase of bitcoin," Bukele said, according to another Casa Presidencial tweet.
"Thank God we did not pay attention to them and the profits that they did not want to exist will benefit many animals."
The International Monetary Fund was among a number of organizations that criticized El Salvador's decision to make bitcoin legal tender in September. In June, the IMF said it feared the "macroeconomic, financial, and legal issues" the decision could bring with it.
Bukele pushed for bitcoin to be accepted as legal tender to help improve the country's financial situation, as 70% of its adult population were unbanked.
The country also started mining the coins using clean volcano-powered energy at the beginning of October.