El Salvador's Bitcoin speculation is estimated to have lost $10 million

The recent cryptocurrency slump has affected not only retail and institutional investors, but also El Salvador, the only country that has Bitcoin as legal tender. El Salvador's government, led by the country's president, Nayib Boukli, has purchased at least 1,391 bitcoins.

In total, El Salvador spent roughly more than $71 million on the bitcoins, at an average cost of $51,056 per coin, according to an estimate posted by Buckley on Twitter of the date of the purchase.

Assuming the Buckley government doesn’t sell any bitcoin assets, its portfolio would now be in a loss of about 14%, down to $61 million, based on Wednesday’s prices, implying a paper loss of around $10 million.

Its actual performance is unknown as the buying process of the El Salvador government and its bitcoin addresses are shrouded in mystery. El Salvador’s finance minister, Alejandro Zelaya, said last week that El Salvador had exchanged some bitcoins back into dollars, but lacked further details.

Bitcoin briefly fell below $40,000 on Monday, down about 40 percent from its all-time high of $69,000 in November. Since then, Bitcoin price has rebounded and is currently trading above $43,900.

Despite the recent plunge in the cryptocurrency market, Bukele remains optimistic. Earlier this year, he predicted that Bitcoin would reach the $100,000 milestone by the end of 2022.