Bitcoin (BTC)’s recent price leap to make a new all time high (ATH) has led El Salvador‘s President Nayib Bukele to make a bold move. In the latest development, he announced plans to transfer a huge amount of the country’s Bitcoin holdings. The biggest crypto asset’s 50% price jump in the last 30 days might have made him do that.
El Salvador holds $407 million of BTC
According to reports, El Salvador’s President has decided to move a portion of the BTC holding to an offline device stored in a physical vault. He commented on the transaction stating “It’s not much, but it’s honest work.”
Data shows that El Salvador’s bitcoin portfolio approaches $407 million as Bitcoin price is riding high on the bullish sentiments. However, it encountered a crash on Friday as the BTC price dropped by almost 7% in the last 24 hours.
However, Bitcoin price is still up by 61% on the year to date (YTD) basis. It is trading at an average price of $68,408, at the press time. BTC is single handedly holding a market cap of $1.3 trillion.
It is important to note that, despite the increased volatility in the crypto market, El Salvador chose to take this decision. It was September 2021, when the nation made history by becoming the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender. President Bukele has outlined plans for a tax-free crypto haven by dubbing it the Bitcoin City.
Crypto market crash
The global crypto market dropped by 5% over the past day to stand at $2.59 trillion. However, the total trading volume is up by 57% to stand at $215 billion. Bitcoin price fell from above $72,000 to about $67,000. However, the cause of the drop remains unclear but industry experts suggest that this might be the inflation rate.
Data shows that there is increased selling pressure from the options market and the removal of leverage from the system. The fear and greed stand at 89 points depicting extreme greed in the market. Bitcoin’s dominance stood at 51.74% which is a drop of 0.3% over the last day.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). It is seen as the major factor behind Bitcoin price hitting $73K.