Category: coins

He is currently immersed in a brutal crackdown of the “maras” following a recent upsurge in murders. Thousands have been locked up and paraded for the TV cameras handcuffed and wearing just their underwear.
Human rights groups warn that Mr Bukele’s government now routinely violates the rights of legitimate gang suspects while also sweeping up thousands of innocent bystanders who have nothing to do with the “maras” Mr Bukele has been dogged by allegations of authoritarianism and populism, including persecuting critical journalists, firing a prosecutor who was investigating him, sending armed soldiers into the national assembly ahead of a key vote and secretly negotiating Last year, El Salvador became the first nation in the world to make Bitcoin legal tender. This prompted the International Monetary Fund to warn Mr Bukele, a 40-year-old former marketing executive and businessman, that Bitcoin’s rollercoaster price fluctuations put the country’s battered economy at risk.
Rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s have this year reduced El Salvador’s credit ratings to their lowest grade while categorising the country’s bonds as “junk”. Some are now warning that El Salvador could default on an $800 million loan payment due in January as a result of Mr Bukele’s Bitcoin push.
The cryptocurrency city will have a giant Bitcoin logo in the central plaza
The trading hub is to be powered by geothermal energy from a local volcano
Yet the president, a prolific social media user, is doubling down, on Tuesday ordering his economy ministry to buy 500 more Bitcoins to add to its existing reserve of 1,801 Bitcoins, saying that the Central American nation had “bought the dip”.
A few hours later, Mr Bukele then bragged that he could make a profit of $11 million by immediately selling his new Bitcoins but preferred to hang on to them. The 500 Bitcoins will have cost nearly £30 million. But that is just half of what they would have been worth a week ago. criticism of President Nayib Bukele’s high-stakes cryptocurrency gamble.
According to the model, the city will have a giant Bitcoin logo in the central plaza, while a metallic walkway crowns the volcano like a halo.
But the sharing of the plans comes just as Bitcoin, the world’s most traded cryptocurrency, crashesEl Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele (left) with a model of Bitcoin City
El Salvador’s millennial president has released a model of his planned “Bitcoin City”, the world’s first dedicated cryptocurrency trading hub that will
Despite warnings of the risk to the economy, President Nayib Bukele gave orders to buy 500 more Bitcoins to add to existing reserve of 1,801

What should investors do?
Should investors hold onto their crypto? Digital currencies may have a significant role in the future of online payments, but so far the case for their investment as a stock market and inflation hedge has failed to be more than a theory.
Bitcoin’s fall this year has shown that other investors view it as a highly speculative and risky investment. As interest rates climb and traditional stocks fall, investors have instead turned to more defensive areas of the market, such as infrastructure and healthcare.
The Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator, has also warned that people buying Bitcoin did not understand it and it was extremely risky, and prices could fall to zero. The body does not regulate most crypto assets, and so the Financial Services Compensation Scheme cannot protect investors if a crypto platform or exchange goes out of business
Marcus Sotiriou of the digital broker Global Block, said: “Investors are clearly concerned about the aggressive interest rate increases by the US central bank, the Federal Reserve. The bank is also unwinding ‘quantitative easing’ which is removing lots of cheap money from the market.”
The drying up of “easy money” has also disrupted markets that rely on cryptocurrencies, such as “non-fungible tokens”, or NFTs. These are digital certificates that denote ownership of physical or virtual assets stored on the block chain a digital ledger. They are bought and sold using cryptocurrency – but trade volumes are down 82pc from its peak in September, according to data from the analytics provider Non Fungible.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have failed to protect investors from falls in the wider stock market this year, despite claims the digital assets can act as a safe haven during volatile periods.
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency has dropped 29pc to $32,929 (£26,600) since the start of the year, failing to live up to its status as a “digital gold”.
Fans argue that it can act as a “hedge” against rising inflation and choppy markets, because like physical gold, it is scarce commodity with only 21 million Bitcoins created. This scarcity means over-supply cannot force the price to come down.
However, despite inflation surging to hit 7pc in the UK in March, and the global stock market tumbling, Bitcoin has fallen to levels not seen since July 2021. Other popular cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and Solana have also slumped, down 37pc and 59pc respectively. Meanwhile, physical gold has rallied 3pc to $1,863 (£1,504).