El Salvador transfers $400 million in BTC to a cold wallet, more than doubling its known holdings

Central American Bitcoin pioneer El Salvador transferred $400 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) – “a big chunk” – to a cold wallet this week, according to its president Nayib Bukele.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bukele described the new facility as “our first #Bitcoin piggy bank.” El Salvador has kept the cold wallet “in a physical vault on our territory,” he said, including a photo of a wallet containing 5,689.68 BTC, worth $411 million at Thursday's prices.

With a Bitcoin treasury of this size, El Salvador's holdings are far higher than previously thought. Even on Thursday, public trackers put the country's treasure at less than 3,000 BTC ($205 million). Earlier this week, Buckle teased that the country is not only buying BTC, but also getting it through passport sales, corporate currency conversions, mining, and government services.

The revelation marks the first time that Bukele has assigned his country's assets to a specific address. Previously, he relied solely on social media posts to make statements about the size of his treasure, occasionally providing updates whenever El Salvador bought more.

El Salvador became the first country to purchase Bitcoin as a government bond in September 2021, when a single coin cost around $52,000. On Thursday, BTC prices were above $72,000, although the asset traded above $73,000 and as low as $68,000 in the last 24 hours.

On-chain transfers to El Salvador's cold wallet took place over the past week, although most arrived on Thursday. According to Arkham Intelligence, most of the Bitcoins in this wallet came from Bitfinex.

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