El Salvador President Bukele denies having bitcoins held by FTX
After it was claimed that El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, was holding part of the country’s Bitcoin on the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the CEO of Binance, seemed to update the crypto community on the purported rumors.
After billionaire Mike Novogratz, a proponent of the Terra (LUNA) ecosystem before its collapse, said during an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box that El Salvador owned Bitcoin on FTX, CZ took to Twitter on November 10 to correct the internet misinformation:
”Man, there’s so much false stuff out there. President Nayib and I just exchanged communications. He declared that we (referring to president Bukele) don’t have any Bitcoin in FTX and that we’ve never done business with them. God is good!”
CZ was quoted as saying.
The Bitcoin community responds to Novogratz.
It’s important to note that other cryptocurrency community members took issue with these remarks, with Stacey Herbert of the “Max & Stacey report” tweeting that Squawk Box should retract the statement.
“I wonder if it’s true, but the El Salvadorian government’s cryptocurrency was on FTX, and they were demanding Sam [Bankman-Fried’s] extradition. The effects will spread widely.”
Novogratz had stated.
The largest digital asset, Bitcoin (BTC), has recovered despite being hindered by the ongoing FTX scandal, which led to cold wars between exchanges, adding $15 billion in just 15 minutes, after which the latest U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) report also revealed better results for October than had been anticipated.
With the recent intervention of Justin Sun, Tron’s founder, in the FTX saga, crypto markets could soon be looking to recover bitcoin seems to be leading the way in the recovery process as the coin returns to above $17k after hovering below the level earlier on amidst the crisis.
What could have led to the misinformation
The recent acquisition of more Bitcoin by El Salvador is the most likely cause of the false allegations made by Novogratz. The addition might have brought the insinuation that the nation might have held its Bitcoins with FTX.
President Nayib Bukele increased his nation’s failing bitcoin investment on Thursday by spending over $1.5 million more. After announcing the purchase, Bukele stated on his Twitter account:
“Bitcoin is the future! Thank you for the affordable prices.”
According to Bukele, his government bought 80 bitcoins at $19,000 each. The average amount the government paid for its prior $105.6 million share was less than half of that.
El Salvador has paid an average of about $46,000 per coin since September, according to the tracking website nayibtracker.com, representing a loss of 56%, or around $59 million.
“I see that some people are concerned or apprehensive about the #Bitcoin market price.”
Bukele said in mid-June, after the cryptocurrency’s value dropped below $20,000.
“My suggestion is to stop focusing on the graph and start living. Your investment in #BTC is secure, and its value will significantly increase following the down market, he added. The secret is patience.”
Bukele added.
In May, when he bragged about “buying the downturn” in the price of the currency, Bukele, who made the cryptocurrency legal money last year, was still a fervent supporter. Despite the current market turmoil, the coin’s value has fallen, even more, reaching even lower lows.
