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El Salvador's crypto-loving president says the country will spend $4 million worth of its bitcoin on a pet hospital

Oct 11, 2021, 21:15 IST
Business Insider
Dog at vets Sebastian Condrea
  • El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said on Sunday some of the country's bitcoin gains would fund a veterinary hospital.
  • The president tweeted "bitcoin is good for pets".
  • The country bought 700 bitcoin in September and is mining crypto as well, using clean volcano-powered energy.
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El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele said over the weekend the country will use some of its bitcoin gains to fund a new veterinary hospital.

The president tweeted a video on Sunday of a model of the pet hospital he planned to build using the profits from the 700 bitcoin his country bought in late September, worth roughly $31 million at the time.

The Central American country, which adopted bitcoin as legal tender last month, will be using $4 million worth of the profits it's made from its bitcoin holdings to fund building a gleaming white, airy hospital for pets with grass lining its roof.

"Bitcoin is good for pets," Bukele said in a tweet that followed the thread about the lavish building.

Nayib Bukele pet hospital tweet Nayib Bukele Twitter

"By the way, we're not selling any #BTC, we are using the USD part of the trust, since the #BTC part is now worth more than when the trust was established," Bukele said.

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Bukele pushed to get bitcoin accepted as legal tender to help bolster the country's financial and economic systems, given that most of its citizens were unbanked. In El Salvador, 70% of the adult population did not have a bank account in 2017, according to data from Statista.

Investing in crypto is not the only part of El Salvador's bitcoin project, as the country recently started mining the coins using clean volcano-powered energy.

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