NAYIB Bukele was catapulted onto the world stage in 2019 after El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender currency alongside the US Dollar.
But what is the story behind El Salvador’s president and what’s his net worth?
Who is Nayib Bukele?
Nayib Bukele was born on July 24, 1981, in San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador.
Bukele studied law at the Central American University, but quit and founded his first company at age 18, Yamaha Motors El Salvador.
In 2012, Bukele was elected mayor of Nuevo Cuscatlán before being elected mayor of San Salvador in 2015.
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It then only took four years for Nayib Bukele to become president of El Salvador, taking office on June 1, 2019.
On June 5, 2021, Bukele announced he planned to introduce a bill to make El Salvador the first country in the world to make Bitcoin a legal tender.
On September 6, 2021 Bukele announced the Salvadoran government had bought its first 400 Bitcoins and just a day later on September 7, 2021, the Bitcoin law came into effect.
The same day, Bitcoin plummeted, falling from $52,000 to under $43,000.
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Around one thousand protesters took to the streets of San Salvador to show their opposition to the country’s adoption of Bitcoin.
Salvadorans were offered government-issued digital wallets which had $30 worth of Bitcoin preloaded to help start things off.
Under the law, taxes are able to be paid in Bitcoin and businesses have to accept BTC as a form of payment, unless they are technologically unable to do so.
In November 2021, Bukele announced plans to build the world’s first Bitcoin city in the southeastern region of La Unión at the base of the Conchagua volcano, which would use geothermal energy to power Bitcoin mining.
El Salvador’s government say its digital wallet, Chivo, has more than 4 million users and according to Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya Bitcoin has attracted foreign investment – with 59 cryptocurrency and blockchain companies registering offices in El Salvador – increased tourism as well as helped give financial access to a largely unbanked population.
On November 17, 2022, Bukele pledged the government will purchase one Bitcoin every day going forward.
While on November 22, Bukele’s administration sent a bill to El Salvador’s Congress that will allow it to sell $1 billion in so-called ‘volcano bonds’ – which is government debt, denominated in US dollars and paying out 6.5 per cent interest per year to holders – in order for El Salvador to buy more cryptocurrency and build ‘Bitcoin City’.
What is Nayib Bukele’s net worth?
Nayib Bukele has a net worth of between $1 and $2 million.
The president has an annual salary of around $60,000 but the majority of his net worth comes from the Buckle family business which was started by his father Bukele Ortez and spans across advertising, textiles, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and automobiles.
