El Salvador bought 410 bitcoin (BTC) for $15 million Friday, President Nayib Bukele said on Twitter.
“Some guys are selling really cheap,” he added in his tweet.
It is difficult to verify such claims on the public blockchain because a buyer of a block of BTC at that size would almost certainly have to buy it in smaller chunks to avoid slippage.
Bitcoin was down about 12% late Friday to the $36,500 level as broader crypto prices also retreated.
The nation now holds over 1,500 BTC and plans to issue a $1 billion, 10-year bitcoin bond this year.
Bukele has been a consistent dip buyer over the past couple of months in a sign of confidence in the cryptocurrency’s long-term prospects.
Bitcoin officially became legal tender in El Salvador in September, three months after the country’s legislature passed the Bitcoin Law.
UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2022, 1:06 UTC): Adds bullet point on the difficulty of verifying claims on the public blockchain.
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