President Bukele Hits Back At Critics After Bitcoin Surge, Binance Re-Opens Withdrawals For Delisted Tokens
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has said that his nation’s investment into Bitcoin made a $3.6 million gain with the recent price surges in the cryptocurrency. “El Salvador’s Bitcoin investments are in the black,” Bukele said in a post on X (previously Twitter) on December 4, 2023.
“With the current Bitcoin market price, if we were to sell our Bitcoin we would not only recover 100 per cent of our investment but also make a profit,” The Block quoted Bukele as saying.
The small Latin American nation made Bitcoin alongside the dollar legal tender in September 2021. Since then, El Salvador also began buying Bitcoin periodically. While the amount of Bitcoin accumulated has been relatively small — the country’s portfolio is valued at roughly $131 million, according to Bukele’s post.
Binance on December 5, 2023 announced it has reopened withdrawals for 12 previously delisted tokens until December 25, 2023, with conversions for select tokens to USDT by June 2024. Users will still be able to view the remaining token balances in their Binance wallets, where applicable, Binance News reported.
“Please note that Binance will update this announcement and send a separate email to all affected users when the conversion of the aforementioned seven tokens to USDT is complete. More information on the average exchange rates during the Conversion Period will also be provided in the email,” Binance said
A Spanish national arrested in Madrid last week faces a potential 20-year prison term in the US for allegedly providing Blockchain and cryptocurrencies to North Korea. Alejandro Cao de Benós was arrested at a Madrid train station last week, Decrypt reported Spanish police as saying.
US authorities had issued an arrest warrant for Alejandro Cao de Benós in 2022, alleging that he worked with a US citizen to “illegally” provide cryptocurrency and Blockchain-technology services to North Korea, according to an FBI wanted list.
According to the Spanish police, Cao de Benós is accused of organising several conferences on cryptocurrencies and Blockchain in Pyongyang in 2018, bypassing US sanctions imposed by the United States. Cao de Benós has, however, refuted the charges. “There is not a shred of evidence that I hired or solicited the services of Virgil Griffin,” he said, mentioning the other accused.