Bitcoin Strikes Gains As El Salvador Becomes First Known Country To Buy Into Cryptocurrency — Ethereum, Dogecoin Slump

Bitcoin BTC/USD rose on Monday night after El Salvador’s president announced that the country now held the apex cryptocurrency — other major coins showed weakness on Monday night as the global cryptocurrency market cap rose 0.55% to $2.35 trillion. 

What Happened: The apex cryptocurrency traded 1.31% higher at $52,484.49 over 24 hours. BTC has spiked 11.88% for the week. 

See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)

On Monday, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said that the country purchased its first 200 coins and the country’s brokers would be purchasing more of the coin as it approaches the deadline to becomes the first nation to adopt Bitcoin on Tuesday.

At press time, El Salvador held 400 BTC — worth nearly $21 million, as per Bukele.

Ethereum ETH/USD, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, traded 0.89% lower at $3,898.16 over 24 hours. ETH was up 21.29% over a seven-day trading period.

Shiba Inu-themed Dogecoin DOGE/USD traded 1.99% lower at $0.30 over 24 hours. DOGE rose 12.31% over seven days.

Over 24 hours, the top gainers included FTX Token FTT/USD, Solana SOL/USD, and THETA THETA/USD.

FTT shot up 18.09% to $74.30, SOL rose 20.76% to $169.32, and THETA was up 14.19% at $9.16 in the period.

Why It Matters: At the beginning of the month, El Salvador said it would create a $150 million bitcoin trust to facilitate exchange between BTC and U.S. dollars in the country, reported CoinDesk.

At the time, Maria Luisa Hayém Brevé, El Salvador’s Minister of Economy, said that the $150 million figure could be increased.

See Also: ​​Every Adult El Salvador Citizen To Get $30 In Bitcoin As Government Looks To Drive Up Adoption

On Sunday, William Clemente, the lead insights analyst at Blockware Solutions, said on Twitter that Bitcoin whales have added more than 41,580 BTC (nearly $2 billion) to their holdings in the last 10 days.

Over the weekend, Bitcoin crossed the key resistance level of $51,109, which could lead to additional demand as traders accumulate, CoinDesk noted separately.

“The fact that BTC is trading above the 200-day MA gives further confidence that these critical levels are resistances turned support,” said Lennard Neo, head of research at Stack Funds, as per CoinDesk.

Neo observed that five out of six days of continuous bid momentum outshine the offers. “This further support the upside thesis for the digital asset, at least in the near term,” he said. 

Read Next: Why Bitcoin Could Shoot Up When El Salvador Begins Crypto Rollout On Tuesday