El Salvador's bitcoin stash drops to $52.4M as crypto winter sets in

Since it started buying bitcoin (BTC-USD) in September 2021, El Salvador's holdings are getting sliced by around 25% amid immense selling pressure in cryptocurrencies as well as increased regulatory scrutiny. The country's bitcoin (BTC-USD) stash was last valued at $52.4M compared with its total investment of more than $70M. As of May 9, El Salvador, the first country to make bitcoin (BTC-USD) legal tender, is HODLing 2,301 bitcoins at an average price of $43.8K. President Nayib Bukele's investing strategies of "buy the dip" and "HODL" certainly don't seem to be paying off, as bitcoin (BTC-USD) earlier this week tanked to its lowest since December 2020. Over the past 24 hours, the world's largest digital token by market cap is sliding to $22.2K as of shortly before 3:30 p.m. ET. Still, the unrealized bitcoin (BTC-USD) losses likely won't hurt El Salvador's fiscal health. "When they tell me that the fiscal risk for