El Salvador president predicts ‘gigantic price increase’ for Bitcoin

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has made yet another bullish Bitcoin prediction soon after the International Monetary Fund urged his government to remove Bitcoin’s status as legal tender.

Bukele took to Twitter on Monday to predict that Bitcoin  (BTC) will ultimately see a “gigantic price increase” due to its limited supply of only 21 million digital coins.

The president cited Bitcoin's scarcity case, emphasizing there are “more than 50 million millionaires” in the world, and there is not enough Bitcoin if each one of them wanted to own at least one BTC.

“No enough for even half of them. A gigantic price increase is just a matter of time,” Bukele wrote.

There are more than 50 million millionaires in the world.Imagine when each one of them decides they should own at least ONE #BitcoinBut there will ever be only 21 million #BitcoinNo enough for even half of them.A gigantic price increase is just a matter of time.

Bukele’s comments came shortly after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged El Salvador to end its recognition of Bitcoin as legal tender due to risks related to financial stability and consumer protection. The IMF’s report followed a sharp Bitcoin price decline, with BTC losing about $10,000 of its value in a period from Jan. 20 to Jan. 25, according to data from CoinGecko.

The latest Bitcoin crash caused major dollar-nominated losses to El Salvador’s Bitcoin reserves. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the Salvadoran government made its first 200 BTC purchase on Sept. 6, when BTC traded around $52,000. The government then bought 420 BTC on Oct. 27 when Bitcoin’s market price was above $58,000. El Salvador also later bought some Bitcoin at around $54,000 in November and more BTC at $49,000 in mid-December.

At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $37,159, down about 45% from its historical highs of above $68,000 recorded on Nov. 9.