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Nayib Bukele, Salvadoran President, Announces Construction Of Vet Hospital With Bitcoin Trust Funds

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Nayib Bukule, President of El Salvador, said yesterday that he will use surplus funds from the country’s bitcoin trust. A portion of the $4 million will go to a vet hospital which will provide different services for Salvadoran citizens’ pets. Bukele said that this was possible because of the recent bitcoin price rise.

Nayib Bukele Proposes Construction of Vet Hospital

Nayib Bukule, President of El Salvador, announced yesterday that he would build a veterinary hospital using funds from the newly created bitcoin trust. According to his statements, $4 million can be withdrawn from Fidebitcoin, the national bitcoin trust, due to the latest price increase BTC has experienced. Twitter explanation by Bukele:

With the same amount in dollars and bitcoin in trust, the trust now has a greater value as the bitcoin increased in price. FIDEBITCOIN now has a surplus of $4 million. The state company Chivo can therefore dispose of 4,000,000 dollars without affecting the trust’s amount.

Bukele then went on to announce the vet clinic would feature 12 offices, four emergency attention rooms, four operating rooms, and a rehabilitation area for Salvadoran pets. The facility will be able to attend to more than 384 pets each day.

Inbound Criticism

The president’s handling of public funds has been widely criticised. With this project, critics of the president quickly pointed to problems, calling for an audit in the balances of the funds and stating these couldn’t be used for funding civil expenditures. Bukele quickly clarified that the fund wasn’t selling Bitcoin to finance these expenses. He stated:

We are not selling bitcoins. Instead, we use the dollar portion of the trust because the bitcoin is worth more now than it was when the trust was created.

Bukele also took a swipe from Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, who criticized his push to declare bitcoin legal tender on Reddit. Buterin said that Bukele’s push to make bitcoin available to a populace not sufficiently educated was reckless and carries risks.

Shame on everyone (ok. I’ll name the main people responsible: shame upon Bitcoin maximalists).

What do you think about Bukele’s idea of constructing a vet clinic with the bitcoin fund surplus? Please leave your comments below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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The Open Network announces plans to launch a bridge to get Bitcoin onto the TON blockchain,
The bridge will allow Bitcoin to be used for DefI purposes in the TON ecosystem.

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According to the Foundation, each Teleport BTC will be backed 1:1 by native Bitcoin via a trustless, transparent process chiefly executed by verifiable smart contracts and validators.

This new development aims to “enhance Bitcoin’s utility, transforming it into a powerful tool for generating additional rewards on TON.”

TON’s Growth in 2024

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TON’s Growing DeFi Ecosystem

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The Open Network plans to launch the Teleport BTC bridge later this year.

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Valour’s NEAR ETP will be available on Sweden’s Spotlight Stock Market.
Valour currently operates one of the largest Solana ETPs.
The crypto fund issuer also operates Bitcoin, Ether, and Internet Computer ETPs.

Crypto fund issuer Valour today announced the launch of an exchange-traded product (ETP) for Near Protocol’s native token, NEAR.

This groundbreaking ETP will be available on Sweden’s Spotlight Stock Market, offering retail and institutional investors the opportunity to gain exposure to the decentralized application development platform.

NEAR ETP joins Valour’s diverse portfolio of ETPs

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The launch of NEAR ETP comes amid a wave of regulatory approvals in the United States, where investment managers BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck recently received preliminary approval to list the first exchange-traded ETH products. Analysts predict this move will pave the way for more crypto exchange-traded products in the US, including potential Solana-based ETFs.

Valour’s parent company, DeFi Technologies, currently manages around $600 million in assets across various crypto-native strategies.

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Valour’s new NEAR ETP represents a significant advancement for investors seeking exposure to innovative blockchain technologies, reinforcing the firm’s position at the forefront of digital asset investment products.