Rumors began swirling this morning that one of the biggest adopters of cryptocurrency in the world may be in trouble following recent stories. It has since been denied, as El Salvador president Nayib Bukele confirms they have no Bitcoin in the FTX exchange.
With the Binance and FTX saga reaching a fever pitch in recent days, the fallout from the latter’s crashing is still unfolding. It would have been dire if rumors were true that Bukele had stored much of the country’s Bitcoin with the cryptocurrency platform. That rumor has been denied this morning.
El Salvador never worked with FTX
The rumor first began being shared by Mike Novogratz, who later admitted he fell for “fake news” in regard to the country’s Bitcoin situation. Subsequent tweets that pondered the accuracy of the rumor stemmed from fear as to what it would mean for El Salvador.
In a tweet from Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, it has been confirmed that President Nayib Bukele has not stored the country’s Bitcoin on FTX exchange. This was a decision that would certainly have horrendous complications now.
Zhao and Bukele shared messages earlier today, as the tweet stated. The Binance executive shared that Bukele vehemently denied the rumors. The president officially said, “We don’t have any Bitcoin in FTX and we never had any business with them. Thank God!”
Bukele is a well-known mainstream adopter of Bitcoin on a grand scale. El Salvador has been one of the pioneers in implementing the currency in a major way, working towards financial freedom for the country.
The story of FTX’s demise is certainly a tragic one. Conversely, had Bukele utilized the cryptocurrency exchange platform to hold the country’s Bitcoin, there would be disastrous implications. With Binance signing a letter of intent to acquire FTX and then backing out, the outlook on the operations must have been devastatingly grim.