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Comment by azekai | Hacker News Reader

"Not to blindly defend Bitcoin, but it seems like a tropical storm would inflict just as much, if not more, financial loss than this decision."

I know you are just theorizing here, but c'mon. By embracing Bitcoin they did as much damage to their nation as if a hurricane had hit? That seems like an incredibly poor choice for the people who are ostensibly in charge of keeping their nation safe and stable.

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In comparison with the hurricane, Bitcoin is going to fix itself (or at least it always did). And projected -$63M damage can be +$200M very easily. I think that the linked article will not age well. Practicly no article of this kind since the Bitcoin creation did.

"very easily"

I was trying to put the loss in perspective, namely that this loss, while bad, is still an amount that El Salvador will be able to reasonably recover from. Not that I sensed there was doom and gloom about the situation, but this isn't the kind of large loss that will financially bog down El Salvador for the next decade or more.

I wonder how much of this was a marketing play by El Salvador. As a result of making Bitcoin a National Currency, they've had their name in the news quite a few times, they've had more tourists than normal (cryptocurrency enthusiasts visiting, etc), and they've likely had increased investment in their country.

There is no loss on an asset until it is sold.

They have not realized a loss other than for accounting, which may benefit their debt positions.

Bitcoin is responding exactly like it has in the past, it also represents a better ~one year return than most investments. Now is a time to buy additional amounts as $13k-20k is the anticipated low range during the next 'slump' year

Tropical Storm Amanda caused $200m of damage, so presumably a hurricane would cost even more.

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