Is El Salvador's Bitcoin Dream Already Dead?

Plus, what you need to know about the Senate's crypto bill.

Number of the Week: $5.99 billion (explanation below)

Is El Salvador's Bitcoin Dream Already Dead?

It has been less than a year since El Salvador’s unorthodox president Nayib Bukele implemented a plan to make Bitcoin legal tender (along with announcing a host of more exotic measures, including a volcano-powered Bitcoin City).

But with Bitcoin worth well below half its September value, Bitcoin is looking like a bad bet on Bukele’s part. Consider:

• El Salvador’s government has probably lost tens of millions of dollars on its Bitcoin purchases. Bloomberg this week produced a clever analysis of how much money El Salvador has spent on Bitcoin: