El Salvador President Nayib Bukele is clapping back at all the naysayers that doubted his nation's decision to purchase bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

Bukele took to X to declare his country's controversial bet on bitcoin is now paying off. "El Salvador's bitcoin investments are in the black," he posted on Monday, "With the current bitcoin market price, if we were to sell our bitcoin we would not only recover 100% of our investment but also make a profit."

The small, Latin American nation made bitcoin, alongside the U.S. dollar, legal tender in September 2021. Since that point, El Salvador also began buying bitcoin periodically. While the amount of bitcoin accumulated has been relatively small — the country's portfolio is valued at roughly $131 million, according to Bukele's post — the fact a sovereign nation is buying the cryptocurrency, which many country's still view with much skepticism, is significant. 

In his post, Bukele said El Salvador is now up by about $3.6 million with the recent upswing in bitcoin's price.

"We have no intention of selling," he also said. "That has never been our objective. We are fully aware that the price will continue to fluctuate in the future, this doesn’t affect our long-term strategy."

Bitcoin BTC -1.79% is currently trading north of $41,000 after dipping to less than $17,000 in late 2022.

The president strikes back

Bukele also seemed eager to take a victory lap given past criticism of his move to use government funds to purchase bitcoin for his country.

"It is important that the naysayers and the authors of those hit pieces take back their statements," he said. "The responsible thing to do would be for them to issue retractions, offer apologies, or, at the very least, acknowledge that El Salvador is now yielding a profit."

At one point, with the price of bitcoin in decline during the onset of the crypto winter, the value of El Salvador's portfolio fell dramatically, causing some to question the wisdom of Bukele's fiscal strategy.