El Salvador Plans World’s First Bitcoin City
El Salvador aims to establish the world’s first “Bitcoin City,” first funded by bitcoin-backed bonds, President Nayib Bukele announced on Saturday, doubling down on his bet that the crypto currency will help the Central American country attract investment.
Mr Bukele said the city planned in the eastern province of La Union would get geothermal power from a volcano and would not impose any taxes except the value added tax at an event that wrapped up a week-long promotion of bitcoin in El Salvador (VAT).
Mr Bukele, clad completely in white and sporting a reversed baseball cap, remarked in English in the seaside town of Mizata, “Invest here and make all the money you want.” “This is a fully ecological metropolis that runs on a volcano’s energy.”Mr Bukele estimated that the public infrastructure would cost roughly 300,000 bitcoins and that half of the VAT levied would be used to fund the bonds issued to develop the city, while the other half would be used to pay for services such as rubbish collection.El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognise bitcoin as legal cash in September.
Despite the fact that Mr. Bukele is a popular president, opinion polls show that Salvadorans are dubious of his enthusiasm for bitcoin, which has sparked anti-government protests due to its rocky rollout.Bukele said Bitcoin City would be circular, with an airport, residential and business sections, and a centre plaza designed to look like a bitcoin symbol from the air, like towns created by Alexander the Great.Mr Bukele, a tech savvy 40-year-old who in September dubbed himself “dictator” of El Salvador on Twitter in an apparent joke, said, “If you want bitcoin to expand over the world, we should build some Alexandrias.”
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