Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that El Salvador president Nayib Bukele is imaginative.
Bukele shook the world when he announced in 2021 that El Salvador would make Bitcoin legal tender — giving the cryptocurrency the same status as the US dollar in the country.
Since then, Bukelehas signed off on a bunch of other Bitcoin-related projects. Here’s what we know so far.
Bitcoin treasury
One of Bukele’s first edicts was for El Salvador to make Bitcoin a part of its Treasury assets.
The government began purchasing Bitcoin on a semi-regular basis in October 2021.
After spending most of the bear market in the red, El Salvador started being profitable on its investment last December, when Bitcoin broke $41,000.
El Salvador is now in possession of 5,787 Bitcoin, worth more than $376 million, according to the government’s official dashboard.
Chivo
Another early initiative was the state-sanctioned Bitcoin wallet, Chivo.
Salvadorans were offered $30 in Bitcoin as an incentive to sign up.
In theory, they can use these wallets to pay for goods and services in Bitcoin anywhere in the country.
In practice, however, adoption has been slow, with the Central American University, Bukele’s alma mater, finding in January that 88% of surveyed Salvadorans hadn’t used Bitcoin in 2023.
Volcano Bonds
Bukele also promised to issue $1 billion in Bitcoin-backed bonds in November 2021.
El Salvador plans to allocate half of the proceeds to infrastructure — such as volcano-powered Bitcoin mining — and invest the rest in Bitcoin.
The Volcano Bonds were initially set to launch in March 2022, but were delayed because of regulatory uncertainty and the Bitcoin bear market.
The government’s Bitcoin Office announced last December that the bonds would be issued in the first quarter of 2024. It has yet to do so.
Bitcoin City
One of Bukele’s most ambitious projects is the planned construction of Bitcoin City — a futuristic, circular metropolis that he intends to build at the base of the Conchagua volcano on the eastern border of the country.
Bitcoin City will be financed by proceeds from the Volcano Bond and will harness geothermal energy, Bukele announced in November 2021.
The metropolis will have residential zones, commercial districts, services, museums, entertainment venues, bars, restaurants, an airport, a port, and rail services,
Construction has yet to begin.
Bitcoin citizenship
El Salvador has also launched a citizenship programme geared toward Bitcoin investors.
The Freedom Visa enables applicants to pay $1 million in Bitcoin or Tether to obtain a lifelong residency status and a path toward Salvadoran citizenship.
Only 1,000 such visas are granted each year.
Bitcoin bank
Earlier this month, Bukele proposed the establishment of a private investment bank that would offer broad services to Bitcoin holders.
The project is part of a larger plan to reform the banking system in the country. The reform aims to facilitate the creation of new businesses and governmental projects and to attract “sophisticated” foreign investors.
According to Bukele adviser Max Keiser, the bank will allow clients to use Bitcoin as collateral for their loans.
Tom Carreras writes for DL News from Latin America. Got a tip about Bitcoin and El Salvador? Reach out at tcarreras@dlnews.com
