Nayib Bukele started his second term as President of El Salvador yesterday, continuing his administration's pioneering efforts in cryptocurrency adoption. Since September 2021, Bitcoin has been the official legal tender in the South American country.
As a reminder, in his first term, Bukele has reaffirmed his commitment to purchasing one BTC daily into a cold wallet until the cryptocurrency can no longer be technically acquired.
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Max Keiser, a big supporter of Bitcoin and advisor to the President, has come up with an ambitious plan for El Salvador during Bukele's second term. Keiser thinks that the country’s wealth will be more and more controlled by its citizens through decentralized Bitcoin nodes.
In this scenario, the President will propose initiatives that the public can fund through crowd-sourcing, effectively reinventing the social contract and operating the nation on a circular BTC-focused economy.
My prediction for Bukele’s 2nd term: The country’s wealth will be controlled by the Salvadoran people running their own #Bitcoin nodes. (@NodeNationSV) The President will pitch them ideas and they will crowd-fund what they like. The social contract will have been re-invented… pic.twitter.com/qq8Wb3NoAG
— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) June 2, 2024
He also sees El Salvador becoming debt-free and using its geothermal and volcanic energy to power Bitcoin mining, aiming to control 10% of the global hash rate.
The country has already made significant progress in this direction, using geothermal energy from the Tecapa volcano to mine 473.5 BTC, which is worth about $29 million. Of the 102 MW generated by the country’s power plants, 1.5 MW is dedicated to Bitcoin mining.
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According to data from Arkham, El Salvador currently holds 5,718 BTC, worth about $400.26 million. Keiser thinks this innovative approach will reduce the influence of central banks and make international financial institutions like the IMF irrelevant in the country’s economic policies.
