El Salvador to Build a Bitcoin City: Will Buy $500M More BTC

Just months after adopting BTC as legal tender, the small Central American country plans to create a Bitcoin City with the help of Blockstream and Bitfinex. Separately, the country said it will buy $500 million more of BTC.

Bitcoin City in El Salvador

The country made the news earlier this year by indicating that it will vote to accept the primary cryptocurrency as legal tender. Despite enhanced backlash from global organizations like the IMF, El Salvador’s authorities proceeded and legalized bitcoin as of early September.

Since then, the nation started mining BTC using volcanos, used the so-called “price dips” to buy more coins, and decided to utilize the eventual profits from bitcoin’s appreciating price to build schools and pet hospitals.

During a week-long bitcoin conference in the country now, president Nayib Bukele went even further by announcing plans to build an entire city focused on the cryptocurrency. It will be in the eastern region of La Union and will get the geothermal power from a volcano. As such, the president promised it will produce zero emissions and will not levy any taxes except VAT.

“Invest here and make all the money you want. This is a fully ecological city that works and is energized by a volcano.”

He added that the city will be circular – similarly to cities founded by Alexander the Great – but will also have an airport, residential and commercial areas, and feature a central plaza which should look like the BTC symbol from the air.

$1 Billion Bitcoin Bond

The initiative will be supported by Adam Back’s Blockstream and iFinex – the company behind Tether (USDT) and Bitfinex. Samson Mow, the CTO of Blockstream, explained that all parties involved will issue a $1 billion “bitcoin bond,” which will work as a tokenized financial instrument on the Liquid Network.

“The $1 billion US raised will be split between a $500M allocation of bitcoin (BTC), and a $500M infrastructure spend for building out energy and Bitcoin mining infrastructure in the region.” – reads the Blockstream statement.

Additionally, iFinex will be involved in creating a digital asset and securities regulatory framework to “regulate, issue, and operate digitized financial instruments in El Salvador,” said the company.