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President Nayib Bukele and economist Steve Hanke exchange words over the proposed Bitcoin city

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08
Jan
  • Following some critic comments by US economist Steve Hanke, the El Salvador president has defended his proposed Bitcoin city.
  • The economist warned that the plan is an attention-grabbing antic from a narcissistic president.

The crypto community’s favourite president has come under heavy criticism from US economist Steve Hanke. The economist who has long been a Bitcoin critic has over the last few months condemned El Salvador following the president public support for Bitcoin and subsequent Bitcoin adoption in the country. In recent comments, the 79-year old professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University questioned the country’s bonds plan confirmed by the president last year. Bukele announced plans to issue $1 billion worth of Bitcoin denominated bonds. As it is, its dollar-denominated bonds have been falling after a couple of economic turbulence.

Hanke wrote on Twitter;

@nayibbukele’s proposed Bitcoin City is as prepared as Florida is for snow. The advertised power source for the City is an inactive volcano. This is just more attention-grabbing antics from a narcissistic president who is full of hot air.

Bukele has come out firing following this comment. It was clear through the comments that the economist lacked the understanding of how the geothermal power would be extracted and further confirmed he is still not a big fan of president Bukele.

Related: El Salvador formulates 20 new Bills to guide the issuance of its “Volcano Bonds”

This is not the first time that Hanke has come after president Bukele for his engagement with Bitcoin. For starters, the economist objects to the country making Bitcoin investment. Defining the purchases as “insane” and “irresponsible, he has called on the president to use his own money to buy Bitcoin and not the taxpayers. In another remark, the economist has warned that El Salvador is on track to “financial ruin” with “Bukele at the helm”.

As CNF reported a few days ago, the country has moved forward with the rafting of 20 new bills. These will provide the legal and financial framework for its $1B Bitcoin bond issuance.

The exchange between the two come at a time when Bitcoin and the wider market is struggling. In the last few days, the digital asset’s price has visited its lowest levels in 3 months as it touched $41,000. Despite the slump, there is still huge optimism that Bitcoin will reach and surpass the current $65,000 all-time high achieved last year.

President Bukele is one of those expecting a huge performance in the coming months having predicted a $100,000 price target by the end of the year. Additionally, the president expects that two more countries will adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.

Read More: Bitcoin reaching $100K, 2 more countries adopting BTC as legal tender- here are President Bukele’s 2022 predictions

During the price dips, president Bukele has not been shy to add to the country’s reserve and share with the world. This investment is set to boost the country’s economy as Bitcoin continues to flourish.

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