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What El Salvador’s proposed ‘Bitcoin City’ will look like
El Salvador plans to build a Bitcoin city at the base of a volcano – and according to the nation’s president the cryptocurrency will fund the project
El Salvador’s new Bitcoin city will be circular to represent the shape of a large coin and will be built in the south-eastern region of La Unión, President Nayib Bukele said.
The site would take advantage of the Conchagua volcano’s geothermal energy to power Bitcoin mining, he added.
El Salvador recently became the first country to use Bitcoin as legal tender.
The move led to large-scale protests over fears the cryptocurrency would bring instability and inflation to the impoverished Latin American count
Bukele addressed a raucous crowd at a promotional Bitcoin event in the coastal town of Mizata late on Saturday, and stated that the planned new city would “include everything”.
“Residential areas, commercial areas, services, museums, entertainment, bars, restaurants, airport, port, rail – everything devoted to Bitcoin,”
the 40-year-old said.
President Bukele, who appeared on stage wearing a baseball cap backwards, stated that no income taxes would be levied in the city, only value added tax referred to as VAT
The President confirmed that half of the revenue gained from this would be used to “to build up the city”, while the rest would be used to keep the streets “neat and clean”.
Mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is done using sophisticated computers to solve complex mathematical problems. It is costly, difficult and takes up large amounts of energy.
Mr Bukele did not provide dates for construction or completion of the city, but said he estimated that much of the public infrastructure would cost around 300,000 Bitcoins.
One Bitcoin is currently trading at just under $60,000.
In September, El Salvador introduced the virtual currency as a legal tender, alongside the US dollar.