El Salvador's president announces “Bitcoin City”

The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has revealed a plan to create a "Bitcoin City", a world first. Bitcoin-backed bonds would finance the build in the first instance. The city will be located in La Union, in the east of El Salvador.

Plans for the city include an airport and residential and commercial areas, with a central plaza designed to look like a Bitcoin symbol when viewed from the air. Alongside the cryptocurrency investment, the scheme also includes ideas to generate geothermal power from a volcano, alongside the decision not to levy taxes, aside from value-added tax (VAT).

All proceeds from the tax would be funnelled straight back into the city, with half of it being used to fund the bonds used for the build. The other half would pay for local services such as garbage collection. Bukele has suggested that the cost of the public infrastructure would be around 300,000 bitcoins.

Bukele made the statement at an event marking the first stone laid at a veterinary hospital funded by El Salvador's bitcoin gains, saying “invest here and make all the money you want...this is a fully ecological city that works and is energized by a volcano."

The announcement comes after El Salvador has spent the last few days pushing Bitcoin as a critical investment tool for the country. In September, El Salvador became the first country to make Bitcoin legal tender.

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