El Salvador to Build a Bitcoin City
El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele announced the plan to build a city dedicated to Bitcoin at the base of the Conchagua volcano. The city was named Bitcoin City.
Bukele says it will be a fully functional city with shopping centers, residential and commercial areas, bars, museums, restaurants, a railway, a port, an airport, etc. No income taxes will be levied in the city, except for VAT. Half of the revenue will be used to pay for the bonds issued to build Bitcoin City, and another – to maintain the city.
“Los únicos impuestos que van a tener en #BitcoinCity es el IVA, la mitad se usará para pagar los bonos de la municipalidad y lo demás para la infraestructura pública y el mantenimiento de la ciudad”, Presidente @nayibbukele. pic.twitter.com/1Z0BjkaPT2
— Casa Presidencial 🇸🇻 (@PresidenciaSV) November 21, 2021
The coin-formed city will be constructed in the eastern region of La Unión. Bitcoin City will use only renewable geothermal energy from a volcano, which will also be used to mine Bitcoins.
The President did not provide the exact construction date. However, he calculated that much of the planned infrastructure would cost about 300,000 BTC (more than $17 billion).
In September this year, El Salvador became the first country to make Bitcoin a legal tender. Thousands of people protested against this decision. They feared that legalizing cryptocurrency would bring instability and inflation to the country.