WASHINGTON D.C. – Bitcoin is being invested and used in many countries of the world. But there is one country in Central America where a whole city based on bitcoin is being planned.
The city, called Bitcoin City, is being built in El Salvador in a coin-like circle and where no income, property or payroll taxes will apply.
El Salvador‘s vice president Boquete said the city would have residential and business areas, restaurants, airports, seaports, and rail services. Bitcoin City will be powered by a volcano, he said.
The business website Quinn Desk quoted the president as saying that the city would be close to a volcano along the Gulf of Fonseca. The government plans to have a power plant near the volcano that will provide energy for the city and bitcoin mining.
The 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 Colchagua 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 country.
Addressing a raucous crowd at a promotional Bitcoin event in the coastal town of Mizata late on Saturday, Mr Bukele said 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.
The president, who appeared on stage wearing a baseball cap backward, said that no income taxes would be levied in the city, only value-added tax (VAT).
He said that half of the revenue gained from this would be used “to build up the city”, while the rest would be used to keep the streets “neat and clean”.
Mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are done using sophisticated computers to solve complex mathematical problems. It is costly, difficult, and takes up large amounts of energy.
