This article is part of El Salvador's 4-piece series. You can find previous dispatches, stories about Bitcoin Berlin, here.
Bitcoin City sounds like modern-day El Dorado. A dreamlike enclave of the jungle, a 21st century utopia.
Announced in 2021 by President Naive Buquere, El Salvador, the Metropolis will likely be raised at the foot of the Conchagua volcano. The rendering of the project from May 2022 shows a circular shape like the Bitcoin logo and a gold-drawn structure.
Visiting El Salvador this month, I either wanted to see Bitcoin City for myself or at least try to find signs of construction.
It's a 4.5 hour drive from San Salvador to Conchagua. The volcano is located on the easternmost part of the country, on the coast, on the Bay of Fonseca. Nicaragua and Honduras can be seen from their peaks, and also at their small islands such as Tiger Island, Conchaguita Island and Meengera Island. It's a beautiful place, but very humid and hot. When we arrived at noon in late January, it was 35 degrees Celsius (95°F).
Bitcoin City faces southeast, according to plans shared by Bukele. In other words, you should look to the water. However, Google Maps shows no roads on that side of the volcano, only virgin beaches like Conchagua forest and Playa El Frol (Flower Beach). So I drove to the small village of Conchagua on the north side.
What I found in Conchagua
Conchagua is a small village and is adorable. My immediate impression was that I probably hit Portugal in the 1950s. A large group of school children in white uniforms ran down the street and were dropped off on a colorful bus before heading home for lunch.
Like most Latin American cities, the Central Square displayed the town's name in the bright block letter Conchagua. Behind it was a white fountain, and despite the long festival, the Christmas decorations were still up.
On the other side of the square is a gorgeous white colonial church. Its patron saint is Santiago Apostle. Villagers refer to the parish by their name. It is difficult to know when construction began, but as it ended in 1693, it is the oldest church in El Salvador and a valuable tourist attraction.
It may be so, but when I arrived there seemed to be no other foreigners, and my presence drew some gaze. It's a quiet town. Outsiders stand out. It's hard to say how many people live there – the mayor's office couldn't access the census taken by the Salvador central bank in 2023, but it would be surprising if it were more than a few thousand.
According to Wikipedia, there is 37,400 based on a 2007 survey, but that figure is across the Conchagua municipality, which incorporates half a dozen other villages around the volcano, and still feels like an overestimation.
In the mayor's office, I was politely greeted by Margarito Garcia, who had worked in the office for 15 years. When asked about Buquere's plan to build Bitcoin City on the volcano, Garcia shook her head.
“These are just words,” he said.
There were no signs of construction nearby, he added, and government officials have not been seen either. I was not the first person to ask. Tourists from France and Slovak have been coming to search for Bitcoin City in recent months. However, he saw the attention brought to Conchagua as a positive thing for the local economy.
Garcia said the airport is being developed near Roma Larga, about 30 minutes southwest of Conchagua. He mentioned the “Pacific Airport,” an initiative proposed by Bucchere until 2019, to boost tourism in the eastern region of El Salvador and to free the country's existing international airports from some of its congestion. It was there.
The Legislative Assembly approved the construction of the airport in 2022. The project costs $328 million and will initially serve between 300,000 and 500,000 passengers per year. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025.
Bitcoin City Plans
The project is noteworthy as Bukele's Bitcoin City plans include ports, rail services, commercial zones, restaurants and entertainment venues. Will Pacific Airport be the first step towards building a big city?
probably.
“In Bitcoin City, there's mining, agriculture, culture and sports. When we're gone, this will endure and everyone will see the city,” Bukel announced the project in 2021. He spoke to.
“There is no income tax forever. No profit tax, property tax, employment tax, zero local tax, zero CO2 emissions. The only tax in Bitcoin City is VAT, half of which is local bonds and the rest of the people. It will be used to pay for public infrastructure and city maintenance,” he added.
Geothermal energy in Conchagua Volcano was envisioned as the main power source for Bitcoin City, given the environmental reputation of Bitcoin mining.
Bukele said the construction of Bitcoin City will be funded through a $1 billion Bitcoin-supported tokenized bond called Volcanic Bonds, which was originally scheduled to be issued in 2022. According to the Bitcoin office in El Salvador. However, the Salvadora government has been silent on the issue ever since.
“We don't know when we have that news,” said Stacey Herbert, director of the Bitcoin office, who acts as the government's marketing department for everything crypto-related, in December. Bitcoin City and Volcanic Bond renewal that told me when he asked her. “But the foundation is placed for everything.”
Driving to a volcano
I decided to go up the volcano and turn my eyes to the Bay of Fonseca. I wanted to understand the view that Bitcoin City residents might enjoy it in the future.
The villagers didn't seem to think my rental car would make it. It was all a dirt track. They said I need 4-wheel drive or I would have to take the shuttle there.
Anyway, I tried it. Slowly following the bumpy road, I drove eastward, avoiding the volcano and headed towards another village called Amaparita. On either side of the truck was a field and a forest. Sometimes you will see the north side of the volcano breaking through its leaves.
It didn't take long for the roads to become too comfortable. I turned around and headed back to the village. We could have tried another road that ran along the west side of the volcano, but as the day had passed, we wanted to arrive at Elzonte, four hours away before dusk.
Assuming that Pacific Airport will begin construction in 2025 (looking) it has been six years since Bukele first mentioned the airport and construction began.
Bitcoin City, a very large company, can take much longer than that. There is absolutely no guarantee that the initiative will come to fruition. Other such planned cities, such as Saudi Arabia's Neom, are facing even greater delays.
who knows? El Salvador surprised the world many times under Buquel. I don't oppose that.
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