Yesterday marked two years since El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.
El Salvador made history by becoming the first country in the world to declare Bitcoin legal tender in 2021.
This fact caught the attention of the crypto community and the entire world because Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency, which is not issued or controlled by any government, corporation or entity.
The second anniversary of the Bitcoin Law
The 7 of September of 2021 entered into force El Salvador's Bitcoin Law, officially recognizing bitcoin as legal tender in the country.
This law had been presented by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele a few weeks before its approval in the National Assembly. In the text of the law, Bukele established the use of Bitcoin as legal currency, as well as the issuance of bonds linked to the cryptocurrency, the creation of a bitcoin fund management agent and, among other things, the formulation of new strategies to bitcoinize the country.
The Bitcoin Law was approved by the majority of the National Assembly, with 62 of the 84 votes in favor. Since then, El Salvador has become the epicenter of Bitcoin adoption and, as Bukele has stated on several occasions, the epicenter of economic freedom and financial sovereignty.
El Salvador's milestones with Bitcoin
El Salvador has come a long way and has flourished since the passage of the Bitcoin Law.
Tourism
Morena Valdez, the country’s tourism minister, said in May that El Salvador had become more attractive to tourists since adopting Bitcoin. To date, the minister reported that more than 1 million tourists had entered the country. The figure represents a 42% growth over the number of foreign visitors recorded in 2022.
The coastal city of El Zonte is known as the Bitcoin capital and is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the country.
Businesses and companies located in this city have been implementing Bitcoin for years, driving the adoption of the cryptocurrency in the country and serving as an inspiration and example for other communities globally. In 2019, El Zonte reported the first sale of pupusa, a typical dish of the country, with Bitcoin.
Education
As part of its strategies to bitcoinize the country, El Salvador has been promoting Bitcoin education in every corner. Recently, the Ministry of Education announced a partnership with the organization Mi Primer Bitcoin to integrate Bitcoin into the national education plan from schools next year.
Through this new program, El Salvador will train hundreds of teachers in the potential and innovation of Bitcoin so that they can then pass this knowledge on to students. Initially, the new school program will begin by training 150 teachers from 75 schools.
Education is one of the fundamental pillars of society and, in the case of Bitcoin, it will help instill a new financial culture focused on savings, empowerment and financial freedom.
El Salvador is also training young people on the importance of cryptocurrency, through the Bitcoin Diploma, together with Mi Primer Bitcoin. It is also training the first generation of Bitcoin and Lightning Network code developers through the intensive CUBO+ program.
Infrastructure
In addition to the use of Bitcoin, El Salvador is also encouraging cryptocurrency mining by taking advantage of the abundant renewable energy sources that exist in the country.
In the municipality of Usulután is located the LaGeo data center, which is powered by water vapor produced by volcanoes. LaGeo mined its first satoshis in an environmentally sustainable manner in October 2021, a few weeks after the Bitcoin Law was passed.
In addition to this data center, El Salvador is also working on building a mega Bitcoin mining farm, which will operate 20.000 megawatts of energy from geothermal sources and on installing a national mining pool; a project that will also lead the nation to mark a milestone by being the first country in the world to manage a crypto mining pool.
On the other hand, during the closing ceremony of the LABITCONF 2021 conference, which was held in El Salvador, President Bukele presented his plans to build a Bitcoin-focused metropolis. Called bitcoin city, will be the world's first bond-funded city, powered by geothermal energy, tax-free and of course a space for the use and growth of Bitcoin.
Other milestones achieved by the Central American nation since the adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender have been the construction of the first veterinary hospital financed with the profits that the country has generated from its investment in the cryptocurrency. This hospital, called Chivo Pets, was inaugurated in early 2022.
Bitcoin Embassies
El Salvador has two Bitcoin embassies. One located in the city of Lugano, Switzerland and another that will open in the state of Texas, United States. The ambassador of El Salvador in the United States, Milena Mayorga, announced in February an alliance with the state of Texas to extend its commercial agreements and open a new space to promote Bitcoin innovation.
The country also opened a National Bitcoin Office to boost the Bitcoin ecosystem, from the creation of new legal regulations to the financing of projects, the construction of Bitcoin City and training and education strategies in the cryptocurrency. In short, the office will manage everything related to Bitcoin.
On the other hand, El Salvador has also implemented several regulations friendly to the technological development of Bitcoin and new technologies. For example, in April, it announced new tax exemptions for technological projects that promote the adoption of Bitcoin and other technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. All this in order to accelerate the economic growth of the nation.
Technological development
One of the latest milestones achieved by El Salvador since the adoption of Bitcoin has been a strategic alliance signed with Google for 7 years to boost its technological development and innovation.
As reported by this media, the agreement between the Bitcoin nation and the Internet giant seeks to modernize the educational, health and public administration systems in the country, to make these sectors more efficient, productive and transparent.
In July of last year, during the Blockchain Summit Latam conference, the advisor to the Secretariat of the Presidency of El Salvador, Monica Taher, highlighted how Bitcoin has helped El Salvador transform its image to attract investors on a global scale. According to Taher, the nation has built a hub focused on Bitcoin and the crypto industry that has been attractive to the private sector. This was “something unthinkable 5 or 10 years ago,” she said.
In May of that same year, the country had gathered 44 representatives of central banks from around the world to Talking about Bitcoin.
While many have criticized El Salvador's decision to adopt Bitcoin, over the past two years the country has demonstrated its commitment to innovation.
Continue reading: El Salvador installs the first Lightning Network node in the country
