Bukele's proposal to embrace cryptocurrencies was approved by the country's congress with 62 votes.
Major Updates
- El Salvador is considering using volcanoes to mine Bitcoin with zero emissions.
- There are already about 23 volcano-powered plants in operation.
- The country recently approved Bitcoin as a legal payment method.
Mining Bitcoin with Volcano
El Salvador's President, Nayib Bukele, directed the country's geothermal energy corporation, LaGeo, to develop a strategy for creating Bitcoin mining facilities: El Salvador made history this week by becoming the first nation to declare Bitcoin legal money. This latest move aims to make Bitcoin mining extremely cheap while reducing the environmental impact to nil. The 23 ready mines are expected to generate up to 200 megawatts of energy, with a total potential of 644 megawatts.
Nayib Bukele talked to over 20,000 listeners on the newly revealed Bitcoin Law in the hour leading up to its vote last night in a Twitter Spaces chat hosted by Nic Carter (a recording of which can be found here). During the meeting, President Bukele was asked whether he had any intentions to mine bitcoin. The President added that the Government has plans, unconnected to Bitcoin, to enhance infrastructure and boost growth around the nation's supply of geothermal energy.
The nation wastes a considerable portion of this energy due to overstock or by moving it to cities. “On the periphery of the plants,” Bukele said, “we want to encourage industrial parks where you can put up your business and obtain inexpensive, clean, renewable [energy].” He then speculated that Bitcoin miners could find these parks suitable for their operations due to their closeness to inexpensive, clean power. With the recent crackdown on coal-powered Chinese miners and TESLA and others' worries about Bitcoin's energy use.
El Salvador may prove to be a more welcoming site for operations from both a governmental and environmental standpoint. Iceland, another nation with a lot of volcanic geothermal energy, has become a favorite Bitcoin mining destination. Iceland also has abundant geothermal energy, which it utilizes to make and export aluminum. Bitcoin, perhaps, offers a more constant and dependable mechanism to transform otherwise squandered energy into money. If El Salvador's state-owned electricity firm, LaGeo, can help transform the nation's idle geothermal energy into Bitcoin mining, the nation may swiftly become one of the world's largest Bitcoin mining locales. Many Bitcoiners were eager to bring this out in response to the President's tweet:
Bitcoin as legal currency
El Salvador has become the first nation in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal cash after Congress accepted President Nayib Bukele's request to do so. Despite worries about the potential effects on El Salvador's program with the International Monetary Fund, parliamentarians voted in support of the motion to develop legislation to embrace Bitcoin on Tuesday, with 62 out of 84 available votes.
Bukele has praised the usage of Bitcoin for its potential to enable Salvadorans working abroad to send remittances home while simultaneously stating that the US dollar would remain legal cash. Bitcoin must be accepted as payment for goods and services by businesses under the law. Tax payments may also be made in Bitcoin. Its usage as legal money will begin in 90 days, with the market determining the Bitcoin-dollar exchange rate.
Supporters of cryptocurrencies applauded the action as legitimizing the growing asset, but its effects on Bitcoin legislation, taxes, and acceptance in other nations remain to be seen. Nonetheless, there were no clear indications that other governments might follow El Salvador's lead in adopting Bitcoin.
Conclusion
The acceptance of Bitcoina in El Salvador, as well as the intention to deploy volcano-powered machines for Bitcoin mining, are all positive developments. Who knows, Bitcoin could be set to go beyond the 40,000 USD barrier shortly.
Question of the day?
How do you see President Bukeles' attitude toward Bitcoin - does his decision to accept and mine Bitcoin appear repressive to the country, or does it have the potential to alleviate El Salvador's regressive economy? Let's chit-chat.
