Behold the Bitcoin City: El Salvador’s ‘millennial dictator’ reveals plans for futuristic metropolis 

Behold the Bitcoin City: El Salvador’s ‘millennial dictator’ reveals plans for futuristic metropolis 

El Salvador’s millennial president has released a model of his planned “Bitcoin City”, the world’s first dedicated cryptocurrency trading hub that will be powered by geothermal energy from a volcano . According to the model, the city will have a giant Bitcoin logo in the central plaza, while a metallic walkway crowns the volcano like a halo. But the sharing of the plans comes just as Bitcoin, the world’s most traded cryptocurrency, crashes, losing roughly half its value over the last week , reigniting the criticism of President Nayib Bukele’s high-stakes cryptocurrency gamble. Last year, El Salvador became the first nation in the world to make Bitcoin legal tender. This prompted the International Monetary Fund to warn Mr Bukele , a 40-year-old former marketing executive and businessman, that Bitcoin’s rollercoaster price fluctuations put the country’s battered economy at risk. Rating agencies Fitch and Moody’s have this year reduced El Salvador’s credit ratings to their lowest grade while categorising the country’s bonds as “junk”. Some are now warning that El Salvador could default on an $800 million loan payment due in January as a result of Mr Bukele’s Bitcoin push. Yet the president, a prolific social media user, is doubling down,