Bukele Teases Further Bitcoin Developments in Year Ahead for El Salvador

Tim Alper
Last updated: | 2 min read
Nayib Bukele. Source: screenshot, Instagram / nayibbukele

 

The President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele appears keen to start the New Year with a bang – and has teased new developments, as well as crypto-friendly legislation.

Bukele has created a number of crypto-themed Twitter posts so far this year, and in one, wrote that the government was preparing to send “20 new laws” to parliament, claiming that these will all boost “innovation and financial freedom in El Salvador.”

Per ElSalvador.com, these laws are likely to be bitcoin (BTC)-related in many instances, and will also seek to establish a “Central American debt market.” A number of MPs have voiced their support for the measures, but few details have yet been made available.

Regardless, Bukele and his Nuevas Ideas Party’s “supermajority” in parliament will likely see the laws sail through unopposed as soon as they materialize.

The controversial leader has also changed his Twitter bio to the “CEO of El Salvador” (he had previously “jokingly” labeled himself the “emperor” and “dictator” of the nation, in a response to media criticism).

Bukele also teased more BTC-related developments in El Salvador, and made a number of predictions for the year ahead in bitcoin. He predicted that the token would “reach USD 100k” and that “two more countries will adopt it as legal tender.”

He promised that the Bitcoin City project would “commence construction” and that the “volcano” bitcoin bonds “will be oversubscribed” – adding that a “huge surprise” was on the horizon at Miami’s Bitcoin Conference (slated to be held in April).

With typical elan, Bukele also noted that his government has “stacked a lot of sats” in 2021 – while adding that the government had also managed to re-purpose patrol boats it had seized from drug cartels.

Bukele has been on a charm offensive in the past few days, and has also announced that work will begin on a grand-looking new national sports stadium – as well as unveiling a new, state-of-the-art 100-bed hospital dedicated to treating coronavirus patients.

ElSalvador.com added that the new laws were likely connected to what Samson Mow of Blockstream and Pixelmatic has called forthcoming “digital securities” legislation.

Mow shared a news article where he was quoted as explaining that the “volcano bonds” will be 10-year products that reach maturity in 2032, and “carry a coupon of 6.5%.”

He claimed that while “this novel sovereign security is far more popular with bitcoin investors than the general investing public,” institutions “starving for yield” would likely “snap up the bonds.”

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