Qualla: Bitcoin City https://qualla.com/bitcoin en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/4/3/e/bitcoin-city-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Bitcoin City https://qualla.com/bitcoin Bitcoin City: Introduction https://qualla.com/bitcoin/ Photo credit AndreX, CC BY-SA 4.0. In November 2021, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele stepped onto a stage at a Bitcoin conference and unveiled his vision: a brand-new city at the base of the Conchagua volcano in the southeastern department of La Union, powered by geothermal energy, funded by Bitcoin-backed bonds, and free from income, property, and capital gains taxes. The city would be shaped like a coin when viewed from above. It would have its own airport, designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero. It would, Bukele declared, transform El Salvador from one of Central America's poorest nations into a global hub of digital finance. The crowd roared. The renderings looked spectacular. The question has always been whether any of it would actually get built.

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Image: AndreX | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/4/3/e/bitcoin-city-wp/d43e-bitcoin-city-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Bitcoin City: Volcano Bonds and Coin-Shaped Dreams https://qualla.com/bitcoin/ Photo credit AndreX, CC BY-SA 4.0. The financing mechanism was called "Volcano Bonds" -- $1 billion in Bitcoin-backed securities. Half the proceeds would fund the city's construction and cryptocurrency mining operations. The other half would be invested in Bitcoin, on the expectation that the currency's value woul...

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Image: AndreX | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/4/3/e/bitcoin-city-wp/d43e-bitcoin-city-volcano-bonds-and-coin-shaped-dreams.mp3 0:06 2 full Bitcoin City: The Volcano Problem https://qualla.com/bitcoin/ Photo credit AndreX, CC BY-SA 4.0. Geothermal energy was central to Bukele's pitch. The Conchagua volcano would provide clean, cheap power for the Bitcoin mining rigs that would form the city's economic backbone. Ecologist Ricardo Navarro was skeptical from the start. "Geothermal still costs more than oil, otherwi...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/4/3/e/bitcoin-city-wp/d43e-bitcoin-city-the-volcano-problem.mp3 0:06 3 full Bitcoin City: A Pattern of Unbuilt Utopias https://qualla.com/bitcoin/ Photo credit AndreX, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bitcoin City is not the first planned cryptocurrency paradise, and the track record of its predecessors is not encouraging. Akon City, the Senegalese pop star's planned crypto-powered metropolis, stalled after its 2020 announcement. Cryptoland, pitched as a crypto-themed island c...

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Image: AndreX | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/4/3/e/bitcoin-city-wp/d43e-bitcoin-city-a-pattern-of-unbuilt-utopias.mp3 0:06 4 full Bitcoin City: Still Waiting at the Base of the Volcano https://qualla.com/bitcoin/ Photo credit AndreX, CC BY-SA 4.0. Years after the announcement, Bitcoin City remains largely in the planning stage. Construction delays, financing challenges, and the broader volatility of cryptocurrency markets have slowed progress. Critics have accused the Bukele government of making misleading statements about...

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]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/4/3/e/bitcoin-city-wp/d43e-bitcoin-city-still-waiting-at-the-base-of-the-volcano.mp3 0:06 5 full