El Salvador is planning to issue a billion-dollar ‘bitcoin backed’ volcano bond on a blockchain, even as the country inches towards a sovereign debt crisis. Authorities hope to use $500M to buy bitcoin, distribute half of the upside (if any) to bondholders in five years, and use the other $500M to fund geothermal energy projects and the development of a so-called bitcoin city.
as you have probably already discovered through your own research to write this post, the president of el salvador and his government are very corrupt and very deceitful and thus it is very difficult to believe anything they say and take them seriously on anything, except perhaps their push to accumulate more power and amass more wealth illegally.
with that being said let's move toward what has become of the bitcoin experiment in the country where in practiced things have not turned out according to the hype and expectations created by the president when the law went into effect. adding to this fiasco is the failure of the government to launch the so called 'bitcoin volcano bonds'. this whole ordeals seems more like fake hype and smoke curtains to steal public money and create a perfect money laundering scheme to benefit current government officials and allies to cleanse their dollars obtained from corruption and organized crime. it is very unlikely the issuance of the volcano bonds will go through successfully and it appears like yet another publicity stunt by the bukele administration which thrives on propaganda, exagerated public relations strategies and an obsession for controlling everything that may expose their network of dark political operators to keep their public support high.
recently a salvadoran historian tweeted an interesenting story about a scottish charlatan who tricked hundreds or even thousands of people exactly 200 years ago by presenting a fictional place called poyais and selling government bonds and land titles to hopeful investors. so after reading that story i came to the conclusion that history is repeating itself. when you hear 'bitcoin city' think the imaginary, made up republic of poyais. when you hear nayib bukele think gregor macgregor, the scottish swindler to sold government bonds and land titles to unsuspecting investors and ruined them, some to death even. when you hear 'bitcoin volcano bonds' think about those valueless poyais government bonds with no legal framework nor real economy to back them up and thus worthless fools bonds based on faith alone and nothing else. and when you hear 'bitcoin bond holders' think of the naive poyaisian emigrants who invested their money and lives into a con scheme fooled by this easy talking charlatan on the promise of future gains but with unsubstantiated credibility lacking the legal, technical and economic basis to sustain such a risky enterprise. in my opinion the bitcoin volcano bonds do not make any sense for anybody except for the corrupt president of el salvador and his heavily indebted government that is on the brink of financial collapse and imminent default.
like one salvadoran economist recently pointed out, if someone wants to invest in bitcoin then might as well purchase it through their own means with a non-custodial digital wallet, keeping in line with the basic core principle and concept of bitcoin as a decentralized, peer-to-peer digital asset of exchange. and not to trust a proven corrupt president and government that may or may not use the money obtained from the sale of those bonds to purchase bitcoin in the first place nor will provide any significant guarantees to repay that money back and any potential gains given they run the judicial system of the country where judges do exactly what the president says, even if it's against the law, or else. and lastly because the value of that bitcoin under government custody will fluctuate during the five year hold period and at the end of the deal there may be no gains but losses if the price is lower than when the government bought, similar to el salvador's current bitcoin portfolio valued at tens of millions less than what the president paid for originally, thus losing money. the promise of the 6.5% interest yield on the bonds is not worth the risk of losing money if the price of bitcoin goes down during the maturity period of the bonds where investors do not have access to decide when to buy or sell their bitcoin according to market conditions to increase gains and minimize losses, therefore if one wants to speculate with bitcoin might as well do it yourself and skip the shadowy and corrupt government of el salvador serving as your broker/middle man and bringing all the liability and risk that carries onto yourself.
Love the reference to Gregor McGregor. It is an amazing story -- especially how he did it again a few years later after being caught. The analogy with what is happening right now in parts of crypto is not emphasized enough.
as you have probably already discovered through your own research to write this post, the president of el salvador and his government are very corrupt and very deceitful and thus it is very difficult to believe anything they say and take them seriously on anything, except perhaps their push to accumulate more power and amass more wealth illegally.
with that being said let's move toward what has become of the bitcoin experiment in the country where in practiced things have not turned out according to the hype and expectations created by the president when the law went into effect. adding to this fiasco is the failure of the government to launch the so called 'bitcoin volcano bonds'. this whole ordeals seems more like fake hype and smoke curtains to steal public money and create a perfect money laundering scheme to benefit current government officials and allies to cleanse their dollars obtained from corruption and organized crime. it is very unlikely the issuance of the volcano bonds will go through successfully and it appears like yet another publicity stunt by the bukele administration which thrives on propaganda, exagerated public relations strategies and an obsession for controlling everything that may expose their network of dark political operators to keep their public support high.
recently a salvadoran historian tweeted an interesenting story about a scottish charlatan who tricked hundreds or even thousands of people exactly 200 years ago by presenting a fictional place called poyais and selling government bonds and land titles to hopeful investors. so after reading that story i came to the conclusion that history is repeating itself. when you hear 'bitcoin city' think the imaginary, made up republic of poyais. when you hear nayib bukele think gregor macgregor, the scottish swindler to sold government bonds and land titles to unsuspecting investors and ruined them, some to death even. when you hear 'bitcoin volcano bonds' think about those valueless poyais government bonds with no legal framework nor real economy to back them up and thus worthless fools bonds based on faith alone and nothing else. and when you hear 'bitcoin bond holders' think of the naive poyaisian emigrants who invested their money and lives into a con scheme fooled by this easy talking charlatan on the promise of future gains but with unsubstantiated credibility lacking the legal, technical and economic basis to sustain such a risky enterprise. in my opinion the bitcoin volcano bonds do not make any sense for anybody except for the corrupt president of el salvador and his heavily indebted government that is on the brink of financial collapse and imminent default.
like one salvadoran economist recently pointed out, if someone wants to invest in bitcoin then might as well purchase it through their own means with a non-custodial digital wallet, keeping in line with the basic core principle and concept of bitcoin as a decentralized, peer-to-peer digital asset of exchange. and not to trust a proven corrupt president and government that may or may not use the money obtained from the sale of those bonds to purchase bitcoin in the first place nor will provide any significant guarantees to repay that money back and any potential gains given they run the judicial system of the country where judges do exactly what the president says, even if it's against the law, or else. and lastly because the value of that bitcoin under government custody will fluctuate during the five year hold period and at the end of the deal there may be no gains but losses if the price is lower than when the government bought, similar to el salvador's current bitcoin portfolio valued at tens of millions less than what the president paid for originally, thus losing money. the promise of the 6.5% interest yield on the bonds is not worth the risk of losing money if the price of bitcoin goes down during the maturity period of the bonds where investors do not have access to decide when to buy or sell their bitcoin according to market conditions to increase gains and minimize losses, therefore if one wants to speculate with bitcoin might as well do it yourself and skip the shadowy and corrupt government of el salvador serving as your broker/middle man and bringing all the liability and risk that carries onto yourself.
Love the reference to Gregor McGregor. It is an amazing story -- especially how he did it again a few years later after being caught. The analogy with what is happening right now in parts of crypto is not emphasized enough.