“Given we like to stay ahead of the curve, it’s probably time to pay attention to this strange new trend.”

That’s what we wrote earlier this month, on Nov. 5.

Astute readers will recall we were talking about the rise of “crypto cities.”

It only took a few weeks for a country to announce it would be creating a “Bitcoin City,” backed by Bitcoin bonds… powered by a volcano.

True story.

The country, as you may already suspect, is El Salvador.

Bitcoin Nation

El Salvador often touts itself as having — despite its small stature — the most businesses accepting bitcoin.

To put this to the test...

Youtuber Marc Falzon recently visited El Zonte (AKA, “Bitcoin Beach”) to see if he could live 72 hours just on bitcoin.

Falzon got a hotel room for himself and his girlfriend at a swanky hotel, paid in bitcoin.

The view:

Breakfast, paid in bitcoin.

He met Antonio, the owner of a construction company. Antonio has 20 employees. He pays them all in bitcoin.

(When Antonio started using bitcoin, it was around $9,000.)

Falzon also interviewed Ramon, founder of the pro-bitcoin organization Bitcoin Beach, who said:

“Before bitcoin arrived, our people in the community didn’t have access to bank accounts… what’s happening is that people are starting to transact digitally for the first time in their lives.”

(Some estimates suggest 70% of Salvadorans don’t have bank accounts.)

It’s easy, said Ramon, for many in the “first world” to go buy a coffee with a credit card and pay digitally.

In El Salvador, he said, “that’s a luxury.”

But then came bitcoin.

Bitcoin City

Last week, as mentioned, the country also announced its plans for a “Bitcoin City,” a futuristic city to be built between the cities of La Unión and Conchagua.

Bitcoin City, president Nayib Bukele announced, would get geothermal power from a volcano and wouldn’t levy any taxes save for a value added tax (VAT).

Half of the VAT would be used to fund the Bitcoin bonds issued to build the city. The other half, says Bukele, would be used for services like garbage collection.

In all, Bukele estimates the public infrastructure will cost around 300,000 bitcoins ($17 billion).

Bukele likened Bitcoin City to those founded by Alexander the Great, circular in design with an airport, residential and commercial areas, and a central plaza designed to look like a bitcoin symbol from above.

“If you want bitcoin to spread over the world,” said Bukele, “we should build some Alexandrias.”

We don’t quite know what will come of it, but we do know it’s a bullish signal for crypto.

Tomorrow, we’ll show you why… and how you can invest in what comes next.

[Ed. note: For the record, James predicted back in 2017 that a South American country would adopt bitcoin. Now, he’s on record predicting what the next wave of crypto will look like. Stay tuned for more.]

Until tomorrow,

Chris Campbell
For Altucher Confidential