El Salvador receives $1.62 billion in funding to support construction of Bitcoin City

On August 12th, according to Decrypt, El Salvador is receiving massive infrastructure investment that is expected to support the development of its ambitious "Bitcoin City". The Salvadoran government announced on Sunday that Turkish holding company Yilport will invest $1.62 billion in two of El Salvador's ports, marking the largest private investment in the country's history. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele stated in a video declaration released on Monday, "This will be a joint venture between Yilport and El Salvador and will operate these two ports for the next 50 years." The agreement is the result of Bukele's visit to Turkey in 2022.One of the two ports is the Acajutla Port, which handles the majority of El Salvador's exports of coffee, sugar, and Peruvian balsam. The other is the La Unión Port, which is currently idle and neglected, and is the location of the planned Bitcoin City. Stacy Herbert, head of El Salvador's National Bitcoin Office, shared a statement stating that the project will create "thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities" and "further investment in local infrastructure".In November 2021, Bitcoin City was first proposed as a tax-free city whose funding would come from locally mined Bitcoin from volcanoes rather than from the national power grid. In May 2022, the president shared a potential architectural model for the city, but since then, news about the project has been scarce. The city was originally supposed to raise funds through El Salvador's long-awaited "Bitcoin bonds," but fundraising has been repeatedly delayed. However, the country has found other sources of funding, including a renewable Bitcoin mining partnership with Tether and a "free visa" program for wealthy Bitcoin users.