hello this is bbc news. the headlines. a bad night for president macron. he looks set to lose his overall majority in the french parliament the far left and the far right have made gains. rail bosses have confirmed that talks to try to avoid this week s strike action will continue with union leaders tomorrow. after the uk s promise of more heavy weapons to ukraine the new head of the british army says troops should be prepared to fight russia in europe. communities in finsbury park gather to mark five years since the terror attack in which a van was driven into worshippers outside a mosque. and swimming s world governing body votes to effectively ban transgender competitors like american lia thomas from taking part in women s races. now on bbc news. joe tidy reports on president nayib bukele s bitcoin plans in el salvador, with investment of more than $300 million of public money and plans to build a bitcoin city . el salvador is the only country in the world where you
now on bbc news, joe tidy reports from el salvador on the president s bitcoin plans, with investment of more than $300 million of public money and plans to build a bitcoin city . el salvador is the only country in the world where you can buy almost anything with bitcoin. buenos dias. si, caballero. last september, the country s cryptocurrency loving president took the unprecedented decision to make bitcoin legal tender. this will generate jobs and help provide financial inclusion to thousands outside the formal economy. around the world, the move is being criticised by the financial establishment and celebrated by crypto fans. so we are following developments closely. and now el salvador is leading the way, you know? we re proud. but are the people here embracing bitcoin? is el salvador s big bitcoin gamble paying off? el salvador s bitcoin journey started here in el zonte, with a weird and mysterious origin story. in 2019, an anonymous donor gave this small fishing villag
we tried to set up an interview with him, but in recent months, he s only done interviews with pro bitcoin youtube channels. the government s tourism minister was keen to talk, though, about the benefits the country are seeing. president bukele has spent tens of millions of dollars of public money on bitcoin, and the price has gone down. is there a risk that all that money could be lost, that money could be spent on other things? do you think that there is a problem at the moment with chivo wallet users mainly being male, and mainly being young, and maybe being rich as well?
in fact, the bukele government is doubling down on bitcoin. what i was going to present to you.bitcoin city. cheering. he s hoping to raise the money for the state of the art city by selling a billion dollars of so called volcano bonds, named after a key part of the plan to build the city at the foot of a volcano. he hopes to harness geothermal energy to not only power the city, but also, a huge bitcoin mining industry. this is the country s largest state run geothermal power plant, and tucked away in the back is a small bitcoin mine.
in dollars, like, 4 millions 4 millions. but there are fears the government won t be able to raise the money it needs, and it comes as the public finances are in drastic need of improvement with hundreds of millions of debt due to pay next year.