President Nayib Bukele and Cathie Wood, two big whales, planned to team up to boost El Salvador’s economy with the use of Bitcoin. This will help to attract international investors to take part in building the El Salvador economy.
The ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood said that El Salvador’s Gross Domestic Products could increase tenfold in the coming 5 years. For this, he had to stay with the Bitcoin and AI adoption plan under the supervision of President Nayib Bukele.
“President Bukele’s determination to turn El Salvador into an oasis for the Bitcoin and AI communities — two of the biggest economic and technology revolutions in history — is the reason I believe that its real GDP could scale 10-fold during the next five years,” Wood stated in a post on May 28.
In a meeting with Bukele, Wood talked about Bitcoin’s integration into capital markets, AI, and tax policies.
Max Keiser, an advisor to President Bukele on Bitcoin, said that Cathie Wood explained how El Salvador could grow its GDP to $300 billion by 2029.
According to data provided by the World Bank, El Salvador’s GDP stands at $32.4 billion, showing a rise of almost 30% in 2022. This happened after the Bukele joined the office back in 2019.
As Bukele became president, El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender, removed taxes on tech innovation, and cut income tax for foreign investments and remittances in March.
El Salvador holds 5,764 Bitcoin in its reserves which is worth $396.2 million. Through these holdings, he made a 58.6% increase from its average purchasing price.
Jamie Robinson, the chief strategy officer of The Bitcoin Hardware Store, said at a news forum in February that several issues have slowed progress in El Salvador. These include a mostly tech-illiterate population, poor enforcement for merchants, and problems with the launch of the Chivo Wallet in 2021.
Jose Simeon Canas, a Central American University conducted a survey which concluded that only 12% of the locals are using Bitcoin to pay for their expenses in 2023, however, this percentage is less from 2022.
Robinson noted that Bitcoin’s price increase in early 2023 started a new wave of merchants accepting it. This trend has been led by big companies like Walmart, Starbucks, and Domino’s.
