- Gabor Gurbacs, the strategy advisor for VanEck, suggests that El Salvador could become a financial center in America and follow the example of Singapore.
- El Salvador’s status as a rising economy has become even more pronounced with the election of Nayib Bukele as the country’s president in June 2019.
- In May, El Salvador appointed Saifedean Ammous, the author of ‘The Bitcoin Standard,’ as an economic advisor to the National Bitcoin Office.
VanEck’s strategy advisor Gabor Gurbacs says El Salvador could be a Singapore in Latin America: The effects of Bitcoin on El Salvador!
Bitcoin’s Impact on El Salvador
Gabor Gurbacs, the strategy advisor for investment management firm VanEck, believes that El Salvador could become a financial center in America and take Singapore as an example. In a Twitter post, Gurbacs said, ‘I often tell portfolio managers and asset allocators that El Salvador has the potential to be the Singapore of America.’
Gurbacs expressed expectations that in the next few years, the main drivers of economic growth in El Salvador would be new capital investments and migration, much like what Singapore achieved in the late 1990s.
These comments came in response to a post by American broadcaster and Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser on October 28, with the headline ‘Move to El Salvador, the New Frontier of Freedom.’
Keiser, who currently lives in El Salvador, listed reasons why the Central American country should be on everyone’s radar, including the acceptance of Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar as legal tender, the clearance of Salvadoran crime, great beaches, and fantastic coffee.
El Salvador’s status as a rising economy became even more pronounced with the election of Nayib Bukele as the country’s president in June 2019. The sovereign bonds of El Salvador have outperformed many other emerging market countries this year, delivering a stunning 70% return as of August. This has caught the attention of JPMorgan and other major investment banks.
In September 2021, Bukele’s government made Bitcoin legal tender and launched the Chivo Wallet, a Bitcoin wallet for all Salvadorans, in the same week.
El Salvador has launched a mining pool
El Salvador leverages volcanic resources to operate Volcano Energy, a Bitcoin mining operation that began with a $1 billion investment in June. Keiser serves as the company’s executive chairman.
In October, the first mining pool was launched after a collaboration with Bitcoin miners Luxor Technology. The country also appointed Saifedean Ammous, the author of ‘The Bitcoin Standard,’ as an economic advisor to the National Bitcoin Office in May. The country plans to accumulate Bitcoin as a strategy to clear its debt.
In April, Bukele took a bold step by removing all taxes on technology innovations, which could encourage more entrepreneurs and foreign capital to come to the country.
