FR-EE designs volcano-powered 'bitcoin city' for el salvador

plans revealed for the world’s first ‘bitcoin city’

el salvador president nayib bukele has announced plans for a 7,466-hectare ‘bitcoin city’ to be built in the southeast of the central american country. following the president’s statement at a bitcoin event on november 20th (2021), architect fernando romero of FR-EE has shared images of what the new city will look like.

the proposed metropolis is to be developed at the base of conchagua volcano in el salvador. planned as a perfect circle, the city echos the shape of a coin and a previous utopian concept by FR-EE from 2012. the volcano at the edge of the city plays a key part in the project as its geothermal energy is to power the whole bitcoin city powergrid, including the mining of the cryptocurrency.

images courtesy of FR-EE / fernando romero

the citizen is the central focus in the design of bitcoin city,’ says fernando romero. as such, the city is to be partially free of cars, with numerous pedestrian areas, cycle lanes on every other street, and a network of light rail instead. there’s also an express train that connects to a proposed airport, seaport, and other neighboring cities.

half of the program is residential. the other 50% comprises a range of amenities that you’d typically expect to find in a city such as education, health and retail. more unusually, bitcoin city also contains intelligent buildings and ‘digital amenities’ including NFT galleries.

the main feature of the urban plan is a large central plaza emblazoned with a massive ‘B’ for bitcoin. FR-EE says this public space will host various events such as concerts. there will also be a plaza museum with exhibitions about the history of money.

bitcoin city is to be powered by conchagua volcano in southeastern el salvador

bitcoin city aims to facilitate business and technology investments with a number of incentives. the city is designed to be built in stages, although no dates have been set for the proposed construction and completion. as reported by the BBC, president bukele said the public infrastructure would cost around 300,000 bitcoins. el salvador is the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender.

the architect adds,‘bitcoin city is a city that will define the future of a country, representing the leadership of el salvador in terms of urban planning with a future-focused vision.’

nayib bukele making the announcement at a bitcoin event