--- title: "Economist: El Salvador’s Year With Bitcoin Currency Has Been “Spectacular Failure”" description: "Uncoolest Dictator It's been about a year since El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, Crypto Bro and self-described \"world's coolest dictator,\" moved to incorporate Bitcoin as an official state currency. Spoiler alert: it hasn't exactly gone well. In fact, in the words of economist John Hawkins, the grand crypto experiment has been nothing short of a […]" date: "2022-09-12" modified: "2022-09-12" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/economist-el-salvador-bitcoin-currency-spectacular-failure" categories: - "Bitcoin" - "Blockchain" - "Cryptocurrency" - "Future Society" tags: - "authoritarianism" - "crypto" - "el salvador" - "the digest" --- # Economist: El Salvador’s Year With Bitcoin Currency Has Been “Spectacular Failure” ![According to economist John Hawkins, El Salvador's grand crypto experiment, led by Crypto Commander in Chief President Nayib Bukele, has been a disaster.]() *\Image: Roque Alvarenga/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images\* ## Uncoolest Dictator It's been about a year since El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, Crypto Bro and self-described "[world's coolest dictator]()," moved to incorporate Bitcoin as an official state currency. Spoiler alert: it hasn't exactly gone well. In fact, in the words of Canberra University economist John Hawkins, the grand crypto experiment has been nothing short of a "spectacular failure." "Now, a year on, there's more than enough evidence to conclude Bukele had no idea what he was doing," Hawkins [wrote in a recent column]() for *The Conversation*. ## Bitcoin City Bukele's Bitcoin experiment was centered around an idealized "[Bitcoin City]()," funded through an imagined $1 billion government bond program. The country was to invest half of that billion into the city itself, and the other half would go [towards Bitcoin investments](). Those Bitcoin buy-ups, [according to the president](), would ultimately lead to economic growth. Sadly, that promised economic boom is yet to materialize. In fact, as Hawkins explains, that bond program has yet to be implemented at all. Bukele, meanwhile, has poured roughly $100 million into Bitcoin, which is only worth about half that investment right now. Elsewhere, [gang violence has exploded](), and the nation has fallen into [confused economic turmoil](). ## Who Gets Hurt Of course, the wildly catastrophic Bitcoin crash didn't lend itself to Bukele's crypto-forward efforts. At the same time, however, Bukele himself has also failed to inspire much faith in his own economic prowess. "Bukele's misunderstanding of Bitcoin — and economics more generally — has been demonstrated repeatedly," Hawkins continued, recalling instances when the president [failed to show]() a solid understanding of how GDP works, or [took to Twitter]() to share over-hyped, low-substance crypto evangelism. Hawkins isn't the president's only detractor. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has begged the El Salvadorian leader to pare back his crypto-forward legislation, arguing that the digital assets are [still too volatile and unsafe]() for national use (Bukele fired back with IMF-bashing memes on Twitter). There's no doubt that there's been some serious damage done to the Cryptbro in Chief's reputation. But that's not what's most important here: this has been an experiment, and a fairly careless one at that, that's been performed live on actual El Salvadorians. Should it continue its implosion, it'll be the El Salvadorian people who [bear the real cost of that failure](). **READ MORE:** [*One year on, El Salvador's Bitcoin experiment has proven a spectacular failure*]() \[*The Conversation*\] **More on El Salvadorian crypto hell:** [*An Entire Country Switched to Bitcoin and Now Its Economy Is Floundering*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()