Santa Monica, a tourist city located on the Californian coast of the United States, decided to create a Bitcoin Office. The project, led by Vice Mayor Lana Negrete, was approved on July 10 by the City Council. The new office, which seeks to follow the model implemented in El Salvador, is preparing to promote initiatives that favor the use of the digital currency created by Satoshi Nakamoto. According to information shared by city authorities, the Bitcoin Office pilot program will be launched in collaboration with Proof of Workforce, a non-profit organization that deals with providing education about cryptocurrency. The main plan with the new Office, whose creation will not represent expenses for the city, is achieve four key objectives.
The goals include providing education about bitcoin (BTC) and facilitating partnerships and events to grow investments and tourism. Additionally, it aims to connect residents with new jobs and explore bitcoin mining based on renewable energy. These are the same goals that were set in El Salvador when BTC was approved as legal tender in 2021 and the Bitcoin Office was created in 2022. This is indicated by the Salvadoran team at X, pointing out that the city leaders were visiting El Salvador to study the adoption of BTC. In November 2023 they met with Negrete to exchange ideas and Discuss cultural and educational initiatives on bitcoin. In this way, the American official stands as one of the main bitcoin promoters in the Californian city, where he hopes to see the birth of new cryptocurrency-related projects. “As we embark on a journey to learn about bitcoin in Santa Monica, I am excited to see the next ideas. Bitcoin is for everyone!” said Negrete, who intends to Replicate Nayib Bukele's success by bringing Bitcoiners' attention to El Salvador. By integrating Bitcoin into its economic framework, Santa Monica aims to take advantage of the growing cryptocurrency market and attract tech-savvy tourists and investors. In that sense, the bet on BTC aims to make the city It also stands out in the world for the increase in tourism and investments.as has occurred in El Salvador. Some data on Santa Monica already place it as a world-class tourist destinationIt has an annual budget of $700 million and has welcomed 4.5 million visitors, spending nearly $1 billion by 2023.
The famous Santa Monica Pier will be dressed in Bitcoin. Source: Pixabay. In order to celebrate the initiative, founder of Proof of Workforce, Dom Bei – who sees the future of Santa Monica in a bright orange color – plans to make a presentation about Bitcoin on the city's famous pier.
US lawmakers look at El Salvador
While the work carried out by Salvadorans with bitcoin has been replicated around the world – and an example of this are the citadels – the successful plans implemented by Bukele are not only related to bitcoin. As is internationally recognized, security policies have been some of the most applaudedalthough also one of the most questioned. Despite the controversy it generates, the Salvadoran president's «Bitcoin plus heavy hand» strategy has become a magnet for attention, leading to the creation of a El Salvador Caucus in the US CongressThe legislative group, which will be dedicated to studying the Salvadoran case, was launched on July 8 by the Republican congressman for Florida, Matt Gaetz. The legislator seeks to promote a better understanding of the relationship of the United States with the Central American country. Gaetz He praised Bukele «for having defeated the gangs» and achieve prosperity in El Salvador,” criticizing Biden administration officials and other congressmen who “have mounted attack after attack against the president.” As BitcoinDynamic has reported, since 2022, US senators and officials have criticized the Bukele government, even going so far as to propose a bill to investigate finances and the use of BTC in El Salvador. These are actions that, so far, have not managed to get the president to change his government plan in El Salvador.