The El Salvador government is directing a state run energy company to provide 'cheap' (does that mean free?) energy to those mining bitcoin in El Salvador. Are these miners even locals or are they Americans? The miners will be getting cheap energy at the expense of the local population/ country. Maybe the miner's profits will be taxed and go back to the government for a return on investment. The thermal energy from the volacano is being pursued not because it is more efficient, but because it is more green and more moral. El Salvador making bitcoin legal tender, and forcing it to be accepted in payments, is the best thing to happen to bitcoin. The only way this can work is if the government buys the bitcoin from merchants and give them dollars, so the government is the buyer of last resort for your bitcoin. No where in the world can a bitcoiner force anyone to accept bitcoin for goods/services or exchange for dollars but El Salvador. El Salvador receives millions of dollars in aid from the US. The US tax payer is funding bitcoin mining (through energy subsidy) and funding the El Salvador government trading facility of converting bitcoin to dollars. The government bears the transactions costs/ and the volatility risk. El Salvador shouldn't receive a cent of US aid to support this, only private contributions. If the El Salvador government has enough money for bitcoin projects, they don't need US aid for humanitarian reasons. Bitcoiners who support this can no longer claim to be about freedom, as this is coercive, and is only possible through massive government spending to subsidize it that El Salvador is doing. This is only a victory for the miners being subsidized, and the bitcoiners who have a buyer of last resort. Is it really a medium of exchange if statistics show that 95% of merchants convert to dollars immediately? Is it really a victory if you have to use government force to get people to accept it?