El Salvador Doubles Down on Bitcoin Strategy, Set to Upskill Over 80,000 Civil Servants

El Salvador's Higher School of Innovation in Public Administration is set to oversee the training of thousands of civil servants.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 21 August 2024 19:50 IST

El Salvador Doubles Down on Bitcoin Strategy, Set to Upskill Over 80,000 Civil Servants

Photo Credit: X/ @PresidenciaSV

The IMF is reportedly withholding financial aid to El Salvador because of its pro-BTC approach

Highlights

El Salvador wishes to have its nationals trained in efficient BTC use
El Salvador sees itself as the home of new capital markets on BTC
In recent years, El Salvador’s pro-BTC policies have attracted Web3 firms

El Salvador is preparing to upskill thousands of its civil servants as part of a drive aimed at making the government's workforce more familiar with Bitcoin-related technology. Over 80,000 Salvadoran civil servants will be trained in efficiently using Bitcoin technology. Upon completion of the training, these officials will be provided with a certification. El Salvador became the first nation in the world to recognise Bitcoin as legal tender in September 2021. Since then, El Salvador's President Nayik Bukele has taken consistent steps to integrate BTC with the national financial system.

Stacy Herbert, Director of El Salvador's Bitcoin National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) announced the government's decision on Wednesday via a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Thousands of El Salvador's civil servants will soon receive the highest standard of instruction on Bitcoin. And this will have the compounding effect of excellence begetting more excellence in El Salvador, the home of new capital markets on Bitcoin,” Herbert said.

In 2021, President Bukele established the Higher School of Innovation in Public Administration (ESIAP). The country's BTC certification initiative will be overseen by the institute, and the curriculum of the training programme has been curated to make Bitcoin a prominent part of El Salvador's governance and public administration practices.

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Elaborating on the initiative, the official ESIAP site said 160 hours of training material has been designed as part of the course, while some part of the training will be conducted virtually. The institute is yet to announce a commencement date for the training programme.

In recent years, El Salvador's pro-BTC policies have prompted the Web3 sector to look for business opportunities in the country. In May, Jack Dorsey-backed Bitcoin mining pool Ocean set up its headquarters in El Salvador. Binance also expanded its business in the country in 2023.

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It has been reported that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been withholding financial aid to El Salvador because of Bukele's pro-Bitcoin approach. Meanwhile, it does not come as a surprise that Bukele is training civil servants to be Bitcoin-ready, especially considering the potential of the cryptocurrency to generate revenue and investment in the country.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, El Salvador, Bitcoin, Nayib Bukele

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More