By Brian Ellsworth
MIAMI BEACH (Reuters) – Bitcoin entrepreneur Samson Mow on Thursday said he has created a new company called Jan3 focused on promoting bitcoin adoption, adding that the firm has signed a memorandum of understanding to develop digital infrastructure in El Salvador.
Mow worked as an advisor to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for a $1 billion bitcoin-backed bond issue, which the Central American nation last month postponed amid the invasion of Ukraine and cryptocurrency market volatility.
“It’s a general MOU that says we’ll work together to build digital infrastructure for the country and for Bitcoin City,” Mow told Reuters on the sidelines of the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami Beach.
“I just set up my company and I said ‘do you want to work together?’ and they said ‘sure,'” Mow said.
Bukele in November proposed the creation of Bitcoin City, which would provide tax advantages to investors and would use geothermal power generated by a nearby volcano.
Mow said it was too early to put a monetary value on the deal. The name is a reference to January 3, 2009, the day the bitcoin network came into existence.
El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender last year.
The move has faced public skepticism following a substantial decline in the token’s price since it hit a record in November.
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Miami Beach; Editing by Mark Porter)
