Bitcoin Nation? Assessing El Salvador’s Crypto Experiment

Abstract

In this episode of Global Governance Beyond Neoliberalism, we talk to Vladimir Pacheco Cueva, Associate Professor in the Department of Global Studies at Aarhus University. Drawing on research in political economy and social policy, with a particular focus on Latin America, Cueva takes us through one of the most striking economic experiments of recent years: El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin under President Nayib Bukele. Together with our host, Hagen Schulz-Forberg, the two explore what this unprecedented crypto-project means for governance, development, financial sovereignty, and everyday life in a country marked by political disruptions and environmental fragility. From the promises of innovation to the risks of deepening inequality, Cueva helps us understand how El Salvador’s Bitcoin project fits into longer histories of neoliberal reform and what its trajectory might reveal about the future of post-neoliberal politics across the region.