El Salvador shook the world in 2021 when President Nayib Bukele made bitcoin (BTC) legal tender, giving the cryptocurrency the same status as the US dollar, the official currency of the Central American nation.

Since then, El Salvador has built up a bitcoin reserve worth around $630 million, established one of the most advanced cryptoregulatory frameworks in the world, promised to issue $1 billion in bitcoin-backed government bonds, and even convinced stablecoin giant Tether about moving its headquarters to the country.

But one of the country’s most rewarding successes has been its extensive Bitcoin-centric education program, according to Stacy Herbert, director of El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office.

“Bitcoin country needs Bitcoin engineers, right? We produce them, and it’s a long manufacturing process, but it creates a wonderful positive feedback loop,” Herbert told CoinDesk in an interview. “They graduate, they get jobs, they all become friends. … You can feel a tech vibe coming up in San Salvador.”

The idea, Herbert said, is that when massive companies like Tether or Bitfinex decide to relocate their headquarters or open offices in El Salvador, they will have no problem finding the highly skilled workforce needed to run their operations.

“Many students find ample opportunity to work in these companies because there is a great demand [for them]” said Herbert. The quality of Salvadorans’ Bitcoin education is encouraging even more companies to consider El Salvador as a jurisdiction in which to set up shop, and that, she continued, is motivating more students to study Bitcoin.

President Bukele has a “vision for a renaissance. Singapore 2.0. Florence 2.0. How do you get there? You have to build a strategy,” Herbert said. “You need the talent pool. You need smart, optimistic, capable people. And that is what we have here in El Salvador.”

Bitcoin education

Herbert is a long-time bitcoiner – she was one of the first people to talk about the cryptocurrency on international television back in 2010. She came to El Salvador in 2021 with her husband Max Keizer shortly after bitcoin was made legal tender and almost immediately spun off a training program, CUBO+, to train Bitcoin developers in the country. Bukele subsequently chose her to run the Bitcoin Office, which was formally established in November 2022.

The Bitcoin Office advises on policy and legislation and does marketing for El Salvador’s bitcoin initiatives. But the first thing Herbert did upon his appointment was work to bring Bitcoin education into high schools. The program was originally only targeted at five institutions, but has now been rolled out nationwide.

Students are shown how to set up Bitcoin and Lightning Network nodes, and the technical details behind ASICs – specialized computers used solely to produce bitcoin. The ASIC lessons in particular have been met with enthusiasm, Herbert said. “They were able to hold something and it really helped them understand in a deep way.”

But Bitcoin lessons are not limited to high school students only. CUBO+ runs a course that Herbert described as a “very intense bootcamp” that delves into Bitcoin theory, history and philosophy. Open to about 100 to 125 applicants — who receive university points for participating — the program eventually selects 21 students with the best technical skills and pushes their education even further. Some of the students have been flown to Tuscany and Lugano to attend Bitcoin workshops.

“100% of the students [in the inaugural year] found a job,” Herbert said. “Some of them make close to $4,000 a month. You know, the average starting salary for a computer science graduate in El Salvador in 2023 was $600 a month.”

Close to 80,000 officials have also taken three-day Bitcoin certification courses. And another program will roll out in schools – from first grade to ninth grade – on the subjects of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. “We’re laying the foundation for us to build a great economy,” Herbert said. “It’s not just the technicalities of Bitcoin. It’s a mindset shift to understand what sovereignty and independence mean.”

CUBO+ has already paid off for Herbert on a personal level. Three employees work under her at the Bitcoin Office, all of whom graduated from the program before coming to work for the government.

Let the good times roll

The Salvadoran government recently agreed to dismantle its bitcoin wallet and make acceptance of bitcoin payments voluntary in the private sector (rather than mandatory) as part of a new $3.5 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Herbert said that the Bitcoin Office had not been part of the negotiations, but that in her opinion the concessions from El Salvador changed nothing at all. “The priority is always the people, then [let’s do] whatever helps the people the most while maintaining our sovereignty and our strategy to execute on our vision.”

Still, since the IMF deal was announced, El Salvador has slightly changed its bitcoin acquisition strategy. In addition to buying one bitcoin a day, on three separate days the government bought 10 additional bitcoins. Asked whether the pattern change was a reaction to the IMF deal, Herbert said: “You’d have to ask the president directly. … [But] he is ready to accelerate. Donald Trump takes office in a few days and the race is on. Globally, there is a race to follow us.”

For Herbert, El Salvador earned its place in the history books from the moment it created the very first national strategic bitcoin reserve, and the United States, if it ends up creating its own reserve, will simply be following in the Latin American country’s footsteps. So it is a competition, and El Salvador is not necessarily an underdog – according to Herbert, other countries will have to work to keep pace with Salvadoran initiatives, which are starting to bear fruit.

The Central American nation has never experienced peace and prosperity, at least not in living memory, a Salvadoran lawyer recently told Herbert. In the 1970s, while the United States was enjoying the golden age of disco music and Hollywood, El Salvador underwent social unrest that would eventually spark the Salvadoran Civil War, which left the state too weak to deal with the growth of violent gangs in the 1990s.

But Bukele’s leadership, combined with the Bitcoin initiatives, is completely changing the public’s mindset, Herbert said. All of a sudden the future looks exciting.

“I think El Salvador deserves the good times that are coming — they’re here,” Herbert said. “We are just beginning these good times.”