“You know who lives there?” Charlie, the man driving our boat, asks me as I jump into the deep blue water of Lake Coatepeque in northwestern El Salvador. He points to a minimalist-style villa on the freshly-mowed slopes of an island at the center of the lake. “That’s President Bukele’s. Ocho million dollares!”

In any other Latin American country, people would talk about their leader’s private wealth with scorn. But Charlie’s tone is one of praise, excitement, even pride. It’s a sentiment I encountered again and again while traveling through El Salvador, and for a good reason. Until recently, the country was known and feared as the “murder capital” of planet Earth, with 1 in every 10,000 residents falling victim to homicide. Today, four years after Nayib Bukele assumed office, the number of annual killings has dropped from 5,000 to just 495: a statistic that has earned him the lifelong gratitude of his constituents. “I can finally go outside without worrying,” a student from Universidad Don Bosco in Soyapango, previously the most dangerous suburb in the capital city of San Salvador, told me. “It still doesn’t feel real.” 

Born to a Muslim family that emigrated from Palestine, Bukele served as the mayor of San Salvador before setting his eyes on the presidency. A dark horse candidate, his anti-establishment, anti-corruption agenda allowed him to score a surprise victory against El Salvador’s entrenched elite. Many presidential candidates in Latin America promise to “drain the swamp” and put an end to the corruption that keeps their countries impoverished and oppressed, only to become a part of the establishment they vowed to tear down. Bukele is the rare example of a politician that not just kept his word, but managed to hold onto power while doing so. 

One of Bukele’s top priorities was to hunt down El Salvador’s biggest gangs, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and 18^th Street, which earn money through prostitution, drug smuggling, human trafficking, and transporting aliens across the U.S.-Mexican border. The government’s pursuit of the gangs resembles less of a crackdown than it does an all-out war. To this day, tens of thousands of heavily-armed soldiers are regularly mobilized to besiege and infiltrate criminal strongholds. 

Drastic problems require drastic measures, and Bukele’s was to arrest and imprison anybody who had even the slightest affiliation with the criminal underworld. As of 2023, more than 72,000 Salvadorians have been taken off the streets and stuffed into the country’s already overcrowded prisons. 

Bukele’s policies on crime, while effective, come at a cost. While the state has managed to round up many dangerous offenders, it also detained a significant number of individuals who – after close examination – turned out to be completely innocent. Gabriela, a lifelong resident of San Salvador and tech entrepreneur I met at a Miami-esque beach party in the surfer town of El Tunco, told me how, one day, her private driver stopped answering his phone. After contacting his sister, she learned he had been taken by the police while standing on the street drinking Pilsner – El Salvador’s national beer – with former gang members.

Accusing Bukele of human rights abuse, journalists and activists argue mass imprisonment won’t solve El Salvador’s problems but only make them worse. His proponents beg to differ: by cleaning up the streets, the president is able to develop public works that will improve the country’s economy and infrastructure. While highways and libraries can’t justify the injustice suffered by Gabriela’s driver, traveling through this new and improved, and above all, safer, version of El Salvador is making me kind of agree with the average citizen that these are, to an extent, necessary sacrifices. “I do not agree with everything Bukele does,” was the standard response I kept hearing from people, “but we are doing better than we were in the past – and that makes me feel hopeful about tomorrow.”

Where so many corruption-stricken Latin American countries live in an inescapable present, El Salvador is able to look towards the future. In addition to his war on crime, Bukele is best known for his embracement of cryptocurrency. Shortly after setting up shop in San Salvador’s casa blanca, the 42-year-old leader surprised the world by investing a sizeable portion of government funding in Bitcoin. In hindsight, the decision wasn’t all that surprising. The crypto craze was at an all-time high back then, and with Bitcoin’s value on the rise, Bukele saw an opportunity and must have thought he was about to triple the country’s coffers, even quadruple the amount of money he’d put in. Unfortunately, his announcement came moments before the crash of FTX and the federal investigation of its CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried: events that set the crypto world on a downward spiral it has yet to escape from. While exact numbers are hard to come by, El Salvador is rumored to have lost upwards of $70 million.

You’d think such a blunder would damage the country’s economy, not to mention Bukele’s credibility, but that does not seem to be the case. In contrast to neighboring Guatemala, where a despotic Attorney General is currently attempting to undo the ascension of a democratically elected, left-leaning president with an agenda not unlike that of his Salvadorian counterpart, El Salvador remains stable, peaceful, even prosperous. One of the biggest benefits of Bukele’s war on crime is that the resulting safety opened the country up to an industry that had hitherto been all but non-existent there: tourism. At Coatepeque, construction workers are building a litany of hotels, hostels, and clubs to accommodate growing numbers of travelers. Still more projects are in the works at Lake Llopango, located outside San Salvador. 

“This place used to be extremely dangerous,” Gabriela told me as we walked up to a breathtaking mirador, or viewpoint, looking over a thick and seemingly endless canopy. “It’s where all the gangs from Soyapango went to hide.” 

More confused than concerned, I glance over at two soldiers standing guard, their fingers on the triggers of their loaded shotguns. Laughing, Gabriela informs me that their presence is purely ceremonial: Bukele, needing to maintain the standing army he’s amassed for his war, sends troops across the country to act as glorified bodyguards. Not to protect visitors from kidnappers – those odds, she says, are low – but so they have something to do until they are called to lay siege to the next criminal hideout. 

Though not as large as Guatemala and Honduras to the north, or as environmentally diverse as Nicaragua and Costa Rica to the south, El Salvador has much to offer the curious traveler. There’s Santa Ana, a colonial city near the Guatemalan border from where you can visit Coatepeque and climb the Santa Ana volcano, filled not with lava but with pools of boiling water. There’s El Tunco, the aforementioned surf town where you can test your skills on some of the largest, longest, roughest waves you’ve ever seen – or watch others do it from the beach. 

Aside from the grueling traffic, San Salvador is a surprisingly organized capital where neon-lit hipster cafes share parking spaces with hole-in-the-wall pupuserias – barebone cafeterias serving El Salvador’s signature dish: thick tortillas made from corn or rice, stuffed with cheese, pumpkin, spinach, or chicharron, to name only a handful of ingredients. 

While exploring El Salvador is no longer life-threatening, it’s still very adventurous. If you want to get from one place to another, you usually cannot book a private shuttle. Instead, you will have to hop on a public “chicken” bus, retired American school buses the U.S. government deemed too old and broken to transport children, but were given a second life in Central America. In many towns, you also have the opportunity to rent motorcycles. If you have never ridden one before, don’t worry – they neither require a license nor experience, and the roads of El Salvador are so chaotic that you’ll become a pro by the time you make it to your destination. That is, so long as you weren’t sent flying by some knee-deep pothole or camouflaged speed bump. 

The biggest adrenaline rush (or panic attack) I had in El Salvador was a group tour of the Siete Cascadas or Seven Waterfalls near the town of Juayua, a 1 hour motorbike ride south of Santa Ana, where what I had expected to be a calm and peaceful stroll quickly turned into something out of the survival novel Robinson Crusoe. Walking barefoot through a jungle infested with spiders, snakes, and crabs – yes, crabs – I was so taken aback by the absurdity of my predicament that I didn’t even think to object when my tour guide (a 9-year-old, crab-catching boy called Cristian) told us to climb up the waterfalls rather than go around them. “I don’t think this tour was approved by the Salvadorian Health and Safety Department,” I half-joked, latching on to the slippery, moss-covered rocks and praying I would live another day. 

As much as I ended up enjoying my stay, I originally didn’t plan on visiting El Salvador. Although I had heard of what Bukele was doing, I still pictured the country as it was in the past, the way it looked when I saw it on the news, or in an episode of World’s Toughest Prisons. Instead, I thought that I would spend more time in what the media portrayed as its safer, friendlier neighbor: Guatemala. Ironically, it was Guatemala that proved to be more unpredictable as, mere days after I entered El Salvador, rightfully-outraged Guatemalans clashed with law enforcement and barricaded the borders. Weeks later, they still haven’t managed to stop the old government from persecuting their president-elect. But that’s a different story. 

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A police raid in Santiago, Chile resulted in the seizure of multiple narcotics as well as the discovery of a Bitcoin mining operation, which local authorities said marked the first time such a glaring link between organized crime and cryptocurrency had been found in Chile.

According to an article in El Mostrador, a Chilean newspaper, the raid in which the mining computers were found was the third in a series of police actions against a drug trafficking group headed by Kevin Piña Catalán. Chilean Police say Piña has been operating as the de facto leader of a group that trafficked cannabis suspected to be purchased from gangs growing it in the Quilimarí Valley; as well as ketamine, cocaine, Ecstasy and other drugs. Police said the group conducted their illegal activities using multiple different houses in the area which is why multiple raids were necessary. 

The mining equipment was found at a raid conducted at a house in the La Cisterna commune of Santiago on September 6 and resulted in the arrest of seven suspects as well as the seizure of 43 kilograms of cannabis and 43 grams of ketamine. Ecstasy powder, ecstasy tablets and a pill press for making more tablets were also seized. Police said they found the Bitcoin mining operation in one of the bedrooms with 19 computers set up for cryptocurrency mining, only 10 of which were running due to the limitations of the local power grid.

“It is the first time that drug trafficking is so directly linked to the virtual data mining of cryptocurrencies,” said Subprefect Eduardo Gatica, head of the Southern Anti-Narcotics Brigade to local media. “It had not happened before in the country.”

Piña was not arrested at the house with the cryptocurrency equipment, but at a different location about a week prior on August 30. According to the El Mostrador article, Piña was in possession of 13 kilograms of cannabis, 71 grams of cocaine hydrochloride, two firearms and ammunition at the time of his arrest. A previous raid on August 5 also resulted in four arrests and the seizure of 1.3 kilograms of cannabis as well as vehicles. Subprefect Gatica said the operation “was divided into three phases, in order to achieve the total dismantling of this criminal group.”

“Our investigation was aimed at dismantling a group of violent crimes dedicated to drug trafficking that operated in the southern area of ​​the capital, which had links with different communes, such as La Cisterna, San Miguel, Buin, Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Cerrillos and Lampa,” Subprefect Gatica said.

Police said they have no way of knowing whether the cryptocurrency mining equipment was paid for with legitimate or illegal money and they also have no way of knowing whether or not the group was somehow laundering illegal drug money through cryptocurrency, but finding both in the same house certainly may indicate the two were at the very least related. Due to the anonymous and multi-layered nature of Bitcoin transactions, it is very difficult if not impossible for law enforcement agencies to prove criminal activity, or even to quantify how much criminal activity is taking place.

“Verifying the criminal origin of wealth held in or laundered via cryptocurrencies is very challenging. As such, the extent of the use of cryptocurrencies to launder funds obtained from conventional offline criminal activities is hard to determine,” said a 2023 report on cryptocurrency by Transparency International. “This is because in such cases, the cryptocurrency is not transferred from addresses that have previously been linked to criminal activities.”

To that end, cryptocurrency has been used more and more in recent years to launder money obtained through illegal methods. The report said it is often as simple as exchanging cash for Bitcoin at any Bitcoin ATM.

“…proceeds of crime in fiat currency are initially transferred into cryptocurrencies with no immediate indicators pointing to the criminal origin being visible on the blockchain,” the report said. “Consequently, the unlawful use of cryptocurrencies is now no longer restricted to ‘on-chain’ crimes such as blackmail scams or ransomware attacks carried out by cybercriminals who demand payment in cryptocurrencies. Nor is it restricted to use for money laundering. Rather, cryptocurrencies are now used to perpetrate all manner of offenses that entail the exchange of monetary value.”

As for Kevin Piña Catalán and his gang of drug traffickers, police told El Mostrador that the whole matter is still under investigation, including the cryptocurrency aspect and how it may or may not have been related to the other illegal activities. Authorities said those arrested faced a plethora of different charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and ammunition trafficking.

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Former Detroit Red Wing and NHL star Darren McCarty is getting involved with NFTs, which are sweeping the cannabis community. Perhaps out of curiosity, the former enforcer recently bought an NFT from Australian artist TROG, “your favorite cannabis culture artist,” who is launching NFTrogs with McCarty as an early buyer.

The initial NFT release was launched publicly January 10 on the Ethereum ERC-20 platform, with intentions to expand to other chains such as Binance Chain and others in the near future. Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) blockchain and its token Ether—the second most valuable cryptocurrency—trails behind only Bitcoin in value.

The team is currently minting and offering NFTrogs on OpenSea. So, for novices who don’t have an OpenSea account, it would be a good time to go sign up, and they also need to choose a wallet.

TROG‘s characters are reminiscent of his extensive work drawing posters for cannabis events. You may recognize his trippy characters from his Killer Weed Coloring Book or Deadlines, a collectible book featuring his endless portfolio of cannabis event posters. He is proud to announce one of four NFT drops that make up the first 100 characters. The first round went public and on sale on January 10. The characters are individual NFTs of TROG, but he is building digital contracts so each NFT has its own added bonus.

Meanwhile, McCarty has been busy in the cannabis industry—launching cannabis flower and hemp products under The Darren McCarty Brand in collaboration with Pincanna about two years ago, and he also recently unveiled its collection of THC, CBD + CBN gummies.

McCarty bought NFT TROG #25, one of the earliest characters available on an NFT. “Four-time Stanley Cup Champion Darren McCarty here,” the former enforcer told High Times in a video message. “Now, NFTs and all this stuff—I’m just starting to learn about it. But all I heard was […] ‘TROG.’ The eyeballs, man! I’m in! TROG NFTs. You should be too.”

If you don’t understand NFTs—you’re not alone. NFTs—or non-fungible tokens—are commonly part of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or Dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs. “Non-fungible” more or less means that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. They only exist online, sometimes as a JPEG, but have real value.

How NFTs Work

People getting into NFTs hope to see their money grow. “Let’s say you get NFT TROG #26,” TROG told High Times. “You buy that NFT,  it sits in your digital wallet, then in three days you get a message from us with a QR code. You scan that QR code to get your reveal.”

The system allows money to grow. “Or a seed drops out of your NFT, that seed appears in your digital wallet,” TROG said. “In five days it sprouts… in five more days it turns into a little plant, then in two weeks the plant turns into a bigger plant. Then in 30 days bags of buds start appearing in your digital wallet. These bags of buds are actual new NFTs that have contracts attached to them—you can sell these buds as a NFT sale if you choose, or you can hang onto them.”

Each NFTrogs is also the key to unlocking a canvas series of 10 artworks—if you own the NFT it gives that holder the chance to purchase the number one canvas in that series. 

“You may get a QR code—and when scanned, it may send you a pic of your character with a broken bong and a code to redeem. You contact us directly and we redeem your code and send that person a new TROG GLASS bong. Or you may get a message saying your grinder broke,  and code to redeem to get a new grinder, etc.”

TROG GLASS features beautiful glass pieces—beakers, bongs and more—featuring the cartoon characters of TROG.

TROG said that he may airdrop collector artworks that include free tickets to cannabis events or festivals he’s involved with, for holders of NFTrogs.  

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Pretty soon you can be the proud owner of unique digital assets with corresponding legendary glass art. Jerome Baker Designs (JBD), purveyors of award-winning unique functional glass art, will create unique digital art pieces and corresponding physical assets on the Ethereum blockchain for a collaboration with FDCTech, Inc.

FDC (OTCQB: FDCT) will provide the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) platform to mint and issue NFTs. Collectors can purchase Jerome Baker Designs drops through online silent auctions, global offers and open editions. The platform is expected to be operational in the early part of the first quarter, ending on March 31, 2022. 

Founder and President of Jerome Baker Designs Jason Harris—the artist behind unique and rare luxury pieces including bongs, bubblers and pipes—will develop original physical and digital works for the project. Harris explained his pivot into crypto and the reasoning behind it. 

“The blockchain industry has already changed the world with Bitcoin alone, which I have been accepting since 2016 for bubblers and bongs,” Harris told High Times. “At JBD, we have been exploring NFTs since before the term NFTs existed. We were exploring, along with many other companies, using non-fungible token technology towards supply chain.”

Original Jerome Baker Designs pieces have been customized for global artists including Santana, Snoop Dogg, George Clooney, George Clinton, 311, Sublime/Skunk Records, Widespread Panic, Grateful Dead, Rita Marley, DMB, Phish, Slayer and DRI.

“As an artist, I couldn’t be more stoked to see this technology applied towards arts,” Baker explained. “The creative world has just been transformed and artists will be more empowered than ever to take control of their art and their lives. We are working now on initiatives with an eye towards leading the way in the NFT universe in general with one-of-kind pieces pegged to an NFT. That is where we think this leads: to the new phygital realm, where the physical and digital meet.”

“We are thrilled that Jerome Baker Designs has entered the NFT space with FDC. It is exciting to work with such a well-established iconic brand that has made modern artistic glass and pipe-making a highly desirable collectible art collection,” FDC Founder, CFO and NFT Team Leader Imran Firoz said. “Our Company and Jerome Baker Designs are committed to creating authentic digital and physical art pieces to showcase Jason Harris’ unique and rare work on the NFT platform, where collectors can seamlessly buy, sell, and store digital art and collectibles.”

Jerome Baker Designs

Jerome Baker Designs launched after founder Jason Harris apprenticed under Bob Snodgrass, “Godfather of artistic hard glass” and founder of the modern pipe-making industry. Snodgrass had been peddling colorful glass pipes at Grateful Dead shows across the country—significantly contributing to the popularity of glass in the world of cannabis.

Harris followed in the footsteps of Snodgrass, mastering the fine art of glassblowing.

Jerome Baker Designs was recently named one of the top ten glassblowers in the United States by the Cannabis News Update. Jerome Baker Designs won the 2018 High Times Cannabis Cup for “Best Glass” in Sonoma County and was runner-up in “Best Glass” in the Sacramento 2018 High Times Cannabis Cup. 

In September 2020, JBD and Jason Harris were featured in the High Times Annual Art issue alongside Tommy Chong and Shea McAdams of seedleSs clothing. In 2003, Harris was one of about 50 people who were busted by federal agents during the George W. Bush administration amid Operation Pipe Dreams. It demonstrated that even glass pipe sellers aren’t protected from facing criminal charges.

“We, at JBD, passionately believe in the future of a blockchain-crypto-driven digital art world and the ultimate democratization and distribution of authentic and protected digital assets. We’re excited to collaborate with FDC as they have a proven track record in building successful customized trading technology,” said Harris.

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Hollywood couldn’t handle grandma and her cats getting baked, so 10,420 NFT buyers financed the new comedy.

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