Miss Universe 2023: El Salvador contestant walks the ramp in Bitcoin-inspired costume

El Salvador’s representative at Miss Universe stunned everyone as she walked the ramp in a Bitcoin-inspired gold bodysuit during the pageant’s National Costume Show on Wednesday. 

26-year-old Alejandra Guajardo was carrying a huge colón coin on her back decorated with cocoa beans. She also had a rod in her hand with a giant actual Bitcoin on top of it. The costume was a tribute to bitcoin, which El Salvador recognized as legal tender in 2021, and Colón, the country's previous currency.

While sharing the pictures on her Instagram handle, Guajardo praised her homeland as "a country with a true vision of positive change for the future." 

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Plastic artist Francisco Guerrero designed the costume while focusing particularly on the reigning king of digital assets. “This look represents El Salvador’s history of currency,” said the Miss Universe announcer.

“For a long time, cocoa was used, and then the colón, until it was replaced by the U.S. dollar. In 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to use Bitcoin as a legal tender. You don’t need a sash to walk around dressed as cash,” he added. 

Along with the US dollar, bitcoin is now accepted as legal tender in El Salvador. In September 2021, El Salvador became the first nation to formally recognize the largest cryptocurrency as legal cash.

Since then, the nation has acquired thousands of BTC for its treasury, under the leadership of the pro-bitcoin president Nayib Bukele. Bukele stated in November of last year that his nation will purchase bitcoin daily.