Bitcoin Beach - A Village in El Salvador With Real 'bitcoin' Uses In Daily Life

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(Edited)

Long before El Salvador adopted bitcoin as a legal tender, there was a place inside the country that adopted bitcoin as their money. It's called El Zonte, one of the favorite yet underrated beach towns with a local population of 3000 people. Also known as surfer paradise, but it struggled in 2020 due to Covid restrictions. This did not stop them though, as they happily embraced the crypto economy.

For the longest of time, many people claimed that you cannot use bitcoin to purchase stuff. In El Zonte, some 500 fishing & farming families are currently using bitcoin to buy groceries, coffee and even getting salaries paid in crypto.

Since the legislation passed, all businesses in the country are now required to accept 'bitcoin' as a payment method except for those which cannot afford the tech just yet. In the next few months, we might witness growth in the number of individuals and businesses onboarding crypto. Their population is close to 6 million right now so you can do the math.

There will be a time soon when you do not have to sell your crypto at all. Just use it as a currency to pay and get the stuff you want. It's that simple! The world is heading in that direction.


Story of Bitcoin Beach

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Bitcoin Beach is a local initiative managed by the members of the town. It is actively supported by a US-based non-profit organization called Mission Sake and other NGOs. All bitcoin donations are used to launch its campaigns. It also pays a stipend to the people who participate and drive those campaigns.

In 2019, an anonymous, early bitcoin adopter gave a multi-year six-figure donation to El Zonte which set the foundation of Bitcoin Beach and Crypto economy in El Zonte. Since then they have helped more than 600 users, aided 500 families, 15 businesses, and gave multiple donations through its ongoing initiatives.

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Source: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com/

Bitcoin Beach Initiatives

  1. They provide tools and services to individuals and businesses to create their wallets. Also the training about how to transact with Bitcoin over lightning Network. They enable people to buy coffee or a bag of chips from crypto.

  2. They are utilizing youth power to drive crypto adoption. That's why you are going to notice many students in their team. It makes sense because young people tend to be tech-savvy. This is a great way to empower the bitcoin economy in the country. They also run environmental campaigns like cleaning the local beaches and rivers which is great for the growth of the community.

  3. Their stipend programs help school & university students, the elderly, the poor, and even the workers. Everyone gets paid in BTC. Even during the pandemic, they have paid a stipend to families who couldn't work due to restrictions.

  4. To empower local businesses Bitcoin Beach has helped them with training on how to accept crypto payments and what are the pros and cons of using this open and free monetary system.

The Future


They are aiming to create a series of Bitcoin Beach villages powered by crypto and promote bitcoin-driven tourism. It can attract crypto and blockchain enthusiasts to work or permanently shift to the country. I think it is a very smart experiment and we need more of such initiatives all over the world. Creating an open & free ecosystem for technology and innovation will develop a region financially and socially. I believe El Salvador is going to a hotspot for opportunities and more countries would follow.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments. Do you want to have a Bitcoin Beach in your local area?



https://leofinance.io/@finguru

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finguru#4062


Not financial advice. For infotainment purposes only. Main tagline taken from bitcoinbeach.com

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Thats is not the case here in Nigeria... i think they have gone a bit advance... hopefully Nigerian will get there as well


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Yes, this single move can potentially push their economy upwards. Do you think Nigeria will take time to reach this stage? I know recently they have banned crypto transactions inside the country. Clearly, it is not stopping Nigerians from buying more of it every month.

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I don't really see the difference here than other charity projects other than they are supported in bitcoin rather fiat. I hope the master plan is for the project to become self-sustaining rather than rely on the multi-year six-figure donation. Otherwise we're jut swapping one dependency with another one and crypto tourism will just be a marketing gimmick.

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I agree with you on that @gillianpearce. I think they are using the donations to develop their economy by creating a friendly, free and open environment. Its effects will show up in a few year's time as they expand to other villages.

Bitcoin tourism and tech developments are their long-term goals and this initiative is enabling them to reach towards those goals. Now they have the tool to freely transact with each other. I am sure they will come up with great things with it to become self-reliant.

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Thank you for your engagement on this post, you have recieved ENGAGE tokens.

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Wow. This is super cool. A Beach where crypto can be spent. Can only imagine how far El Salvador will open up due to this adoption.

Would love this also in my country but don't see it happening any soon due to the clueless government we have over here.

A government that had the audacity to ban cryptocurrency. We can only keep acquiring cryptos till they finally find reason to embrace the future


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clueless government

Lol, we are dealing with a similar situation here. Let's stack more while they figure it out. 😂

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(Edited)

Lol, we are dealing with a similar situation here

Sadly we're on the same boat on this one.

Let's stack more while they figure it out. 😂

Yeah :-) will continue doing just that


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El Salvardor and El Zonte in particular is starting to look like a rather attractive Holiday destination.

Further than this an attractive place to want to live, I would love to see a Bitcoin beach popping up where I live and now that pandemic restrictions are being lifted, it might be something I will happily get involved in.

It is great to see how this initiative have added the local village and will do the same on a national level.

Onwards and upwards, the next few months are going to be huge for cryptocurrenies with Popa bear taking center stage and his Cubs following closely behind

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I don't really live near the beach but we could use a place where we can go and chill and spend our bitcoins. :D

Onwards and upwards, ...

That's right @jaxsonmurph. I hope this news about EL Salvador adopting will have some impact on the Popa bear.

Just need to HODL strong for a better experience. ;)

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(Edited)

I think it will, I believe this BTC adoption is going to be huge news and although it might take a little time to seep in.

It will start a chain reaction that will hopefully see a domino effect as other nations rush in to follow suit, fingers crossed

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Yes, these initiatives will create domino effect all over the world and hopefully we see more of such bitcoin beaches in the upcoming years.

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I wouldn't mind but I don't think it will happen near me. Do you know if they are using the main BTC network or not? I don't think the fees over there are good. I think lightning makes it cheaper but I haven't really used it.

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(Edited)

They are using the lightning network for transactions. They are working with Strike CEO Jack Mallers to create a wallet using the lightning tech.

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To my knowledge, Iran also adopt Bitcoin before El Salvador. For different reason of course, and not use green energy to produce them.

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Iran recently banned crypto mining in the country and at the same time, they are trying to bring in a legal framework around crypto. Let's see how it ends up.

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That's very interesting man. I had no idea about this so thanks for sharing

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You are most welcome buddy. I have been researching a lot about El Salvador. That's what bitcoin did for them. Everyone now wants to explore the country. 🚀🚀

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So, not sure how much you know about this place but....are they only Bitcoin? Do they take Ethereum? I know DASH has made some pretty big inroads in Latin American countries. Is that on the list? Just curious if it's straight Bitcoin or if the idea is to make it crypto?

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Right now Bitcoin Beach is only about Bitcoin. They are working in Phases. Phase 3 in long term will convert El Zonte and associated villages into a Tech Hub for Bitcoin and Blockchain. This is along the coastline of El Salvador. Bitcoin is the gateway drug to crypto for Salvadoreans. Next is most probably Ethereum. Maybe we have a few people from the country on Hive as well, who knows! Right now is a great chance for them to tap into this market.

Bitcoin Beach should be able to spark the crypto economy in these areas through bitcoin where people don't even have access to bank accounts. Lots of such initiatives are going on all over Latin American countries. Crypto is booming through bitcoin and everyone eventually moves to altcoins.

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This is kinda new to me because I had no idea that El Zonte actually started using btc before it was made official in the country. My concern now is as btc is gaining ground in some part of the world, government in some other countries should not make it difficult for its citizens in accessing it

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I was shocked as well. But it makes sense because they did not adopt bitcoin overnight. Must have taken a few years and experiments before they realized the worth of crypto.

I hope governments do the opposite and start to think of adopting bitcoin in their countries.

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In most cases, I don't really want government coming into crypto because they always look for ways to control people's finances

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That's true. But by adopting decentralized technology like blockhain, they can make the economy freer than it is.

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It is very great to see El Salvador beginning the first country to take the step on legal use of BTC. I think most people has changed their lives when they turned their life on Bitcoin. Myself i am experiencing a big change on my life, even though I didn't know about Bitcoin until 2017.
So, if one person can see changed her life when twisted over Bitcoin, so do be for a country i guess!
El Salvador becomes an interesting place right now.

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I agree with you, @aljif7. If not all, then most people have noticed a positive change in their life due to crypto and blockchain.

For a country like El Salvador, it's actually a blessing in disguise.

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Awesome to hear about Bitcoin Beach, that is the place for me as I was born and always lived by the beach, and need a place that deals in bitcoin.

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That's great to hear Julian. I feel they are going to attract more people like you in the future, especially the beach and travel enthusiasts. Just imagine that they won't have to exchange their currency into USD and pay such high fees. Instead, they can spend their bitcoins.

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How have they been using BTC as cash when the fees have been $10+ recently?

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They are using the lightning network. Now I don't know what's the fees there but they are working with Strike CEO to build an open-source app that would help users create their bitcoin wallets and spend them with ease.

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Is lightning non-custodial? If not then transactions can be censored. Is the only way to have non-custodial transactions/wallets on bitcoin layer 1?

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This is a really interesting model - create localities that work...like the Akon dream city of the future. If people see it works and real world test infrastructure solutions, it really could catch on.

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That's a great analogy man. I can't wait to see more of these bitcoin cities popping up all over the world.

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My problem with taking bitcoin for payment is its instability.

What if I sell of my car at a position on the chart... you know?

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Yeah man. You are absolutely right. Volatility is the adoption killer. Bitcoin is better as store of value. Hive is better for daily use. ;)

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Lol. One issue I have with Hive its is recognition. I swear Jack Dorsley's Bluesky might have more popularity that hive and its not even out yet.

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That's a sad reality bro. I hope it changes soon! Hive needs to be marketed well among the masses!

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This makes me wonder Is the price of buying goods and visiting the beach varies according to the price of BTC changes in dollar terms? Or it remains constant like 100K satoshi for a X Good?

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Yes of course. It has to vary depending upon the Dollar value change. Bitcoin's price is so volatile so it would not make sense to fix the price in sats.

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