This is an opinion editorial by Rikki, author and co-host of the “Bitcoin Italia” and “Stupefatti” podcasts. It is half of the Bitcoin Explorers, along with laurawhich chronicles the adoption of Bitcoin around the world, one country at a time.
Laura and I continue our adventures in Central America with the goal of gaining a deep understanding of the peculiar characteristics of Bitcoin adoption in the very different countries there and reporting it without bias on our YouTube channel.”Bitcoin Explorers.”
The great curiosity that assails us after spending more than a month in El Salvador, and leaving it behind, is trying to understand what people think about Bitcoin in countries where there has been no government propaganda, no media coverage, or bad state app like the one Goat wallet to complicate matters. Countries where, therefore, adoption is not taking place by decree, but solely through the free initiative of citizens and the work of private companies that believe in Bitcoin and build products and services on top of its protocol.
But the question we would like to try to answer is not the simplest: Is the bottom-up adoption of Bitcoin better than the top-down adoption theorized by the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele?
Exploring Grassroots Bitcoin Adoption in Guatemala
To find the answer, our last destination was Guatemala, a country that is, in a way, very similar to El Salvador. As of 2017, there were 16.5 million inhabitants there, almost 60% of whom lived below the poverty line, probably unbanked or unbanked, and 23% lived in extreme poverty. At that time, 0.001% of Guatemalans owned more than half of the country’s wealth. These are ideal conditions for the intrinsic characteristics of Bitcoin to be appreciated.
Unlike El Salvador, however, the Guatemalan government’s policy is not favorable to cryptocurrencies, in fact, quite the opposite. Significant laws and regulations have been passed in an attempt to take advantage of the phenomenon and control it.
However, around Lake Atitlán, one of the best tourist destinations, a small group of pioneers has been organizing an alternative economy experiment in Bitcoin for about a year, along the lines of what has already been done in El Zonte by Bitcoin Beach. The name chosen for this experiment is Bitcoin Lake and this was our chosen destination.
We spent about ten days on the shores of the lake and what we documented surprised us in a positive way, beyond our wildest expectations.
We are in a place of rare beauty. A large body of water surrounded by volcanoes and impenetrable jungle, tropical nature in its purest expression.
On the shores of Atitlán several local settlements rise, some larger towns, such as Panajachel, where there really is everything one could wish for to spend a few weeks of leisure and rest, and other smaller towns, for example San Marcos, totally immersed in nature and definitely more suitable for those who want to relax, meditate or walk. These are very different locations that thus manage to satisfy the needs of all kinds of tourists. And indeed, the lake thrives on tourism. The number of hotels, bars, restaurants and activities offered to those who choose to spend their holidays here is striking.
However, there is one thing that unites all activities around here: cash. Even in Guatemala, access to electronic payment instruments is very limited and credit card fees are exorbitant. Any tourist would soon realize this, because while traveling here he will see that the few businesses that accept credit cards charge you 5% or 10% more on your bill if you want to pay with Visa or Mastercard. This is another ideal condition in Guatemala, then, to build an alternative economy with Bitcoin.
And this is an opportunity that some local businesses are understandably taking advantage of. In addition to the plethora of open source bitcoin wallets available, there are apps like Osmo, which, in addition to allowing people to receive and send bitcoins, allow them to instantly convert them into quetzals, the local currency, or even US dollars. . There are local payment services like IBEX that offer merchants a state-of-the-art implementation of the Lightning Network, ideal for larger businesses that also have reporting requirements. These services, thanks to the Bitcoin protocol, really do brilliantly replace a bank account or Point of Sale (PoS) provider. This is perhaps why there is so much enthusiasm in the lake for this technological innovation and why adoption is growing so strongly. When you consider that the Bitcoin Lake experiment began just over a year ago, it’s amazing how many businesses and merchants are already accepting bitcoin — a system that’s faster, safer, and cheaper than credit cards.
What is it like to live on Bitcoin in Bitcoin Lake?
But what is it like, then, to live on bitcoin on Bitcoin Lake?
Super fun!
There are so many options available to Bitcoin travelers. We ate lunch and dinner at popular restaurants, had breakfast tasting the excellent local coffee, danced late into the night drinking excellent cocktails, even paraglided over the lake, rented a boat and took a tuc-tuc: all paying in bitcoin. There are dozens and dozens of businesses that already accept them, and honestly one is spoiled for choice.
The comparison with Bitcoin Beach is, in this sense, merciless. Atitlán is a much larger and more organized complex, so the supply of bitcoins will be greater considering such a wide scope of adoption. El Zonte, apart from the sea and the waves, has little to offer and is a very small town, where at 8:00 at night it is difficult to find an open restaurant. But Panajachel, for example, is a spa that manages to entertain until late at night. Here, you can happily come on vacation with your wife or pre-coiner friends while enjoying a wonderful Bitcoin vacation without fear of getting bored.
But how do merchants react when you walk into your store and ask if you can pay in bitcoin?
We were also very impressed by their reactions! They would often give us toothy smiles and say “yes” with a pride and enthusiasm not often found in most El Salvador merchants. When it was time to pay a bill, they reached for their tablets or smartphones with incredible confidence, opened their wallets and, with four taps, showed us the correct QR codes, amazing awareness and knowledge of the tech tool.
Needless to say, of course, this was not always the case. There were also those who panicked, who told us that at the moment they could not accept our transactions because the owners were not there and the bitcoin wallet was on their smartphones, who told us that today “Bitcoin is not working” and therefore So much, they were sorry, but they could only accept cash.
In short, there is everything and more in Bitcoin Lake and it is still very early! But the feeling we have is that there is a lot of curiosity in the streets. When we would stop to talk about Bitcoin with the locals, we always sensed great interest. They often asked us questions, they wanted to know more.
“Is it true that it’s free? With the right application, even if you pay in bitcoin, can I receive quetzales or dollars?”
There are no irritable expressions, angry faces or politically aligned responses like, “I don’t care about Bitcoin because I hate Bukele.”
At Bitcoin Lake, we were only a few hundred miles further north of El Salvador, but a totally different wind seemed to be blowing. We have no doubt that it will soon be a very popular destination among Bitcoiners. After all, why shouldn’t someone who visits Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador spend a few days here as well? There are private buses that directly connect El Tunco, the town right next to El Zonte, with Lake Atitlán. It only takes a few hours to travel, it is an extremely cheap transportation option, and you will pass through majestic landscapes, traveling on safe roads.
Our journey through Central America continues but our impression is that this part of the continent is waking up. There is a lot of economic and tourist potential here, and Bitcoin meets real needs. The Bitcoin traveler’s horizons are definitely expanding rapidly, and as we’ve shown, the number of options isn’t just limited to El Salvador.
This is a guest post by Rikki. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
