This is an editorial opinion by Rikki, author and co-host of the podcast “Bitcoin Italia,” and “Stupefatti”. He is one half of Bitcoin Explorers, along with Laurawhich chronicles Bitcoin adoption around the world, one country at a time.
Laura and I continue our adventure in Central America with the aim of gaining a deep understanding of the strange characteristics of Bitcoin adoption in a very different country there and reporting it without bias on our YouTube channel, “Bitcoin Explorers.”
The great curiosity that caught us after spending more than a month in El Salvador, and left it behind, is to try to understand what people think about Bitcoin in a country that has no government propaganda, no media coverage and no bad country apps like that. Chivo wallet to complicate it. Countries where, therefore, the adoption does not happen by decree, but only through the free initiative of citizens and through the work of private companies that believe in Bitcoin and build products and services on top of the protocol.
But the question we want to try to answer is not the easiest: 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 latest destination is Guatemala, a country that, in some ways, resembles El Salvador. As of 2017, there are 16.5 million inhabitants there, almost 60% of whom live below the poverty line, either unbanked or unbanked, and 23% live in poverty. At that time, 0.001% of Guatemalans held more than half of the country’s wealth. This is the ideal condition for Bitcoin’s intrinsic features to be appreciated.
However, unlike El Salvador, Guatemalan government policies do not favor cryptocurrencies, in fact, quite the opposite. Important laws and regulations have been enacted to curb this phenomenon and control it.
However, around Lake Atitlán, one of the hottest tourist destinations in the country, a small group of pioneers has been organizing an alternative economic experiment in Bitcoin for about a year, along the lines of what has been done in El Zonte by Bitcoin Beach. The chosen name for this experiment is Bitcoin Lake and this is the chosen destination.
We spent about ten days on the shores of the lake and what we recorded surprised us in a positive way, beyond our wildest expectations.
We find ourselves in a place of rare beauty. Large bodies of water surrounded by volcanoes and impenetrable forests – tropical nature in its purest expression.
All article images are taken by the author.
On the edge of Atitlán there are some local settlements, some larger cities, such as Panajachel, where there is everything you want to spend a few weeks of leisure and relaxation, and other small villages, for example San Marcos, are completely submerged. in nature and definitely more suitable for those who want to relax, meditate or hiking. It is a very different location that can satisfy the needs of all types of tourists. And indeed, this lake is developing in tourism. It is striking how many hotels, bars, restaurants and activities are offered to those who choose to spend their holidays here.
There is one thing, however, that unites every activity around here: cash. Even in Guatemala, access to electronic payment instruments is very limited and credit card fees are prohibitive. Any tourist will know this, because when traveling here, they will notice that some businesses that accept credit cards charge 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 companies can take advantage of. In addition to the many open-source bitcoin wallets available, there are applications such as Osmo, which, in addition to allowing people to receive and send bitcoins, allows them to instantly convert them into quetzales, local currency, or even US dollars. . There are local payment services such as IBEX that offer merchants state-of-the-art Lightning Network implementations, ideal for large businesses that also have reporting requirements. The service, thanks to the Bitcoin protocol, can actually replace a bank account or a point-of-sale (PoS) provider. This is perhaps why there is so much enthusiasm in the lake for this technological innovation, and why its adoption is so high. If you consider that the Bitcoin Lake experiment began less than a year ago, it is surprising how many businesses and merchants have accepted bitcoin: a system that is faster, safer and cheaper than credit cards.
How Does Bitcoin Live In The Bitcoin Lake?
But what is it like, then, to live in bitcoin in Bitcoin Lake?
Super fun!
There are many options available for Bitcoin travel. We ate lunch and dinner at grassroots restaurants, had breakfast tasting excellent local coffee, danced the night away drinking great cocktails, even flew a paraglider on the lake, rented a boat and took a tuc-tuc: all while paying in bitcoin. There are dozens and dozens of businesses that have received it, and one is honestly spoiled for choice.
The comparison with Bitcoin Beach, in this regard, is merciless. Atitlán is a bigger and more organized resort, so the supply in bitcoin will be greater than the wider reach for adoption. El Zonte, beyond the sea and surf, has little to offer and is a very small village, where at 8:00 at night you struggle to find an open restaurant. But Panajachel, for example, is a resort where you can enjoy the night. Here, you can have fun coming on vacation with your wife or pre-coiner friends while enjoying a good Bitcoin vacation without fear of being bored.
But how do merchants react when, upon entering a store, you ask if you can pay with bitcoins?
We were also very impressed with the reaction! They often give us a toothy smile and say “yes” with pride and enthusiasm not often found with most merchants in El Salvador. When it’s time to pay the bill, he takes out his tablet or smartphone with incredible confidence, opens his wallet and, with four taps, shows the correct QR code – an incredible awareness and knowledge of these technological tools.
Needless to say, of course, this is not always the case. There are also those who panic, who reply that, now they cannot accept transactions because the owner is not there and the bitcoin wallet is on the smartphone, who tells us that today “Bitcoin does not work” and therefore, they are sorry, but they can only accept cash.
In short, there’s everything and more in Bitcoin Lake and it’s still early days! But the feeling we have is that there is a lot of curiosity in the streets. When we stopped to talk about Bitcoin with locals, we always felt a strong interest. They often ask us questions, they want to know more.
“Is it true that it’s free? Really with the right application, even if you pay in bitcoin, I can receive quetzales or dollars?”
No testy expressions, huffing faces or politically aligned answers like, “I don’t care about bitcoin because I hate Bukele.”
At Bitcoin Lake, we are only a few hundred miles further north from El Salvador, but a totally different wind seems to be blowing. We have no doubt that this will be a very popular destination among Bitcoiners. After all, why would anyone visiting Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador not spend a few days here as well? There is a private bus that directly connects El Tunco, the town next to El Zonte, with Lake Atitlán. It only takes a few hours of travel time, it is a very cheap transport option and you will pass through amazing landscapes, traveling on safe roads.
Our journey in Central America continues but our impression is that this part of the continent has woken up. There is a lot of economic and tourism potential here, and Bitcoin meets a real need. The horizon of Bitcoin travel, in short, is expanding rapidly and, as we have shown, the number of options is not limited to El Salvador.
This is a guest post by Rikki. The opinions expressed are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.