By Bitcoinist - 2 years ago - Reading Time: 4 minutes
News From El Salvador, Early August: Optimism, Donations, And Meetups
The outpour of Bitcoin-related news from El Salvador, AKA Bitcoin Country, slowed down. It’s the calm before the storm. The Bitcoin Law goes into effect in September. Nevertheless, things are happening and Bitcoinist is here to report on them. Who else but us reports on the little things that add up and end up changing the world? Nobody else in the crypto-space, that’s who.
Related Reading | U.S. Citizens Will Soon Be Able To Buy Bitcoin Across 650 Banks
It’s been almost a month since our previous news roundup. To our defense, we had to switch gears and focus on big media reports for a while. Here they are: One, Two, Three. In any case, what happened this month? Well…
BTC price chart for 08/06/2021 on Bitstamp | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.comOptimism From El Salvador, Forbes And Bank Of America
As it turns out, El Salvador is Latin America’s most optimistic country about its economic future, according to Forbes. And just wait until they get a taste of what Bitcoin can do, and read “The Bitcoin Standard.” They’ll be static. And, even better, after they use the Lightning Network a few times and realize that they’re in the future while the whole world remains in the Stone Age.Salvadorans 🇸🇻 are now the most optimistic country in Latin America about their economic future. #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/Na4cz5SvMZ
— Documenting Bitcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) August 1, 2021
On the one hand, the Bank of America stated the obvious. On the other, it’s extremely surprising for a legacy financial institution to emit such an honest opinion about El Salvador’s bitcoinization. In any case, President Bukele shared a page from a report from the Bank of America and it made global news. As usual, Bitcoinist covered it first. Check the article for more details.Some of the opportunities @BankofAmerica sees with El Salvador’s #Bitcoin adoption: pic.twitter.com/5E63FM4TAF
— Nayib Bukele 🇸🇻 (@nayibbukele) August 1, 2021
Generous Donations And Bitcoin ATM Mania
Bitcoin 3D printing company Crypto Cloaks auctioned the “El Salvador La Ley Bitcoin Newspaper” and raised 11,000,000 SATS for Bitcoin Beach. The Bitcoin community keeps showing up and supporting the project that changed the world. Even though it seems like Bitcoin already won, the battle is just starting. Let’s keep at it.~11,000,000 SATS are on their way over to @Bitcoinbeach! I'd say we had a very successful fundraiser with the El Salvador newspapers!
Thank you to everyone you participated in the auctions and everything we planned with the newspapers.
Mission Accomplish!
This is #Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/Hupq8lx2MA
— CryptoCloaks (@CryptoCloaks) August 2, 2021
The amount of Bitcoin ATMs in El Salvador went to the moon and the second part of the experiment hasn’t even started. How will this map look in a few months?El Salvador is Bitcoin territory pic.twitter.com/KYzL0A1UO0
— Jorge Valenzuela Bitcoin Beach (@jorgebitcoinES) August 1, 2021
Podcasts And Meetups
Bitcoin Magazine sponsored a meetup to talk about Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. The first of many, we hope. Here’s a picture. They described it as:We will meet at a steakhouse, have a great meal and share our ideas about Bitcoin adoption. Let’s chat about the Lightning payment layer and the technological, economic and societal aspects of Bitcoin.
The very first El Salvador #Bitcoin and #Lightning Meetup is live! It's the fastest and easiest way to connect with the local bitcoiners community ⚡️🚀
Join us this Wednesday at the Hacienda Real steakhouse 🔥 https://t.co/j2FjWwrJFL@MWietersheim @nicolasburtey
— Fodé Diop ⚡️ (@diopfode) August 1, 2021
Back in El Zonte, the host of the Bitcoin Rapid-Fire podcast, John Vallis, had a conversation with Roman Martínez and Jorge Valenzuela. The two community leaders are the current face of the Bitcoin Beach project and our main source of news for this section. Enjoy!Hanging with the Hope House boys in El Zonte (@romanmartinezc & @jorgebitcoinES) https://t.co/nc2rSEupzQ
— John Vallis (@johnkvallis) July 23, 2021
Education And Community Building in El Salvador
The Lifeguard program was one of the first projects that Bitcoin Beach tackled. These people get training, jobs at the beach, and get paid in Sats. A dream job if we ever saw one. However, can you believe how many lifeguards there are?BITCOIN IS life guard!!!#BITCOINBEACH pic.twitter.com/hxjA3C9t6W
— Jorge Valenzuela Bitcoin Beach (@jorgebitcoinES) July 15, 2021
Education is the key, as Martínez says. The Bitcoin Beach folks keep educating people and vendors in the nearby towns. Little do these people know that those Bitcoin classes are going to positively change their lives forever.One more day🇸🇻🇸🇻 “education “ is the 🔑 everyday more salvadorean understand about #Bitcoin Together we got this 🇸🇻 thanks to everyone for the support 🇸🇻 pic.twitter.com/jSgqyMn8Q0
— Roman Martínez (chimbera) (@romanmartinezc) August 5, 2021
This is one example of a small Salvadorean business transacting with Bitcoin… after taking our course, this vegetable and fruit vendor adopted the technology and accepted her first payment in Bitcoin. This is what the people need – it’s about education! #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/nJRwnhwEVW
— Roman Martínez (chimbera) (@romanmartinezc) July 30, 2021
Another good day 🇸🇻 Bitcoin education for everyone #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/2ORamBfZsS
— Roman Martínez (chimbera) (@romanmartinezc) August 4, 2021
That’s it for today, but the adventure is just beginning.
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Featured Image from Roman Martínez's Twitter | Charts by TradingViewOriginal source: Bitcoinist