By Bitcoin Revista - 1 ano atrás - Tempo de leitura: 8 minutos
Os desafios de Bitcoin A adoção não está impedindo os salvadorenhos
Citizens of El Salvador still face certain obstacles in their bitcoin adoption journey, but still look forward to the future.
This is an opinion editorial by Rikki, Bitcoin explorer, author and co-host of the “Bitcoin Italia,” and “Stupefatti” podcasts.
Todas as imagens incluídas neste artigo são provenientes do autor.
Apesar Bitcoin adoption and usage among the common people of El Salvador is virtually nonexistent, as we documented in our previous Bitcoin Artigo de revista, é sempre muito divertido viajar por este país e estamos muito felizes por estar de volta.
Tudo o que está acontecendo aqui é realmente muito histórico, e poder presenciar isso é um raro privilégio.
Escolhemos passar a primeira semana inteira na capital, San Salvador.
Inicialmente, precisávamos de um acampamento base para nos organizarmos. Os vlogs de viagem que estamos fazendo Bitcoin Exploradores requer muito trabalho e logística. Contar uma aventura como a nossa através de música e imagens não é tarefa fácil. A quantidade de trabalho envolvido é enorme.
But it's time to get moving. We pointed the nose of our car — rented in Bitcoin — toward the outskirts of the city and left its urban agglomeration behind.
The first challenge of the afternoon was to fill up the tank by paying for it in Bitcoin. Who knows why car rentals here have a habit of bringing you the car with the tank half empty. At least, that has been our experience, including the rentals we made last year. Fortunately, it seems that in gas stations they have not lost the taste for accepting Bitcoin. We received only one laconic no. On our second attempt they gas us up and present us with a Chivo QR code without blowback.
A transação do Lightning também foi bastante rápida, considerando os padrões de carteira de merda do estado, é claro.
Falando da carteira Chivo - ao sair do hotel, passamos por minutos de confusão e descrença. Tomamos café da manhã, fomos até a recepção e pedimos a conta, pronta para fazer o check-out em algumas horas. Na recepção, eles nos forneceram um endereço na cadeia. Excelente. Levamos para o nosso quarto e fiz a transação calmamente do nosso BitBox02. Eu estabeleci as taxas altas, para obter uma confirmação rápida, e sem pensar nisso comecei a encher nossas mochilas.
Just as I was thinking about how convenient bitcoin is, allowing me to pay my hotel bill even from the room, I get a WhatsApp message from the front desk. They write to me that the payment transaction is canceled. Canceled? A bitcoin transaction? How is that possible?
Abri meu laptop e verifiquei o status em mempool.space. Vejo-o ali, esculpido em travertino digital, já com nove blocos minados depois daquele que o contém. Portanto, não é apenas confirmado, é cimentado. Reviro os olhos e penso que só o Chivo pode chupar tanto.
I arm myself with patience and go down to the front desk. I show the confirmations to the hotel staff. I explain that it is not possible for the transaction to turn up canceled. There must be a problem with their wallet. The address is correct, the transaction ID is the same. They tell me not to worry, that they will call Chivo customer service with all the details and they will fix it. But before they dismiss me, they tell me, "This bitcoin is working really bad though ..."
Voce entende? Você também entende de onde vem a desconfiança?
They do not have the means to understand that it is Chivo that is the problem — not Bitcoin. For them there is no difference. They live this terrible user experience, and for them that is what Bitcoin is. Obviously I took the time to explain what’s actually happening, and I recommend using another wallet. But those will probably have been words lost to the wind.
It is really striking, though, how the software instrumental to the Bitcoin Law in this country, the state wallet, more than fifteen months after its launch still manages to perform so poorly. I mean, how does a wallet miss an on-chain transaction? It just has to read the timechain.
It turns out to be, in our opinion, the obvious source of many problems. All the times we have gone into a store and been told they have stopped accepting bitcoin because it is too complex, they were likely referring more to Chivo than anything else.
A outra razão que eles sempre dão é que há poucas transações. Muito pouco volume.
Pense nisso. Devemos realmente nos surpreender?
Não é perfeitamente lógico?
We have to keep in mind that El Salvador is not Venezuela, Argentina or Nigeria. It is not a country with its own hyper-inflated national currency. People here, when they receive their salaries, do not have to storm the stores to buy immediately, before merchants raise prices, or turn to the black market to buy any other currency, as long as it is more stable. Salvadorans take their salaries in dollars; they live in U.S. dollars. As much as we may not like it, in emerging countries the American currency is still the most desired. Some people are willing to pay double, if not triple, its value to grab it. Why would the people of El Salvador prefer bitcoin in their everyday lives? Do you really think Bitcoiner talk about monetary sovereignty, privacy in money and self custody has appeal in these latitudes? Without education that provides context?
It is perfectly normal that dollars are preferred here, so we cannot assume that the volume behind bitcoin is coming from locals. Indeed, we should wonder why even the Bitcoiners who visit here do not spend their satoshis — but that is another story.
Nossa cidade favorita absoluta é Santa Ana e fomos para lá para provar o verdadeiro El Salvador. A autenticidade está em todos os cantos aqui, e é isso que procuramos.
We have a favorite place in the town called Casa Verde. On paper it's a hostel, but it's really so much more — it's a hotel, it's a bar and it's a community center. It's a very special place. If you happen to be in the area it is definitely the first place to try and stay. Say hello to Carlos, the owner — tell him you will pay in bitcoin and that Rikki and Laura sent you.
A cidade é sempre deslumbrante, com sua mistura de cores e arquitetura colonial um tanto decadente. É menor que San Salvador e isso é bom. É muito mais habitável.
Every time we come we always end up having a great time mingling with the people. Near the central square there is a folk market that is beautiful. All the picturesque streets are dotted with stalls selling everything you could want. Browsing them is a pleasure. Pay no attention to the curious glances of the locals, the giggles of the kids. They are still not quite used to seeing foreigners here. If they do it is because you are a novelty here, something you don't see every day. And after all, a little curiosity never killed anyone.
It is natural to think that if few people accept bitcoin in the larger and more cosmopolitan San Salvador, even less would do so here. But it would be a completely wrong assumption. Try asking in the markets, at the stalls. You will find plenty of small traders with a Chivo wallet in their pocket and a great desire not to lose a customer (from whom they can perhaps squeeze a few extra dollars). You will see them ready to put themselves on the line — to take risks, from their point of view. Mind you, you will likely be their first bitcoin transaction; you will have to teach them what to do from scratch.
Passamos horas vagando pelas ruas do centro da cidade. O clima aqui é perfeito, quente durante o dia, mas sempre fresco e arejado à noite.
We bought tubes of toothpaste, a lighter (even here we can't keep from losing them all the time) and Mexican-style tortillas at street stalls, and after making some young street vendor happy with his first Lightning transaction we inevitably ended up in the central plaza, Plaza de la Libertad. It is truly the beating heart of the community. It is always crowded. Elegant and beautiful, with its early 20th century buildings, the National Theater, in pure Art Nouveau style, the municipal palace and the very white cathedral, the most beautiful in all of El Salvador, they say.
Nesse dia, porém, a praça estava particularmente caótica e fervilhante de atividade. Eles estavam montando um grande palco, afinando instrumentos, enfileirando fileiras e fileiras de cadeiras. Era evidente que em breve haverá um concerto aqui. Aproximamo-nos para bisbilhotar, atraídos pela cena como duas mariposas por uma luz. Ao nos aproximarmos, um senhor corpulento de seus 60 anos nos viu e se aproximou de nós. Ele é o diretor da filarmónica juvenil, disse-nos, e explicou que nessa noite haverá um evento de rock sinfónico. Os jovens músicos vão misturar as melodias de seus instrumentos clássicos com uma banda de rock local, apresentando covers de grandes clássicos do metal com arranjos sinfônicos. Ele nos implorou para não perdermos o show, dizendo que seria às 6h. Ele ficou feliz em ver dois forasteiros e você pode dizer por sua insistência genuína que ele se importava com a nossa ida.
That face, that attitude — we've seen it before here. It is that deep desire to show someone from afar that there is also another El Salvador — one that is not made up of violence and poverty. It is made of people capable of studying, organizing, playing and dancing. It is an opportunity for redemption. They want to prove themselves. It's an attitude that grabs you in the gut, believe me.
Nós aceitamos de bom grado.
Voltamos no horário combinado e até reservaram dois lugares para nós na terceira fila, atrás das autoridades. O show foi tudo o que esperávamos. Linda, sincera, genuína, comovente e musicalmente fantástica.
Este é um post convidado de Rikki. As opiniões expressas são inteiramente próprias e não refletem necessariamente as da BTC Inc ou Bitcoin Revista.
Fonte original: Bitcoin Magazine