This story starts in a community, with seemingly limited options for the future, but it has a happy ending.

In mid-November a number of bitcoiners, from all around the world, descended on El Salvador for Bitcoin Week. They congregated in San Salvador for:

• Adopting Bitcoin, a Lightning Network Summit

• LaBitConf, the longest running Latin American Bitcoin conference (since 2013)

• Bitcoin Beach, located in El Zonte.

Bitcoin Beach is one of the world’s first Bitcoin Economic Ecosystems, and it’s where this story begins.

Cradled in breathtakingly lush scenery, next to the warmth of the Pacific ocean, Bitcoin Beach has provided financial empowerment and made a significant impact on the lives of its community members.

Backed by the donation of an anonymous early bitcoin adopter, the mission of Bitcoin Beach was to prove that bitcoin could have the biggest impact on the lives of those that society often ignores. Based partly on the success of Bitcoin Beach, El Salvador was the first country to make bitcoin a legal tender. This was announced on June 5, 2021, voted in by supermajority, and made into law approximately 70 days later by President Nayib Bukele.

I spoke with Roman Martínez (aka Chimbera, co-founder and Community Leader of Bitcoin Beach), Chris Hunter (co-founder of Galoy Money, creators of the Bitcoin Beach wallet and founder of the Adopting Bitcoin Lightning Summit), and Vitus Zeller (founder of Team Satoshi), to get an insight into how bitcoin has made such an impact in El Salvador.

Bitcoin Beach formed as a team of four people: Mike Peterson, Jorge Valenzuela, Hirvin Palma, and Roman Martinez, who got together because they shared the same dream. Before coming to El Zonte, they were working in the community for more than 10 years, on social initiatives related to education, recreation, spirituality, and empowerment. 

The idea behind Bitcoin Beach was to give the people working in El Zonte, tools that they can use to empower their life and to have better opportunities. Previously, according to Chimbera, the dream for people was to leave the country, to cross the border into the USA and work there, because that was "the only way, the only light, that they saw". 

Bitcoin appeared in this community in 2018, via an anonymous donor. The community leaders initially met to determine how they could use this donation to grow various social projects and initiatives. Initial support was provided to the community’s English language program, a small stipend was given to community volunteers willing to clean the beach and river, and a bonus was provided to kids who were good students showing effort toward scholastic achievement.

Previously, many of El Zonte’s residents found it hard to find work without having to go into the city. Now, Bitcoin Beach was able to offer them a job paid in bitcoin, thanks to the anonymous donor. Bitcoin also brought one thing that no one in the community had previously been taught; financial education.

Roman shared the story of Mama Rosa’s, the first bitcoin vendor in El Zonte. Mama Rosa’s is operated by Jorge's mom, it has a small pupuseria, and is a typical place you would find in El Zonte, where you can buy food and everything you need. Mama Rosa helped show other merchants how to send and receive bitcoin, and it is home of the best pupusas in El Zonte.

El Zonte is known worldwide as a prime surfing destination, and many surfing competitions have been held here. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, all tourism stopped and most everyone in El Zonte lost their job, because they were working in hotels and restaurants in the city and surrounding areas. Bitcoin Beach donated $40 - $45 USD worth of bitcoin, three times, to all the families in El Zonte, and in two little towns three hours away.

Roman recalls that Mama Rosa was the only place accepting bitcoin at the time, but everyone in the community now had bitcoin. The next challenge was opening more stores where the community could buy food, and have at least some means to survive, and also enabling more merchants to start accepting bitcoin.

I asked Roman what the community’s overall experience with bitcoin was like, how it's grown in the community, and some of the challenges.

He adds that for the majority of people, Bitcoin is an asset for long term savings. For others, it is a monetary network that enables people to send money from point A to point B, with no middleman charging a large processing fee. Bitcoin also enables people to send and receive instant and nearly free payments.

The biggest challenge was to explain that an alternate monetary network exists, separate from the fiat system, and to change the community’s perspective of money. Roman explains that the locals, especially the older population, had the perception that money is something that they can touch. They’ve never had access to a bank account, credit or debit card, so when you said the digital money experience is similar to when you use your credit or debit card, they have no frame of reference.

In closing, Roman adds that Bitcoin teaches something every human needs to understand: for every effort that you do, or every product that you build — Bitcoin is not for you. It's for everyone. Imagine, if we put more work into this open source project, thinking of others first. That's where humanity is, that's where things start changing. And that's the secret of Bitcoin Beach.

Bitcoin has many second order effects. Once you begin to question, understand, and fix the money, you begin questioning what else is valuable. You start looking at other areas of your life; physical and mental wellness, family, friendships, career, goals and aspirations.

Vitus Zeller is the founder of the sports team “Team Satoshi”. It was formed during a bike tour in 2019, from Florence to Frankfurt, that celebrated the Bitcoin genesis block anniversary. Vitus' mission for Team Satoshi is to create awareness for Bitcoin, and to bring forward the decentralization of money and power. 

Vitus went on several runs through the jungle with the Bitcoin Beach team, where he shared this mission. It resonated, and they they gave him a tour around the town, explaining how they are educating the kids and the local lifeguards in sports. As of today's date, November 21, 2021, El Zonte will be hosting a 1km, 4km and 8km swimming contest, one of the first sport contests in the world where the prize will be paid entirely in bitcoin.

Chris Hunter co-founded Galoy, and he founded the Adopting Bitcoin Lightning Summit in San Salvador. Galoy's vision is that bitcoin is money, and they want to make it easy for people to use it. In July and August, 2020, Hunter and his business partner, Nicholas Burtey, spoke to bank executives and business- and government leaders. They quickly realized that there was limited understanding of Bitcoin.

Furthering their vision, Galoy built a proof of concept to support Bitcoin Beach projects and initiatives in El Salvador, called the Bitcoin Beach wallet. This proof of concept soon took on a life of its own, becoming the world's largest community served by a Bitcoin bank, and played a role in President Bukele announcing his intent to make Bitcoin legal tender.

For these reasons, Hunter decided to create the Adopting Bitcoin Lightning Summit in San Salvador. The main goal was to educate the local population and business community in terms of what Bitcoin is and why it is valuable for people, and the fact that there hadn't been a global lightning summit for more than two years added to the motivation.

Hunter saw the opportunity that a thriving local bitcoin economy would bring. El Zonte is a town of 3000 people, where the average wage for an adult is $300 to $400 USD per month. This is a community of people who have never had access to financial services or a bank account, so there was no real ability to save, nor much hope for the future.

Before Bitcoin, El Zonte was entirely a cash economy. People are now comfortable sending and receiving bitcoin over the Lightning Network, and they can save for the first time. Previously, their only option for saving was through real estate, or purchasing cement cinder blocks. Local street vendors, who used to have relatively inexpensive pushcarts, now have the ability to apply capital reinvestment into their pushcart in order to offer a better product and service. 

These improvements may seem trivial to those who have grown up having access to banking and financial services, but it's life changing for people who never had this access.

I asked Chris what bitcoin means to him in one sentence.

He replied "Bitcoin is hope".

El Salvador translates to 'the Savior', and the parallels to Bitcoin are many. Bitcoin levels the playing field. Bitcoin encourages personal and financial sovereignty. Bitcoin, in many ways, empowers everyone who takes the time to understand it.

There's a saying in Bitcoin: "Fix the Money, Fix the World", and I’m pleased to report that as far as this happy ending goes, we are only at the very beginning.