What it’s actually like to use Bitcoin in El Salvador – Cointelegraph Magazine \ stacker news ~bitcoin

What it’s actually like to use Bitcoin in El Salvador – Cointelegraph Magazine cointelegraph.com/magazine/what-actually-use-bitcoin-el-salvador/

4615 sats \ 23 comments \ @JoeNakamoto 27 Dec 2022 bitcoin

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1732 sats \ 7 replies \ @JoeNakamoto OP 27 Dec 2022

Hi everyone, my name is Joe Nakamoto. I write, report and make content about Bitcoin around the world.

I recently posted this deep-dive about Bitcoin use in El Salvador to Cointelegraph magazine.

I know Cointelegraph isn't widely read in the Bitcoin space so thought I'd crosspost it over here.

I hope it can benefit, entertain or inform Bitcoin people around the world.

Love and sats! Joe

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @jk_14 27 Dec 2022

"I soon observed that confusion around Lightning and Bitcoin Basechain is prevalent across El Salvador. "

Hard to understand why there was no significant highlight of "Use Lightning" in the govt campaign one year ago...

249 sats \ 1 reply \ @JoeNakamoto OP 27 Dec 2022

Yeah government intervention in education is currently minimal. Thankfully 'Mi Primer Bitcoin' and 'Hope House' exist to remedy the situation; that, and Bitcoiners who travel there from all around the world to spend sats and share knowledge.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @jk_14 27 Dec 2022

I hope the situation will improve till the $100k-200k price tag, and then El Salvador will be a nice place to retire ;)

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @ln123 27 Dec 2022

Nice! thanks for the writeup!

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @21JCLP 27 Dec 2022

Bienvenido Joe a @sn

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @JoeNakamoto OP 27 Dec 2022

Gracias! I'm a longtime lurker and love it. I thought i'd finally put up a public profile!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @NorthKoreanHostage 28 Dec 2022

Journalism high five!

144 sats \ 2 replies \ @03080c13fc 27 Dec 2022 freebie

Did you manage to rent a car with bitcoin in the end? If not, I used Humber's Rent A Car in August. Good rates, paid from phoenix to chivo. Good people, even had a small traffic accident, which they assisted with and did not try to milk me for damages.

Looks like they have a basic website going https://humbersrentacars.negocio.site/

Gotta say, it was kind of wild renting a car and not leaving a credit card on file at all :) :) :)

20 sats \ 1 reply \ @JoeNakamoto OP 28 Dec 2022

Thanks for the tip! This is great to know for next time.

I arrived at 5am after a redeye flight from LA. my gf was a little bit ill so I didn't have a huge amount of time. I tried ever car rental in the airport (I think there are like 6 of them?) and was rejected each time. Paid in fiat 😿

211 sats \ 0 replies \ @03080c13fc 29 Dec 2022

Cool, in the end I think El Salvador is definitely a diamond in the rough when it comes to using btc/lightning there. I think its saving grace is that when all else fails one can fairly easily (if you have a local sim), cash out to usd using chivo atms. I really like that chivo atm has no markup over the average btc price. I think the withdraw limit was 1000usd/day at a time. I tested up to about 800usd myself.

I heard stories of people not getting their btc when buying via chivo atm, but selling to an atm in a well supported (eg. a upscale mall in Santa Ana), was never a problem.

There are also athena atms around but they charge a premium and have lower limits without extra kyc, if I remember correctly.

It looked to me like many people in Salvador were eager to accept btc, sometimes after a small education session, because they were keen to get the business. They can easily cash out to chivo/usd if they do not intend to hodl.

For buying gas with btc, I found the Puma stations (I think they are state owned) to be more accepting, but sometimes they wanted to accept chivo (stablecoin you could say), instead of onchain/lightning.

People are concerned about the volatility "because they might lose" but it never occurs to them that volatility might work out in their favor too. Oh well :p

One other thing I'll add is that all the pictures on twitter look amazing that people post, but was very humid in the coastal regions, that is something a photograph cannot capture. Having a car rental with ac was definitely a life saver.

We are still early, all of the sudden a new financial technology got dropped upon a relatively unbanked population a year+ ago. All those education efforts that are happening and NGU in due time will gradually (then suddenly?) increase adoption.

Oh and to all the plebs out there reading this and considering a visit, do yourself a big favor, learn some spanish. Joe speaks some semi decent spanish it looks like but yeah, that is definitely a blocker for people. It's Latin america, "no hablo espanol" will only get you so far.. ;)

El Salvador has really great people, not that many tourists, and thanks to Bukule really super safe at the moment. I met some locals who are seeing their own country for the first time because it's now safe to travel. I met Salvadorian expats that are returning because it's finally safe to do so.

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @demitasse 27 Dec 2022

Hahaha remember when stacy called you out on stage at the conference for being a shitcoining scammer Joe Nakamoto?

35 sats \ 1 reply \ @JoeNakamoto OP 27 Dec 2022

I remember it a little differently. She called out mainstream media as well as cointelegraph - she has since said it wasn't personal to me. Plus, I haven't shitcoined since 2018 :)