tl;dr: I sell art and the ones in this post were inspired and made during my trip to El Salvador, studying bitcoin. 20% off the pieces in this post, ann yes you can buy with bitcoin. :) (Discount Code: STACKINSATS)
Here's the website
Here's the story
Back in 2021 I was planning to move to Costa Rica. Right before I got my ticket I heard the news. Bitcoin was now legal tender in El Salvador. I got curious. I wanted to see what was really going on there with my own eyes and not through a Twitter post or a YouTube video. So I changed plans and moved to El Salvador. I wasn't there very long, just 3 months. That was long enough to talk with the locals and see what was happening.
There was a lot of good things. Also a few problems.
The Good
- Bitcoin has brought a lot of money into the economy
- You can pay for your tourist visa and eat at most large restaurants using bitcoin, so you can stay private on your trip
- You can export goods, paying in Bitcoin for your supply (more on this later)
- The surfing was excellent. This was a much needed vacation for me.
The Bad
- Locals see Bitcoin as rich tourist money. That's also what it looked like to me.
- Many people there are unable to read, so will never use Bitcoin.
- Smaller restaurants and merchants were unwilling to accept it (also more on this later)
- the first month was really lonely because I didn't speak the language yet. I did learn enough though.
The first piece
Being so lonely there, I would call friends and girls I was interested in, just for conversation. While I was on the phone with a girl I had been on a few dates with, I told her I was going to draw her. But she was so far away I used 2 photos from her Instagram and made this piece.
Grab a print - 20% off with code STACKINSATS
I'm very happy with it and it's one of the ones that gets the most compliments from people who see it. While I was there I made a few more from things that I saw and photos I took.
Here's a couple that were made from photos taken on the beach in El Zonte
I wasn't just down there doing art.
I wanted to see if I could solve any of the problems facing Bitcoin. The main one I went after was It's so hard to buy regular everyday things with Bitcoin
So I toured some plantations
Found some high quality coffee
And set up an online shop to sell it. Marketing and advertising were pretty fun, and let me use my creativity in fun ways.
That led me to make this piece. The original banner image for the website.
The business was really difficult for 3 reasons.
- This was at the tail end of the pandemic. Shipping costs were through the roof. If I wanted to make $2 on a 1lb bag, I would've had to sell it for $50. That was all shipping.
- Recurring payments weren't possible then. I was running the business with only bitcoin, as a proof of concept. So it had to be online. without a subscription, I would have had to spend thousands on marketing to previous customers.
- the bear market hit, and few people were willing to spend their Bitcoin
These were enough to make me put the project on hold. I was spending way more than I was making and gaining very little traction. Although, times have changed. The bull market seems to be coming back and recurring payments are now possible on the lightning network. So I may be picking up the coffee business again, but idk. CPG is very difficult and has low margins. So for now I'm selling art
The pieces I've shown here wouldn't have been made without Bitcoin. The rest of my art wouldn't exist because while I was in El Salvador I realized I liked making digital art.
That's why I'm giving y'all a discount. Without Bitcoin, and the people believing in it, pushing it forward, this art wouldn't exist
www.dilloncortez.art
DISCOUNT CODE: STACKINSATS