Bitcoin takes El Salvador to the future

[ad_1]

August 22, 2021

After a visit to Washington DC in June with Ambassador Mayorga of El Salvador, I was invited to a follow-up trip to El Salvador in August. My wife Lola and I ventured out and spent five days exploring the country and discovering new business opportunities. The following are observations from this trip.

Near

El Salvador is much closer to the United States than most people probably think. As we live in South Florida, we were able to take an approximately 3 hour direct flight from Miami to San Salvador. The government has been generous with us. We were taken directly from the plane to a special reception area, our immigration documents were processed, and our bags were collected for us. I have to admit this level of service was fantastic and foreshadowed the treatment we received throughout our trip. Salvadorians are rightly proud of their hospitality.

Modern and safe

During my 35-year professional career, I have spent a lot of time traveling abroad and much of that in the developing world. I have seen horrible conditions and heartbreaking abject poverty. Media coverage of El Salvador has focused on things like Salvadoran refugees on the southern border of the United States in search of a better future, MS-13 gangs terrorizing the population, the scars of years of civil war. 80’s and 90’s. I can’t say that these things aren’t at least partially true, but I can say that in the greater metropolitan area of ​​San Salvador, we haven’t seen any evidence of this. Lola and I also made our own trips to some neighboring provincial areas, and we also saw no evidence of these things there either.

There is certainly poverty in El Salvador. On the main roads to and from San Salvador, many people struggling to make ends meet sell fruits, nuts and treats by the side of the road. A percentage of the population lives in slums in certain neighborhoods. But, the country’s infrastructure is much more developed than I expected and there is a lot of construction going on. Cellular service is widely available although often 3G. The Internet is ubiquitous, fast, and fast. San Salvador is very clean and the waste management works well. Traffic is fluid and vehicles on the road are in good condition and safe.

A very pleasant surprise was that San Salvador had a very advanced network of restaurants, bars and shops. It was not just in a middle-class neighborhood of San Salvador, but throughout the metropolitan area. The businesses were well run and very diverse. The prices were ok (similar to the US) but a bit more expensive than I expected.

In the 90s, I spent a lot of time in Taiwan. During this decade, the country transformed from developing country to developed country. El Salvador feels like Taiwan in the midst of this transformation. El Salvador is a country on the rise. People are feeling it too. Even though they may not have everything that the inhabitants of the first world countries have, they do not shun what they do not have; they are simply looking to the future.

Money

In 2000, the United States introduced the Sacagawea dollar coin in an attempt to increase the use of the coins in business ventures. By the end of the decade, it had collapsed and it vanished into obscurity. Well, if you’ve ever wondered where all those dollar coins went, El Salvador is the answer.

The first time I bought something in US dollars and received change, I had to look twice at what I received. I mention this because the truth is that as it is, El Salvador is very much a US dollar economy. Prices in all regions visited were displayed exclusively in dollars. A very small number of commercial establishments have even announced that they accept Bitcoin. Granted, I was a bit disappointed with this, but there is good news.

Bitcoin Beach, while quite small, is very real. Stores and street vendors are familiar with and comfortable with Bitcoin. You can buy soda, ice cream, homemade soaps, t-shirts, coffee, and jewelry with Bitcoin or dollars. The sellers don’t care what you use and if you choose Bitcoin, they know how to complete the transaction. If it can happen here, it can happen in San Salvador, and if it can happen in San Salvador, it can happen anywhere in the world.

Lola is about to buy a bracelet at Bitcoin Beach, El Salvador.

Outside of Bitcoin Beach, residents of El Salvador are largely excited about Bitcoin, although their level of knowledge is low, causing concern. This is perfectly understandable as Bitcoin meant nothing to most people just ten weeks ago. But their desire to know more is very strong and we realize that this is a major inflection point in the future of El Salvador. As we traveled across the country and people found out that we were running businesses in the Bitcoin mining space, they got strewn with questions; Saul and Romeo our drivers, Jorge the owner of the boutique hotel, Mario from the reptile farm, Benjamin the lawyer, Napo from the t-shirt factory and many more were sponges absorbing all the knowledge. that we could transmit.

But the most interesting and exciting part of the whole trip happened when we were invited to a little reunion at a new friend’s house on our last day in El Salvador. There were several children in their early teens. Just as they were about to leave for a boat ride, a member of the group named Sarah approached me and asked if Bitcoin was a good thing for El Salvador. Not wanting to give her a long answer involving the Austrian economy, geopolitics and the importance of hard money, I told her “Yes, that was great for El Salvador and that she should be excited and proud. of the daring and courageous movement that his country was making. I thought that would be the end and that she would like to continue the boat ride. Well, it turns out I grossly underestimated Sarah. Within minutes, not only Sarah, but a whole group of Salvadoran youths were drilling into me on Bitcoin. The boat ride was put on hold and we spent the next hour digging deeper into inflation, monetary policy, global reserve currencies, the separation of government from money, and the mechanics of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin conference for young people in El Salvador

These kids are smart, they are motivated and they will make a difference in the world. They are not infected with the preconceived rhetoric of the establishment and they will not accept anything without completely challenging it.

The country is led by President Nayim Bukele who is forward looking and action oriented. I have met several members of his administration, including members of the Bitcoin implementation team. I can tell you that President Bukele did not surround himself with a bunch of bureaucrats but rather put together a young, aggressive and innovative team. They operate more like a company preparing for an IPO than a government. I can’t help but shake my head as I compare the quality of El Salvador’s team and their ability to perform with the US Senate fiasco on the cryptocurrency portion of the infrastructure bill. As El Salvador experiences a monetary revolution, the United States cannot even agree on a few sentences of cryptocurrency legislation because an 87-year-old senator in his sixth term can block the will of 99 other senators.

As Lola and I now reflect on our journey, we are struck by the harsh realization that we are at the ground zero of a revolution. Certainly President Bukele’s leadership and Jack Mallers’ technology have played a big role in El Salvador’s Bitcoin movement, but the real energy to carry it out will come from the masses and young people who see a path to a better future. . They are on board and they will get there.

This is a guest article by Bob Burnett. The opinions expressed are entirely theirs and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

[ad_2]