Good day everyone,
I hope you are all well and having an excellent day, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things crypto. Today I will be looking at an upcoming event in El Salvador, which as we all know was the first country to legally make Bitcoin its legal tender, and is planning on celebrating at the end of January with a largescale beach party.
The Party of all Parties
Seen as the small Latin American country to take one of the biggest gambles when it comes to crypto, El Salvador has outlined its plans to host a New Year party to celebrate its use of Bitcoin as legal tender. This party will be taking place at El Zonte, which is known as Bitcoin Beach, in El Salvador on the 30th of January 2023, and will include a host of Bitcoin Maxi's to promote the event. It was announced on Twitter by Bitcoin maximalist Stacy Herbert, who has roughly 185k followers. There seems to be a lot going on at this party, meaning it is a must see for those who are determined to promote the use of Bitcoin in real world circumstances.
Previous Events & Education
Throughout 2022 El Salvador hosted a number of events to promote Bitcoin as its legal tender and celebrate this fact with the world. Among the events there have been a number of vocal Bitcoin enthusiasts, including Max Keiser. He is known for writing a number of books about his Bitcoin journey, and has received citizenship in El Salvador. His wife is Stacy Herbert, the announcer of the Beach Party in the above tweet, and she began the Orange Pill Party which is aimed at spreading awareness about Bitcoin and blockchain benefits.
The pair have been primary to getting Bitcoin events hosted around El Salvador, along with rolling out Bitcoin Lightning Education events. This has been done in tandem and under the sponsorship of El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele, who himself is very pro Bitcoin. Back in November 2022, the country hosted a Bitcoin Conference, which took place in San Salvador and Bitcoin Beach. The aim of that three day conference was to bring together the bitcoin ecosystem in one location for collaboration, networking and learning. More than 110 speakers from over 30 different countries were present to share developments and updates on the use of the whole spectrum of bitcoin disciplines including both technology and the economy.
President Nayib Bukele is such a fan of Bitcoin that he had plans drawn up for a Golden Bitcoin City back in May 2022 which would be cantered around a volcano. This has been one of Max Keiser's obsessions ever since, with the idea of El Salvador becoming the first place in the world to have a city working purely via Bitcoin transaction and no traditional FIAT currency. The idea behind having a Bitcoin City would increase the adaption of the cryptocurrency while also bring more investors to El Salvador. Below is one of his tweets which shows a model of the Golden Bitcoin City and goes on to show designs for infrastructure such as the airport. While the model is shown in gold, the city itself would not be.
Current Rate of Adaption in El Salvador
Notoriously famed for its high levels of gang crime, El Salvador always seemed an unusual place to announce itself as the first country to adopt Bitcoin as its legal tender. According to statista.com it ranks as the most dangerous place in the world to reside, with a murder rate of 52.02 people per 100,000 occupants on an annual basis. This is some of the more alarming information which a lot of people considering El Salvador as their dream destination need to take into account and consider before deciding to relocate to the "home of Bitcoin." President Nayib Bukele has however been targeting these gangs and doing a largescale crackdown on them within the country in an attempt to increase the safety profile of El Salvador.
However, looking beyond the existing crime and gang issues in El Salvador, the level of acceptance and adoption of Bitcoin by the people of El Salvador is a thing of interest. The benefit for Bitcoin has of course been the fact it allows people in the country without banking facilities to pay their bills without taking a bus journey. Within six months of the law passing, the country’s national Bitcoin wallet managed to onboard four million users which ensured that 70% of the unbanked population of El Salvador suddenly had access to a means of banking via Bitcoin. Similarly, it has seen the tourism for El Salvador increase significantly due to Bitcoin Beach and the country’s positive stance on crypto. This has included both internal and international tourism, in an effort which Stacy Herbert describes as “The greatest rebrand in history.”
The early days of the Bitcoin adoption saw El Salvador reap the benefits, being able to construct schools and hospitals from the profits and increasing value of Bitcoin. As we all know, they market has completely crashed, leaving El Salvador in difficult position. The frequency of purchases slowed down after buying several market dips. El Salvador has purchased about 2,301 BTC since September 2021, which in comes in at around $108 million. Today, in early 2023, it is reported that amount is worth close to $41 million, down around 62%. There is still optimism from President Nayib Bukele, who has been applying DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging) tactics since 18th November 2022 to increase the nations overall supply and bring down the overall average cost price per Bitcoin.
The impact on the nation has been noticeable. Bitcoin has helped to provide cross-border transaction remittances, which has reduced transaction costs significantly. According tot he El Salvador Central Reserve Bank, January up to May 2022 saw remittances from citizens residing abroad totalling more than $50 million. Along with this, the government promoted the "Chivo" wallet to its citizens for adoption, and in doing so they helped boost Lightning Network transactions by 400% in 2022. On top of this, the government offered a bonus signup of $30 to any citizen who downloaded the app and created a wallet, which in terms of El Salvador, equates to around the salary of three working days.
While it is far from perfect and there are many sceptics, Aarti Dhapte, a senior research analyst at Market Research Future, claims that Bitcoin has proven a success on several fronts, from providing banking services to the unbanked to boosting tourism:
“We should accept that the digital currency has helped the Central American nation of El Salvador rebuild its tourism industry, despite the country still having difficulty enduring the long crypto winter. According to information from the Ministry of Tourism, El Salvador’s spending on travel has increased by 81% in the post-pandemic period. In 2021 the nation welcomed 1.2 million visitors and 1.1 million during the first half of 2022.”
All in all the signs are looking positive, and once we emerge from the ongoing bear market it is likely that El Salvador will be in a strong position from the DCA strategy. For now, like the rest of us, they must endure the crypto winter, but no better way to do so than by partying in the New Year on Bitcoin Beach!
I hope you enjoyed the read and even learnt a few new things about El Salvador. Have a great day.
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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