This article is part of a series of four pieces on El Salvador. You can find the previous dispatch, a story on El Zonte, here.
There was a great energy at this year’s plan B conference in Salvador.
The event, which took place from January 30 to 31, was historic for many of its 2,500 participants. It was the first Bitcoin forum of the Nation of Central America to have a complete double -language program – which means sessions in English and Spanish.
For Roman Martínez, a co-founder Salvadoran de Bitcoin Beach, Plan B was a dream come true, because it allowed ordinary Salvadoran to give meaning to the bitcoin experience of their country and to think about their own place. “So far, each Bitcoin conference was intended for foreigners,” he said the first day in Spanish. “Not everyone knows English. It is already difficult to learn a complex subject in your own language. In another, it’s three times more difficult.
Martínez participated in the organization of the event. The wait, he said, was that perhaps 100 to 150 salvadoran would appear-but more than 1,500 tickets were sold to the Spanish. “I have never seen so many Salvadoral Faces at a Bitcoin conference,” he said. “We come to a point where the Salvadoran realizes that Bitcoin is not going anywhere, and no longer we learn to be part of it at the moment, or we are going to be left behind.”
I could feel it too.
The English -speaking zone, located at the Sheraton President San Salvador hotel, had cryptographic celebrities on stage, including the CEO of Tether Paolo Ardodino, and Ogs like Samson Mow, Jimmy Song, CEO of Blockstream Adam Back and the Bitcoin Early developer Bitcoin Peter Todd. “We are witnessing a battle between centralized and decentralized systems!” Walker America, animator of the Bitcoin podcast, shouted at the conference opening panel.
However, this side of the conference seemed somewhat formulated compared to the Spanish -speaking area, held at the Museum of El Salvador Arts, which was absolutely electric. There, the salvadorians of all the bands described the plans to help their country to develop – from the supply of new educational opportunities, to the mixture of bitcoin with dental care, to the discussion of the government’s strategy with the fund International monetary (IMF). Many panel speakers, the young Salvadorals themselves had fire in their eyes.
“We are in the right place in the world at the right time in history,” said Gerardo Linares, co-founder of Bitcoin Berlín (the initiative behind the country’s second circular economy in the country) told a completely ravaged audience. “Everything happens here in Salvador.”
A conference for the salvadoran
I was struck by the demographic makeup of the Spanish region. Cryptographic conferences are famous dominated by men; Participants often complain of having to sail in a sea of guys. The English -speaking area was like that – maybe 90% men and 10% women.
The Spanish side was much more balanced, with a report of around 60% men and 40% women. While the majority of attendants displayed black and orange bitcoin t-shirts, you have also seen Salvadoral Middle Age couples carrying elegant Salvado’s outfits and university students with rolling passes and notebooks.
I asked Evelyn Lemus and Patricia Rosales, two of the salvadoran who led the Bitcoin initiative in Berlín, which they thought of the rate of attendance for women. They didn’t seem surprised. “There is a new generation of Salvadoral women who do not depend on men,” said Rosales, a single mother. “”
In Salvador, most of the time, women manage family finances, “said Lemus. “This is why they come to events like this: to see how they can manage and invest family money. This is one of the reasons why we really wanted to have the Spanish conference. »»
Bitcoin should not be reserved for the country’s elite, but should make everyday life for ordinary salvadoran, said Lemus. This concern influenced his action plan for Bitcoin Berlín. “We wanted to repel this notion that the Salvadoranus do not use Bitcoin – that only expatriates use it. Now, if you go to Berlín, you will see the people of the working class using Bitcoin. “”
Give meaning to the situation of El Salvador
There was a global feeling that El Salvador is about to grasp a new phase in his Bitcoin experience.
The last four years have seen the Nation of Central America, formerly known as the world’s capital of the world, renamed in the Bitcoin country. President Nayib Bukele, enclosing MS -13 and Barrio 18 and ending the gang war, had given El Salvador an opportunity once in life to reorganize and reach prosperity – at least that’s how The conference seemed to see him.
Many conversations revolved around the management of the adoption of Bitcoin. For years, although Bitcoin became legal in 2021, you could only pay things with the cryptocurrency in El Zonte, the small surf village also known as Bitcoin Beach. In 2023, 88% of Salvadorans did not use the digital part, according to a survey by the University of Central America.
But now, a second circular economy of Bitcoin has been implemented in the city of Berlín, in the mountains, and other initiatives would have increased elsewhere, as in Santa Ana, the second largest city in the country.
Martínez, Lemus and Linares were all eager to share advice and advice. Secret sauce in adoption, she said, is to mix Bitcoin’s initiatives with social work. “If the way of bringing people to use Bitcoin was to do burgers instead of doing social work, then I would do burgers,” Linares told me. “Everything that works. People love social things, so that’s what we do. “”
The decision of the stable giant, Tether, to move its headquarters in Salvador, was also perceived as a massive victory. TETHER said $ 143.7 billion in assets, including $ 94.5 billion in treasury invoices in the last financial quarter of 2024. By way of comparison, El Salvador’s GDP was estimated at 34 billion Dollars in 2023 by the World Bank.
Tether has become the largest company (by far) to be based in Salvador – and other cryptographic companies are required to follow its traces, taking advantage of the country’s advanced cryptography regulatory framework and more labor in addition qualified. For salvadoran, this means more career opportunities, higher wages and the possibility that the country can become a full -fledged technological center.
“El Salvador should not only be known to be the first to implement Bitcoin as a legal tender,” said Darvin Otero, CEO of Tiianki Technology, on stage. “Let’s change the lives of young people here and create the next leaders of this technological movement.”
“We have a small territory, but we can have a big dream,” said Alejandro Muñoz, lawyer Salvadoran. “We can provide great service. … Good lawyers will attract good investors and filter the crooks. Bitcoin education must occur in the legal industry; Measures are already taken in this direction. »»
Brilliant future
The conference only took place days after the government, as part of a recent agreement of several billion dollars with the IMF, canceled the status of bitcoin as a legal tender – this which means that companies are no longer forced to accept Bitcoin payments. While some members of the Bitcoin community accused Bukele of giving in to the IMF, none of the salvadoran of plan B seemed to see him in this way. In their opinion, nothing has changed at a practical level, because the vast majority of companies did not use Bitcoin to start.
In fact, a number of people have praised the agreement. “El Salvador has locked long-term funding to finish the necessary reforms,” recently published Mike Peterson, an American expatriate who lives in El Zonte and co-founded of Bitcoin Beach. “The IMF loan puts the country on the right track to obtain the BBB credit rating that most sovereign funds require investing in a country.”
This is the big difference between the Salvadoran and the Bitcoins. Hardcore bitcoins prioritize global adoption; They want cryptocurrency to eventually supplant the foreign currency issued by the government, such as the US dollar. For them, El Salvador is a springboard, the first nation to initiate hyperbiticization, but certainly not the last.
Salvadorans do not have the same priorities. For them, Bitcoin is simply a tool, a means for an end. Their objective is to develop the Salvadorian society.
“Salvadorans have always been proud to be Salvadoran. But there was a lot of pessimism. We have never been the first to something positive, only in negative things, ”Linares told me. “Now people come from all regions of the world to listen to what we have to say. Bitcoin has a lot to do with it. »»
“There are a lot of projects here in Salvador which invest so much time and resources and get almost nothing in return – except a great pride to be able to give back to the community and support everyone. This feeling must develop throughout the country. We are in a moment of big change. You can feel it in the air.
