Bitcoin Month In El Salvador: Real Adoption Or PR? Listen & Decide For Yourself | ft. Adopting Bitcoin

If you think the IMF is winning in El Salvador, think again! Bitcoin Beach founder's Mike Peterson sits down with Jethro, Kiki, and Charlie to show the receipts from the ground. We talk real Bitcoin circular economies, the merchants who now prefer sats, and how everyday life in El Zonte, El Tunco, and beyond has changed when money is freedom money.

San Salvador’s historic center is about to become the stage for Bitcoin Histórico. El Salvador National Palace and National Theater will lit up with a VIP lineup most people said would never come here. Russell Brand’s fireside chat will lead a heavyweight program with Max Keiser, Stacy Herbert, Jeff Booth, Preston Pysh, Lawrence Lepard, Zuby, Giacomo Zucco, Jimmy Song, and more. If you want to witness the moment Bitcoin goes mainstream in El Salvador, be there.

@adoptingbitcoin 2025 doubles down on builders and the “Network Effect.” Kiki walks through Spanish and English tracks, high-signal technical workshops, and a live Lightning dashboard tracking spend across vendors. From education programs like Librería de Satoshi (@libsatoshi) to Cubo+ alumni now working in Bitcoin, this is what it looks like when a conference runs Bitcoin only and measures real adoption.

Up in the mountains, Economía Bitcoin turns @BitcoinBerlinSV in Berlin, El Salvador, into a two-day masterclass on circular economies. Charlie and Jethro bring merchants who price in sats, not dollars, and entrepreneurs like BitDriver, Bitcoin Travel, and BitTasker who keep value inside the loop. Panels range from core tech to coffee and commerce, with a festival vibe that still stays high signal.

Between events, the coast lights up. Bitcoin Coast has El Tunco onboarding fast, and Punta Mango hosts a surf week where athletes receive sats to spend locally. We’re soft-launching our Bitcoin Villas there to keep the mission sustainable and the community thriving. If this is the El Salvador you want to see more of, subscribe, drop a comment, and share this with the friend who still asks, “But who actually uses Bitcoin?”

Guest Links:

Jethro Toro: https://x.com/JethroToro
Kiki: https://x.com/bitcoinbabey
Charlie: https://x.com/TheNaturalInve1

Economía Bitcoin conference: 
X https://x.com/EconomiaBtc
https://www.bitcoinberlinsv.com/economia-bitcoin-2025

Adopting Bitcoin conference: 
X https://x.com/AdoptingBTC
https://sv25.adoptingbitcoin.org/

Bitcoin Histórico: 
X https://x.com/btchistoricosv
https://bitcoinhistorico.com/

Support and follow Bitcoin Beach:
X: @BitcoinBeach
IG: @bitcoinbeach_sv
TikTok: @livefrombitcoinbeach
https://bitcoinbeach.com

Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode:
0:00 Why is “Bitcoin Month” kicking off in El Salvador now?
2:32 What is the Bitcoin Country podcast and who’s on it?
5:19 What’s the story behind the Bitcoin “Hollywood” sign studio?
8:47 What is Bitcoin Histórico at San Salvador’s National Palace?
11:54 How are El Zonte merchants using the Lightning Network and saving sats?
16:15 Did the Chivo wallet actually drive Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador?
21:07 Bitcoin Histórico dates and tickets, plus the Russell Brand fireside chat?
22:38 What makes the Adopting Bitcoin conference different this year?
34:52 How will the live Lightning dashboard track spend across vendors?
52:18 What’s happening in Punta Mango?

Live From Bitcoin Beach

Transcript

Mike Peterson: 0:20

It feels good to be back in the studio. We've been traveling quite a bit. We were in Madeira, Portugal, checking out the Bitcoin Circular Economy there. It's amazing to see how much adoption they have on the ground. Then on the Lugano for the plan B conference, and then we were in India for for a conference, but also working with a bunch of church leaders there that are that are using Bitcoin to kind of circumvent government controls that trying to keep them from bringing money into the country. So it's, it's amazing to see the way bitcoin is being used around the world. And today we get to highlight, of course, what's happening here in El Salvador. We got a full panel in front of us for Bitcoin. What are we calling? What do we start calling? We're calling it Bitcoin month, Bitcoin season. What are we

Unknown: 1:12

calling? Definitely starting with Bitcoin. Okay, all right, so.

Mike Peterson: 1:16

And on top of all that, we are announcing the startup of a new podcast is born right here in El Salvador, Bitcoin country that Jethro is going to be heading up, kind of focusing on the amazing things that are happening here in El Salvador. So it's always exciting to see new projects popping up here. So we're actually going to co host this one so that he can release it on his podcast, also, which is a lot of fun, as we kind of highlight what's going on here. So we have Kiki here, oh, we have Jethro first, who's going to release in the podcast, but also going to be talking about Bitcoin historico, which is happening just in a couple days. Then we have Kiki, who will be telling us about adopting Bitcoin, which was the original Bitcoin Conference here in El Salvador. This is the fourth, fifth year. Wow. Time flies, yep. And then Charlie is going to be talking about economy, which is held in Berlin, which is another great circular BITCOIN ECONOMY project. So Jethro, I'm going to hand it over to you. Tell us, where did the inspiration com to do this Bitcoin country podcast. What are you guys going to be focused on? Obviously, where can people follow you guys and find the podcast? And then we'll launch into talking about historical Well,

Unknown: 2:32

thank you very much, Mike. It's great to finally be here. No, you first invited me on two years ago, and I wanted to wait until I was actually doing something here in Bitcoin country. So now we've got a lot to talk about. I'm very excited to be here, and yes, I am launching the new Bitcoin country podcast for Max Stacy in the Bitcoin office, and it was inspired largely by your own show. So I've always I've said it before. I will say it again. I see your show is kind of like the Joe Rogan experience of Bitcoin in El Salvador, the long form, one

Mike Peterson: 2:58

on one. My wife is here. She'd be rolling her eyes.

Unknown: 3:01

Well, I see it as very true, and it's been very inspirational to me. When I first came over here in August 2023 I watched every single episode you had done just to try to get a sense of what was actually happening here. And I've watched basically every episode since it's one of the only Bitcoin podcasts where I've actually watched pretty much every episode. Well, you're the one, okay, me and a handful of others, yeah, but I just find it so insightful to really keep up with what's going on here and learn about the application of Bitcoin in the real world, where so many other shows are just talking about the theories. Here in El Salvador, we see it actually applied in the real world. So I was inspired by that. And then, in addition to so in the US, there's Joe Rogan doing, you know, he's the biggest one on one show. And then there's another show called Tim cast, which is a popular panel style show. So I kind of took inspiration from both of those, and it's like, let's take the Tim cast format and the Bitcoin in an El Salvador topic and combine those together. So I've been borrowing your studio. Started out with an interview with Max and Stacy, and then also did one here with Mario from the Bitcoin office and Ronnie from the Bitcoin hardware store. And then just a couple days ago, did one with Dr Jack Cruz and James from the Bitcoin farmers market. So the idea is to kind of show, did Dr Cruz let you speak at all? Yeah, it was a great conversation, and we'll be releasing all this soon. We made a new rumble channel, so actually going to be releasing episode one later today, and episode two very soon after that, and also this one we're co releasing for the record. We love you. Doc, yeah, he's great, yeah, it was a great, great conversation. He's very intelligent and has a lot of cool things to say, and he's been here a long time. So I'm really just trying to highlight all the different perspectives and the different people, both on the government and grassroots level, all building these different aspects of the Bitcoin ecosystem here.

Mike Peterson: 4:44

Well, shout out to Jack Cruz, thank you for passing on this house so I could buy it. Very appreciative. He gets a little bitter when he comes here. He's like, ah, there's supposed to be my house.

Unknown: 4:55

You mentioned it the other day, but it is. The studio here has turned. Out incredible. I really appreciate that I've been able

Mike Peterson: 5:02

to use No, I love to see that we have other Bitcoin we've had a ton of different Bitcoiners come through and record and then obviously to have people that are here in country be able to use it. Paco, can we throw that graphic up that for the Bitcoin country podcast that I think, yes, I love that. Tell us a little bit about the graphic

Unknown: 5:19

there. So Stacy designed this herself. And I know Mike, you had actually been talking about the idea of a Bitcoin Hollywood sign somewhere here in Bitcoin country. And Stacey had the same idea. So she took a real photo of San Salvador and added in the Bitcoin and country Hollywood style sign in front. And I love how being here, it kind of is almost like a Bitcoin Hollywood Vibe. You've got all of these well known Bitcoiners, authors, podcasters, investors, always traveling through here, and that's especially true this month. So it's, you know, putting on a show. So that's kind of the idea behind it, you know, panel style vibe, Hollywood's vibe, but with real signal as well.

Mike Peterson: 5:57

So now we just need to manifest this in their physical form, somewhere country. So coming, sooner or later, we just got to

Unknown: 6:04

figure out the right spot for it. Yeah, coming to a block soon, near you? Yeah, exactly. I've seen it. I've seen Jethro from pretty much close to the start when he arrived here, and see his growth and what he's been able to contribute is has been amazing. So fair play, Jethro. And yeah, holy morning, may things go well. With regards to the podcast, I'm sure it will.

Mike Peterson: 6:23

How long have you been

Unknown: 6:24

here? Really appreciate that. And so my first moved here August 2023 and actually my first two months, I spent in El zonte Living with at Kiki's house. I rented a room, and then the next six months. So while I was there, Charlie came down from the New Berlin project for the Bitcoin farmers market. And he was telling me about it. My lease with them was only two months, so it was coming to an end anyway. And I was like, Charlie, Charlie comes down and he's talking about how he's just listening to it was Michael Saylor on safe Dean's podcast talking about Rothbard and Austrian economics. I was like, This is my kind of guy, and I'd come down here to help support the circular economies here. And so when I hear about this new project and like minded person, I was like, Okay, I'll go check that out. And ended up spending six full months there. We ended up CO organizing the first round of the economy at Bitcoin Conference. After we attended adopting Bitcoin 2023 we were inspired by that, so I'm sure we're gonna get into that more. But yeah, so it was eight months then, and then I went back home to the US for a while, to fiat mine, just stack more SATs, more professional skills, and then I just got back about a month ago, and I just kind of dove in head first interviewed Max and Stacy together here on my first day, and I've been just doing podcasts and all sorts of content ever since. So it's been a lot of

Mike Peterson: 7:39

fun not not to dox your exact location, but are you, you in the city? Are you at the beach? Or where are you? Where are you? Are you kind of just moving around?

Unknown: 7:47

Yeah, so this time, I've mostly been here at the beach just to be closer to the podcast studio and also to have, you know, quiet area with reliable internet, so that I can co host spaces with Max and Stacy. We had several historical guests on. So it was Lawrence Lepard, Jimmy song, knuts, fanholm, zooby, Dr Cruz, tone vase, so I've been doing those all from here. Recorded the first few episodes here, but I have even in just the month I've been back. I've already visited Berlin twice on the weekends. We did a trip to Lake Kawata Peke, got to jet ski in on a lake inside of a volcano there. I've also been to

Mike Peterson: 8:21

salsa. I haven't jet skied there yet. I'm jealous. Oh, it's

Unknown: 8:25

quite the experience for anybody coming for Bitcoin month. If you're staying longer than two weeks, be sure to get out there. You can rent the jet skis. It's a volcano, beautiful lake, yeah, it's inside a volcano that erupted 72,000 years ago, and now it's just a beautiful lake with an island inside the lake, inside the volcano, that you can jet ski around. It's a great time. So lots of cool things to do here in Bitcoin country.

Mike Peterson: 8:47

So tell us about Bitcoin historico. This is a first time event. Historic Yep, exactly so. And they're actually doing it downtown, which is amazing for somebody like me who's who's been, you know, living here in the country for for almost 20 years, like you just never even wanted to go downtown before. It was, not only was it dangerous, but it was just ugly, and it was overrun with, like, vendor stalls and just trying to drive down and get there, it was, it was a nightmare. So the fact that they've, like, cleaned that up, it's now this beautiful like showcase for the country. The the palace that they've restored is amazing. And I love that they're having this conference downtown there. And then the lineup of speakers that they brought in is just phenomenal. So tell us kind of the details of what's going to go

Unknown: 9:38

on. Yes. So it's organized by Max and Stacy and the Bitcoin office. And for those who are watching as well as just listening, you can actually see the graphic up here. So you can see the National Palace next to the National Library. You've got the cathedral directly across from that, and the National Theater is right next to that, all around the Gerardo Gerardo Barrios Plaza, yeah. And so the main, the headliners will be at the National Palace itself. I was lucky enough to actually get a sneak preview the other day with Mario. We did a mini interview inside the National Palace, and then also at the National Theater. So it's going to start. I think 10 or 10am is what they decided at the National Theater. And so we're actually the three of us are going to be doing a panel there about the emerging Bitcoin Economy. I know you're going to be on at least one panel as well there. And so that's where the talks will be from 10 to three or four. And then everybody after that will move over to the National Palace. And that's where this incredible lineup of headliners will be. So it's, you know, Ricardo Salinas, zooby Preston, pish, Jeff booth, Lawrence, Lepard, Giacomo, Zuko and so many others. And yeah, it's, it's at the venue where President bukele's inauguration was. They had heads of state coming in. Mario was telling me, like, oh yeah, the king of Spain was right there. And so, you know, it's a venue fit for royalty. And it's the inaugural conference Bitcoin historico, put on by the Bitcoin office, and it's really celebrating, you know, the culmination of the past five years of proof of work. So, you know, a lot of work has gone in to make this Bitcoin country, and it takes time. You know, you don't, you don't build. Rome wasn't built in a day, is the saying, right? And Bitcoin country hasn't been built in a day, but a lot has been built here in the

Mike Peterson: 11:23

past. Amazing. What's happened in the last five years?

Unknown: 11:25

Yeah, in the last six months? Oh my gosh, yeah, you've seen us. Yeah, I haven't been down to Zante in six months. And when I got here the yesterday, I was like, oh my Wow. Look at this place.

Mike Peterson: 11:37

Well, I feel even, even when I'm actually living here in El zonte, sometimes I'm a little bit of an introvert, so I might not get out for a little bit, and then I'll go walking somewhere, and I'm like, when did they build this? When did this store open? Yeah, it's amazing.

Unknown: 11:51

Big buildings coming in on the other side of the river.

Mike Peterson: 11:55

Yeah. And so many small businesses too. That's what I love seeing, like the local Salvadoran entrepreneurs starting up these businesses and and benefiting from the influx of capital by the Bitcoin tourists. It's it's really heartwarming. Just

Unknown: 12:10

got to sell a bit of furniture to a business owner, Manolo, who has the little shop in front of all US permanentes. He's got a he's got his house, and he rents it out to Bitcoiners coming in. And it was great to be able to sell a bit of furniture for SATs and value it there in SATs and, you know, and then

Mike Peterson: 12:28

he was accepting SATs early on, yeah, okay, I think, like, five years now. I mean, okay, it was one of the first. It

Unknown: 12:36

was interesting because there was multiple pieces of furniture, and they accept the first and then he was, he had the wife on the on the on the phone, and she was like, Yeah, but what's the value of Bitcoin right now? And he was like, 100 she was like, the rest has to be in cash. And I was like, No, only SATs, but no, it's great to see their mindset sort of shift towards it and understand the value of Bitcoin. Know how to be able to use it to, know, buy and sell goods. It's impressive. We

Mike Peterson: 13:05

have some, some pictures of him. He had a during, during covid, when, you know, everything was kind of shut down, he would load up in his van, like, store, like, basically, like convenience store supplies, and drive to where, you know, a lot of the people live kind of further out in El zonte and open up to sell when we're doing the Bitcoin distributions. And so we have picture of them with a Bitcoin sign in advance, the window of his van, line of people trying to use their sets. I mean,

Unknown: 13:33

Manolo is, like a local legend really, like, if you, if you spend any time here, like, Manolo is the guy, yeah, and he's got a great smile, yeah, yeah. You can't discount that, no. And it's been great to see just speaking about the historic change over the past few years, el zonte was led the way with Bitcoin adoption in this country, and we're seeing a lot of the early adopters of Bitcoin here reinvesting to grow their businesses. So you can physically see the change with new, upgraded materials. And, you know, they Luna. We were just at belluna, and yeah, they have the new patio thing. Yeah, yeah. It's just incredible to see the tangible results of the Bitcoin adoption and just the increase in value over time, and their experience using their attitude towards it. It's, you know, they receive it. They wait for a little while. They they say, Yeah, this is for the investment into my business to earn SATs in the future. And I think that is when you truly understand the nature of its qualities, right, definitely.

Mike Peterson: 14:31

And that takes time, like, that's been a lot of effort over the last five years. And so that's what I always tell people. They think that this is going to happen overnight, like people don't shift the way they view and use money overnight, it takes years, if not decades, so the fact that they've adopted it that quickly and have that much of an understanding of it here locally, in five years, to me, is just thrilling.

Unknown: 14:56

It's extraordinary, and that ties in well with historico, too. Is you don't see these massive changes happen overnight, but if you're willing to wait a few years, the results can be extraordinary. And so Alexander led the way, but now obviously, President bukele made Bitcoin legal tender 2021 it started permeating out throughout more of the country. Berlin created the circular economy in 2023 we're going to get into that a little bit later. And of course, the government has had Bitcoin initiatives as well with the educational side of things. So like Kubo, plus, for example, a lot of them have now not only been through the school and curriculum, but are actually now working in the Bitcoin economy. And they, a lot of them, have put in the work to make this event possible. And I know, you know, there have been ups and downs anytime you're trying to make a big change. But what El Salvador has accomplished in the past five years is extraordinary. It still stands alone among the entire world. Like I go back to the US, they don't have these, all these circular economies. They don't have government supported education, like Kubo plus like Node nation, teaching kids from a young age. What is money? Why does Bitcoin matter? Preparing them for jobs in the Bitcoin Economy. El Salvador stands alone in all of these different ways. So that's why Max and Stacy decided to do Bitcoin historico, and it's going to be an extraordinary experience at one of the most remarkable settings in the entire country. I think the timing is good, especially after all the drama, and it's necessary for people to come back and see for their own eyes. I think something that's discounted a lot. People give Chivo a really bad rep for understandable reasons, okay, but having lightning wallets distributed across the country, everybody being able to be native to the Lightning Network, or having some sort of exposure, I think that is so fundamental, you know, and the ability to exchange it for cash, and they see it as synonymous, rather than it being locked up somewhere else and no capital gains tax, you cannot discount the efforts that the government has done to create a bit of a platform for people to to build, whatever initiatives that we've been able to build here. It makes it so much easier for grassroots initiatives to just come in and just immediately plug in and start getting to work. Just, you know, the seeds have been planted there already, so people can just come in and water the grassroots growth. Well,

Mike Peterson: 17:12

I had like, an in your face example of the difference when I was in India, this, this last couple weeks, because they're so fearful of the government there. They're, they're trying to start a circular economy. They're in Goa, and they're but they're like, is the government going to show up and arrest us? And can we do an ATM? Can we do these different things? And and they just this kind of overwhelming fear of the government's kind of this oppressive hand, versus in El Salvador, where, you know, the government wants to see this happen and wants to see freedom money spread, and so such a contrast for me. Yeah,

Unknown: 17:44

it makes such a massive difference. Like Berlin was able to just spin up the circular economy. There it was two Salvadorians, Gerardo and Evelyn. They took inspiration from what was happening here, what had been happening here for a few years. They knew it was legal, and so they decided to just start their own circular economy in the mountains. Within the first six months, they already had, I think, around 60 merchants, yeah, and then the lot of support, support as well from Bitcoiners, including Bitcoin Beach, obviously, but across the globe, being able to come donate their time, energy and obviously precious SATs towards seeing it grow. So yeah, I think the combined collective effort from Bitcoiners is is a special thing. Definitely, keep doing that. Definitely, yeah, the spirit of collaboration here is remarkable, and Salvadorians and internationals alike actually working together to really make these projects successful. And what's possible here is unique and extraordinary.

Mike Peterson: 18:36

Yeah. Well, before we move on, I want to give a quick shout out to max and Stacy, obviously, the effort to put this event on Stacy's been run ragged. Pulling this together, as Kiki and Charlie can attest, putting on an event is no easy feat, and to an event this size to bring it for the first year. So Stacy, we love you. We know how hard you're working, but also just how they have kept shit coins out of El Salvador. I mean, that has been, I say that the number one thing that they have done that's been that's made this so unique is everywhere else where you have Bitcoin, you also have crypto. El Salvador is the one place where you have Bitcoin and you really don't have crypto, like nobody's talking about Ethereum or other coins or anything else, like it's Bitcoin and Bitcoin only. So I don't think that would have been possible without them gatekeeping and being harsh. When people would come in and they would be like, Get out of here. So and them having to educate a lot of people in the government and different ministries here, because, you know, they'd get this call from people promising, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars to use this coin instead of Bitcoin. And, and, you know, Stacey and Max were there to kind of educate them on why that would be a disastrous route. So anyways, shout out, shout out to. JC and Max,

Unknown: 20:00

absolutely, the keepers of the vision, both through bear markets and bull markets, keeping away the scammers, educating people working with all these different government offices. I mean, Bitcoin country is what it is, largely thanks to their efforts, so completely, wholeheartedly agree that's huge, the amount of destruction of capital that can come from people being enticed into these quick gains and cryptos is not talked about enough. And the fact that nobody, no merchants, talk about Ethereum or any other coins is really,

Mike Peterson: 20:34

yeah, in the world, it really is the only place actually

Unknown: 20:37

shocking, like going to other places after being here for a while, and you have conversation, you know, you bring up Bitcoin or something like that, and people start talking about other coins, or they like, don't realize that people are actually using it as as money. And you're like, oh, wow, I forgot the rest of the world existed. It's

Mike Peterson: 20:55

nice the world is behind. Yeah, right. So Kiki, tell us what we have in store. Oh, real quick. What the dates for? For Bitcoin, historical? Yes.

Unknown: 21:07

So the main events, November 12 and 13th. So it starts 10am at the National Theater stage. There is a bit of traffic getting downtown, so try to show up a little early. But yeah, it starts at 10am the National Theater. There will be pupusas, free pupusas, cooked with tallow and the highest quality cheese in the country. So 21,000 free pupusas, those will be in the main plaza, along with face painting and other activities. And then around three or 4pm everybody will move over from the National Theater stage to the National Palace stage for the VIP talks. And those tickets are basically sold out at that point. At this point for the National Palace stage, there are some that they added pleb tickets for the National Theater because that stage is bigger has more seating. So if anybody's watching this and wants to FOMO in at the last minute, there are still some seats available there.

Mike Peterson: 21:57

And where can they find those? That is@bitcoinhistorico.com

Unknown: 22:00

and also, anybody with a ticket, the National Theater will also host a fireside chat with Russell Brand. November 11. So that's the day before, day before. Yes, awesome. So show up early, get your hotels while they're still available, and it's going to be an extraordinary experience. We look forward

Mike Peterson: 22:18

to seeing so many people there, all right, into the the OG El Salvador Bitcoin Conference, adopting Bitcoin Kiki. I know you've been involved. Is this your third year being involved? Second, second year? Okay, yeah, and, and it's all on your shoulders this year. So if it doesn't go right,

Unknown: 22:38

no, I'm really looking forward to it. It it has been a wild ride this year, putting it together, but I think that's part of the the charm and the fun. We're kind of like a scrappy team, and we use the resources that we have available to us, and we pivot. So for example, right now, I have poses that are stuck in in customs. So after this, I have to go deal with that. Wish me luck. Guys. Thank you, Charlie, thank you. But yeah, this, this year is exciting. I mean, five years in a row,

Mike Peterson: 23:13

just to clarify, those are POS is for accepting bitcoin, yeah,

Unknown: 23:16

yeah, Bitcoin, only Bitcoin, only Bitcoin, only me, entire

Mike Peterson: 23:21

Bitcoin only at adopting Bitcoin. No, no, we

Unknown: 23:24

don't want it. Well, actually, to be fair, if you need Bitcoin, we will give you Bitcoin if you want to offload Fiat, but we are going to go and turn around and turn that Fiat right back into Bitcoin. Yeah. So, yeah, five years. This is the fifth year. I mean, honestly, for events like this to happen five years in a row, in and of itself, I think, is, like, pretty phenomenal. I think that's a big feat. Like I said, this is my second year, like, kind of officially on the team. So I can't, like, claim to any of those early years or anything like that. I stand on the shoulders of giants and people who worked very, very hard to get this thing off the ground and are still involved in certain aspects. But one of the interesting things about all of the events that are happening around this time is this also meant that we as a team, as adopting Bitcoin, had to think like, Okay, what is it specifically that that that we do and that we specialize in, and that we really, really love supporting, and a huge part of that is, like, you know, the grassroots efforts. I think everybody does that at this table, just to be clear, but I think that we have, have been doing that for a little while, and have been, like, kind of plugged into that system. And, you know, we've had support from Bitcoin beach in the past in terms of, like, connecting us with the right people who are working on this worldwide. And so we are now not just adopting Bitcoin El Salvador. We have the other event in Cape Town. Who knows what happens in the future? The topic of adopting bitcoin is everywhere. El Salvador has laid the you know, like you said, planted the seeds and allowed for people to. Grow and build on top of it. And that's what this year is. It's a showcase of everything that has, like, kind of happened since year one in 2021 in our ecosystem, in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and in, like, the Bitcoin in El Salvador kind of relationship. So as you can see, our theme this year is the network effect, and that is meant to be like the direct representation of the build up of five years of working on these things together. So we're bringing in a couple of circular economies from around the world to talk about the work that they've been doing. I think it's cool this year as well, because we have quite a balance of topics. There's certainly some, like, philosophical kind of theoretical topics, and then there's some, like, really in depth, technical topics that are honestly even above my head. And both of these things are happening in English and Spanish, like we have equal amounts of super, super, super high quality content in both languages.

Mike Peterson: 25:54

So, and there'll be translation services available also correct. So it's

Unknown: 25:57

funny, we actually decided not to do translation services this year, because we have so much content in both languages, and we found that in the past, unfortunately, the amount of people using translation services, like in general, for like, headsets kind of thing, has gone down, and we're actually kind of like unintentionally hitting all of the same topics in both languages, Like, you know, someone's doing a welcome to noster talk in in English, and someone else submitted a welcome to noster talk in Spanish. I'm like, this is perfect. How did you guys know? Like, it's all coming together. So, yeah, I'm really excited to see how it plays out this year, and to see the demographics of people that come too, because in the beginning it was like, predominantly foreigners who were flying into El Salvador and certainly some locals and government officials that sort of thing. But last year, we reached 50, 50% parity. This year, with all of the people who are coming in providing Spanish content as well. I actually think we might go a bit above that. We'll see, I don't know, but it's going to be a really interesting environment. And even aside from the Salvadorans, the Latin American community is showing up like so strong. I know that there, there's a little bit of an overlap of the of the speakers and of the participants in all three of these events, but you guys can attest to it too, like the Latin vibes are going to be strong with your salsa shoes, you know? Now that's what I'm really impressed about. It's the ability for this conference to deliver Spanish content, because that's, you know, El Salvador is predominantly people who speak Spanish, and to be able to bring that to a country, this Bitcoin knowledge, and see the per capita knowledge of Bitcoin in this country can only lead to great things down the line. And that might not be obvious right now, but I do think that that these steps are setting the tone for what's going to come. So that's that's brilliant. Geek out. I love the way you have the schedule. Yeah, thank you. We a lot of it too. Is like people reaching out to me and reaching out to us and saying, Hey, we want to participate. We want to do this. We want to try this. One of the things that we are moving forward with this year is a partnership with libreria de Satoshi Dolce, amazing, if you know her, and she's basically providing kind of like a more higher level technical education in Spanish, because she, as a developer and programmer, programmer herself, realized, like a lot of this is is completely in English, right? Like the programming languages might be in English, but the all of the education around it is as well. And I want to, like, you know, kind of give back to my community and and lower the barrier of entry to Spanish speakers around the world to get into more of the technical or development side of things. So she has created these programs, and working with teachers, and the work she's doing is just incredible. And so we've been we've been talking, and we basically have been able to set up a certification program that's going to take place at adopting Bitcoin in our English workshop halls. So if you attend these certain amount of talks that are labeled, it's B for OS, so Bitcoin for open source workshops. If you attend all of these talks, at the end of the talks that you've attended, you'll get, like, a coupon to do the certification program that she runs online for free, and you can end up certified in in development, in in the context of, like, being supported by this program, and they're sending teachers to do these workshops. And they're doing this completely for free. The only, the only entry that you have to pay is the general entry to the to the conference itself. They're not charging on top of that. And like, this is top quality education as well, very similar, perhaps, to what Kubo plus is doing, which is amazing as well. This is just like, the more perspectives, the more like people that can be added into the fold. I mean, if I wanted to be a developer, I'd want to do every single program out there, right? And this is just like, this is them saying. Saying, hey, we want to participate. And I'm really excited about that. I'm so happy and like, I feel honored. You know when, when people like this reach out and they're like, we want to, we want to support you, we want to work with you. Like, I'm so happy that I get to do what I do. I'm extremely stressed out right now, but it is okay. Everything is gonna be

Mike Peterson: 30:17

good. Come on. Come on. What keep you stressed about,

Unknown: 30:22

yeah, customs, yeah, good point. Well, it's worth the effort. Adopting is an amazing conference. It was my first ever Bitcoin Conference in 2023 and now I've obviously gotten very involved in other conferences as well, but adopting will always have a special place in my heart for that reason, and it was actually what inspired us to do economy in Berlin, which we'll talk about a little bit later, after your Bitcoin beach events. But I just want to say adopting is an amazing conference. It's contributed so much to the ecosystem here and the network effects. That is a very apt theme, yeah, and the 1300 around 1300 people that went last year, I think the Bitcoin only and the not much talk about the price itself, were really big highlights for adopting Bitcoin. Obviously, the venue, Salamanca. I mean, it's so beautiful, and yukiki have this knack for getting decent vendors, good foods available there. So anybody who's going there, it's comfortable environment. You can get high quality foods. If you're on the carnivore diet, you'll be supplied with plenty of meat and just a lot of decent, high integrity connections that you managed to get in there. So, yeah, this is a this is the amount of countries that will be represented at adopting Bitcoin, and more more. This is an older map that we did, but, yeah, we, we are putting together what's called the circular economy World Fair, and so it's going to be a number of booths. So circular economies, who are able to visit and be here in person, can have a physical spot to showcase what it is that they're doing, and it's they're all going to be together as well. So I hope that this encourages some sort of dialog, and, you know, sharing of practices and etc, etc. I know that you guys laid the groundwork for that with the summits that you're doing, but it's exciting to see this in, like, a way that is, like, kind of pleb facing, if that makes sense, where people who are curious, okay, I've heard about what's going on with Bitcoin Akashi, but I want to go talk to them and learn more about that. Or, you know, I've always wanted to go to Peru, like, what's going on down in Peru, that sort of thing. So I'm excited to see that come to life. I have a feeling that might be like, I mean, there's going to be a lot of exciting parts of the event, but I have a feeling the circular economy World's Fair section is going to be a bit of a hub, a bit of a vibe. So I definitely recommend, if you're coming to check it out, we've got poker right beside it as well running. So don't forget, yes, have some fun. Do a little I can't say that. Just enjoy playing cards, I guess is what you should be doing.

Mike Peterson: 32:53

Yeah, no, I love the fact that you guys are focusing on circular bitcoins running. Obviously I love that. And shout out to pay stand. I know that they have helped sponsor that, yep. So amazing company. And then the pay stand.org is their their nonprofit side that's doing amazing things and circular BITCOIN ECONOMY space. So shout out to them. Couldn't do it without them? Absolutely yes, yes. And I think both Alex and Jeremy are both speaking.

Unknown: 33:22

Yeah, there's going to be a fireside chat between Alex and Valentin from motive Peru, and then Jeremy has a talk that I'm looking forward to, which is a little bit about how corporations can support Bitcoin economies and the general Bitcoin economy as a whole. So I think that'll be some pretty, really high quality content for everybody.

Mike Peterson: 33:45

Perfect. Well, my only criticism of the job you did last year was that you didn't do very good on the weather. Are we gonna have better weather this

Unknown: 33:53

year? Yeah, actually, so we paid a guy. So we're good, we're good. We paid him in Bitcoin

Mike Peterson: 33:57

too. All right, perfect. So all sun, yeah, last year we had a freak usually, you get into November and you don't have any rain, and we we had a freak rainstorm, but everybody made the best of it. Everybody still had fun. Yes, I think it actually forced more people.

Unknown: 34:14

We also brought someone on specifically to deal with the networking, which, if you were there last year, as soon as everyone started showing up at about 830 in the morning, our internet was like not today, so we brought someone in to deal with that, and it has been a wild ride in terms of understanding what networking is. It's the joke's on me for calling the event the network effect, really, because I'm experiencing it firsthand. But you will also this is kind of cool. You will also be able to pay to access higher quality, highest, faster speeds of internet, if you are at the event, paid in no way. So I'm excited. Yeah, Nico, my there's someone working on the team also that will have a live dashboard, I think. He's trying to get ready. Yeah, that happened. Live dashboard of all the transactions and volume coming in. Yeah? Coin movement, I think that would be really, really Yeah. We, we're not trying to dox anybody, or their sales or anything like that, but we, we pride ourselves on being one of the only events that is Bitcoin only, where people are only spending Bitcoin at this event, and in speaking to other event organizers and hearing feedback over the past year, I've realized, like, maybe I took it for granted. I thought everyone did this, but apparently

Mike Peterson: 35:30

not. Some conferences, you can't find anywhere to spend Bitcoin at all. You go to buy food, and they don't take Bitcoin.

Unknown: 35:35

Crazy. So we're like, hey, actually, this is kind of cool, what we're doing, and we want to talk about it more. We want to share about it more. So, yeah, Nico put together this live dashboard that's going to be monitoring the transactions as they come in, and we're going to be able to see like, how, like, where they're flowing to, not specific individual vendors, necessarily. We haven't fully decided on that yet, but, but just like categories like food or the chain, dual video game or the art gallery, whatever it is. And then we'll be sharing that publicly as well, and hopefully that will also encourage other events worldwide to be, you know, a little bit more interested in educating and bringing vendors into the fold and prioritizing that in their events, so we'll see, yeah, yeah, it's gonna be cool, yeah.

Mike Peterson: 36:25

Well, I think you guys have put some pressure on some of the other bigger conferences, not to name anybody Bitcoin magazine, to make sure their vendors are accepting bitcoin.

Unknown: 36:36

I was with, I was with somebody from that organization recently, and he said he basically, he was like, We love what you guys do, and we want you to succeed. And if he actually said this, I'm calling you out, Michael. He said I could do this. He said, If you guys do more volume or more transactions than our last event, like, we'll hand you the trophy. The thing is, obviously they have far more people than we do. But, you know, I like the friendly competition I had this. I did this podcast earlier this year, and I said something that ended up being like, so, so accurate. And I had no idea that it was going to be. It just came out of my mouth. It was competition is collaboration, and it has become so true. And that was a conversation that made that very evident to me, was like, yeah, it's okay. We are competing in a way, but we're also building off of each other, and we're able to like collaborate in that way where we're pushing each other to be better and holding each other to like standards that are important, especially when it comes to these, like, in person events, because I think, unfortunately, in person events, like, some people don't see the value in them, but to me, they are the most, one of the most valuable parts of the ecosystem. So, yeah, I'm, I'm grateful to have, like, you know, what is it, over 100 events a year at this point, like, I'm grateful to have other things popping up and and have people to collaborate with and to talk about, like brainstorm things and also like, Hmm, I wonder what Charlie's got planned. I wonder if we can do something cool, like a live dashboard, we'll see

Mike Peterson: 38:16

no and ultimately, it is same team, and that's what I love about it. Like you said, you have that friendly competition, but you want everybody to succeed

Unknown: 38:25

exactly all team Bitcoin and El Salvador. And actually, since you mentioned the competition is collaboration. You had mentioned before we started recording. There's a collaboration between adopting and historical for the art. Would you like to talk about that a little? Yeah, yeah, that, I have to give full credit to Ralphie for kind of spearheading that, and taking on, like the project management of that, and the idea there was, you know, we had this art gallery last year at adopting Bitcoin, and it was fantastic. It wasn't, I'm so glad that we did it, but the amount of time and energy that was put into getting those art pieces into the country was, it was just extremely difficult. And it also kind of made me realize, okay, El Salvador has, like, you know, obviously some, some really incredible artists. Like, why can we not reach that community? So someone put me in touch with someone who is running an art collective here. We had a number of conversations and and we have been able to partner with this art collective of Salvador and local artists making art around the theme of Bitcoin and of sovereignty. And then when that was shared publicly, Ralphie, who was an artist herself, reached out to me and said, Hey, maybe we can do something and get this like at Bitcoin history CO as well. And I said, absolutely like our when I'm thinking about this. From my perspective, my goal is for the artists to be successful and for the artists to be able to display their work, and also for them to go through the their own, you know, Bitcoin journey. And this is an excellent opportunity for them. I'm not going to stand in the way of that. And so we've been collaborating on getting them. Com to Bitcoin, new story, CO, and it sounds like they're going to have, like, a really gorgeous setup. I think it's going to be really cool. So they'll be displayed all of the art will be displayed with QR codes that have the information for the pieces. And then they will be brought to adopting Bitcoin and displayed there. And then they're also going to be sold and auctioned, all in Bitcoin through the platform called time chain artifacts built by fractal encrypt So yeah, we're just kind of trying to make it work. Timing wise, the 13th evening is going to be a little bit hectic, but I'm certain that everything is going to go well, and it's awesome to have this connection and be able to share resources, and ultimately, at the end of the day, like empower the people that we're bringing in and educate them as well. In the topic of Bitcoin, yeah, it's win, win, having these different events on different days, back to back, working together, we're able to pool resources. Some the three of us are going to be on a panel at historico, then we're all going to adopting as well, obviously. And yeah, just the spirit of collaboration is incredible. Really helps make both events stronger with different experiences in different places. So, you know, you've got the historic center that's kind of like this exclusive VIP, inherently, you know, it's a palace for Royals. And then adopting is directly outside of San Salvador, which I actually like now, because it's like the first step in to Bitcoin, deeper into bitcoin country, and then after that, of course, Bitcoin Beach has a bunch of events, and then we've got the one in Berlin as well. So it's like, adopting is the first step deeper into the full Bitcoin country experience. And you guys have really been leading the way, you know, five years now. It's been the heartbeat of grassroots Bitcoin, the adoption here. Yeah, it's great to be able to see noster come into play with the events. Now you can see all of the events on on noster on satlantis, and it's really cool. I mean, it's very slick, the the look, and there's a ton of events that are on alongside the conferences, like the longevity event and MI premiere Bitcoin and a lot of different events that are coming through, people coming down to the beach then are able to use their Bitcoin freely. You know, across the coast, here in El zonte, I'm always more impressed with just the density of merchants here. So anybody who's interested in coming to El Salvador, it's pretty easy to get here now these days, and it's not that expensive. So look on to adopting Bitcoin, the events on adopting Bitcoin, and be able to see which ones you can attend after adopting then there's Bitcoin beach, but then there's also Punta mango, which is something that I've only learned about today properly, but it seems pretty exciting. You know what you what you're cooking up, Mike and keeping, keeping it quiet. And we'll get

Mike Peterson: 42:51

into that in a in a second here. But I know you've been doing a lot of work here on on the coast, here in El Salvador, with, with Bitcoin coast. So tell us a little bit about that initiative and the new stores that you guys have brought on line, and kind of what people will find when they're not just in El zonte, but other places that I know. A lot of new businesses have come online.

Unknown: 43:13

Yeah, well, the after coming down to the coast, I wanted to be able to figure out how, you know, I could use my experience to see more merchants across the coast display their Bitcoin acceptance. The idea was that there's Bitcoiners across the coast. I mean, Zante and Bitcoin Beach is the hub. It is renowned worldwide, but there's Bitcoiners who need to get their hair cut in La Libertad or sunglass as well, and get their petrol done. And it takes time. It takes time, as you were saying here in Bitcoin Beach, for merchants to get used to Bitcoin. So I thought maybe I could put my time and energy towards being able to support merchants across the coast in some shape or form, and try and put a bit of order into BTC map, create a dashboard for people to look at the map, see restaurants, stays, stores or services. Be able to go in and then get there, and then to kind of standardize the experience for anybody who goes to these merchants and feels like, actually they enjoy receiving Bitcoin, and this is seamless, and this is actually quicker than using a debit credit card, because we, the big problem for me, I think, worldwide, is incentivizing bitcoin is to use Bitcoin. And we can all agree on that there's this. Apparently,

Mike Peterson: 44:37

there's a lot of Bitcoiners who don't understand Bitcoin.

Unknown: 44:41

That's what it seems like.

Mike Peterson: 44:43

It's tough to go they're short Bitcoin, exactly like they keep complaining about all this Fiat they have to stand Why are you still holding on

Unknown: 44:53

to it? Yeah, you're obviously not holding enough Bitcoin. If you're using Fiat, it's. Hard to go against the incentives that the state puts on top of you and, you know, in different jurisdictions, but making it easier for you to spend Bitcoin, and making the experience nicer, and getting smiles when you go to the places, and being able to have a wider selection of different services like nice hotels toomco is really exploding now. In terms of Bitcoin adoption, we've got some, it's a visual sort of initiative, Bitcoin coast. So we've got nice stick out signs that you're walking through the main road, if you go on any main road. Now in Al tunka, you'll see Bitcoin acceptance, not Bitcoin acceptance. Bitcoin preferred, which I think is really, really important for the propagation of Bitcoin when, when people start to say, No, I actually prefer Bitcoin instead of dollars. So we're kind of trying to build the world that that we want to see, you know, this, this idea of, like, well, the qualities of money, and which quality is better, and which 1am I going to choose? So anybody who, who wants to come down to the coast, they can check out the website, Bitcoin coast. It's off the back of, you know, Bitcoin beach and other huge initiatives that we're able to, I suppose, create this, this dashboard. And it's, yeah, really easy to use, really, really cool to be able to work on this. And any questions, just reach out.

Mike Peterson: 46:19

Yeah, I love to see the proliferation of businesses in El tunco accepting bitcoin, because, quite honestly, there was a little bit of a likeoco and El zonte kind of had this little competitive whatever, because they're both surf towns or both tourist destinations and and so, because I was on they led the way in Bitcoin. I think some people in El tunco, like, just out of spite, don't want to, like, accept Bitcoin. But I think now because because of your efforts, and also just the number of Bitcoiners that have staying there and trying to spend SATs and choose to go to another business when they don't accept it, where I'm excited to see it kind of perforating throughout co

Unknown: 47:00

Yeah, and also, it's a huge popular area for people who come through Guatemala, backpackers, people who don't, haven't been exposed to Bitcoin. And I was sitting beside few Mexicans, and they were, you know, having a beer or whatever, and I asked them that they use Bitcoin. They were like, no, but we've noticed that Bitcoin is actually big in this country, and this is sort of like a Trojan horse of Bitcoin to people, not through the idea of it being a store of value or your asset, but as a money. And when you introduce it through that sort of lens to people who who walk through, I think that kind of it's a healthier way to look at Bitcoin, so that that's another thing. It's like El Salvador is kind of an orange pilling machine, in a way, and that's, that's what we're trying to, aim to do. We've got these merchant guides as well that people really appreciate, that you can give to the merchants, and they can, they can look into it, and they can call a number. So these are different tips and tricks that have

Mike Peterson: 47:55

helped. No, I love that. So after adopting Bitcoin, we have, as always, we have the the El zonte day on Sunday, where everybody will be coming to El zonte. We'll have all the normal events, the pupusa eating contest. There'll be all kinds of other activities. There'll be farmers market, there'll be all kinds of vendors set up accepting bitcoin. I think we're going to do that all weekend, because some of the people that if they're not going to one show or the other, they can, they can show up for the whole weekend, and then also for the local so I think those events are Saturday and Sunday, and then starting is that Tuesday is 18th. Tuesday. Somebody got a calendar. Yeah. So starting Tuesday, we're having a really special event this year. Every year they have the for the last few years, we've had adopting Bitcoin, and then a weekend later we've had economy of which Charlie is going to share with us about a minute. But there's this kind of week in between, and people are always looking for things to do. Well, El Salvador has really kind of redevelop the East Coast. And when we say east coast, it's not on the Atlantic, the coast here, you know, kind of runs. It's a south facing country, and so it's all on the Pacific, but it's on the eastern end of the country, place called Punta, Mongo place, close to my heart, we've had a property there for a number of years that we actually developed to let missionary families and people working with different NGOs, running children homes and things like that, place to go just for a time of respite, to get away. It's, it's really like heaven out there. It's one of the most beautiful. And so now we've, we've also run a Bitcoin Circular Economy project out there. There we have a community center there called the citadel of hope that that BitFinex sponsored, and it's been amazing to see the Bitcoin adoption in that area. So we are going to highlight that we're actually transforming this retreat property that we have into a kind of booth. Teak hotel with the idea is we'll still that the people we've been serving, the missionaries and the NGO workers, we're still going to let them stay there, but we wanted to make it self sustainable, so the profits that come in from the other guests, Bitcoiners, is what we're focused on. It's going to be, you know, obviously we take Bitcoin. We prefer Bitcoin. We were making it very hard to accept Fiat out there, but it's, it's a beautiful place, so we're doing kind of a soft launch of this punto Mongo villas, but we are coordinating that where they're having the Latin American pro surf contest at that time. First time it's in Punta mango, there's, I believe, close to 300 participants in that they're all going to be receiving 50,000 SATs as part of their package that they get for signing up for this conference, that they'll be spending in the community. And then we're going to have soccer contests, pickleball contests, all kinds of different events, and lots of people spending their SATs in that community. And then we're also going to do a special dinner, kind of meet up one night. So if you are looking for a place to go in between adopting Bitcoin and economy, head down to that part of the country, the most beautiful beaches. Paco. Can we throw some pictures up? I think we have some pictures. Just amazing beaches there. That's, that's the logo for the Bitcoin villas that are there, and that's the website where you can check it out. There is because of the surf contest, because of all the Bitcoiners going down there, finding rooms is going to be challenging. You may have to stay. You know, maybe 510 minutes away, there's, there's different hotels in El Cuco, but I recommend people plan on going down there for the three days. Show us your pickleball skills. Show us what you got. There's obviously great surfing there too. And then we're gonna have the surf contest there. So yeah. So plan on going, adopting Bitcoin, historical adopting Bitcoin. Then head to tell Zante, will do all the normal activities, and then head to the other end of the country to Punta Mongo to see the amazing things that are happening there. The government just finished like $100 million road project there. It's

Unknown: 52:13

because you used to need, like, a four wheel, yeah.

Mike Peterson: 52:18

No, no. It is cruise on it. It's like the best roads in all of El Salvador now, like, that's huge sidewalks. I mean, it is, yeah, it is amazing. So, and there's all kinds of, you know, future development they have planned there, so you got to see it before that. All that happens development, obviously, will be great. But I also love, like, the rusticness of it right now and, and it's, it's free. We're not charging for admission. Come on down. Participate in all the events. Support the local stores and and check out the the new little boutique hotel that we're operating there on the Bitcoin standard.

Unknown: 52:54

Yeah, it's the perfect time to launch this with the new highway. Just gonna add briefly, Charlie and I and a few others. Back in probably around October 2023 we went out to visit, and it might be the most naturally beautiful place in the world that I've ever been. Personally, just those highways overlooking the water, just the rolling the beaches there, it's gorgeous, so it's absolutely worth the drive.

Mike Peterson: 53:17

And as you can see, the accommodations are all first class. We did everything high end. They have, you know, kitchenettes. And in all of the units, they're, like, most of them are two bedrooms, two baths, and so they're, yeah, they're, they're great places. There's the pool there. So yeah, obviously, not just for this event, but anytime you're in El Salvador, it's Punta manga is a place you have to check out. And we've got the best view. And I think I have the two best views in all of El Salvador, my house and Punta manga. So gotta get you got to get

Unknown: 54:01

in early. You get El Salvador at the price you deserve. Yes, yes.

Mike Peterson: 54:04

So yeah. So looking forward to kind of sharing this with everybody, like I said, this property has been really special and served a lot of families that that are serving the people here in El Salvador. And so we're, we're kind of excited to open it up to the greater Bitcoin space, and have Bitcoiners kind of enjoy that. And then the great thing is, it's on the same side of the country as the next event,

Unknown: 54:29

Charlie, nice economy of Bitcoin up in Berlin. It's the second year running. And as Jethro mentioned already, we founded it because of the inspiration of adopting Bitcoin, the idea is to highlight the power of circular economies, and it's built around four pillars. These pillars are important for the sustainability and for the growth of circular economies. Those pillars are education, community, entrepreneurship and technology. Technology. So all the talks, which will be both in English and Spanish, will be centered around these principles. We've got really good companies representing booths like Tinky k1 new companies like bit Tasker, who's focused on being able to build on noster and join taskers and taskies paying each other with Bitcoin through a wallet. That is, yeah, it's, it's pretty impressive, what's, what's been, what's happening, and thanks to Bitcoin Beach, obviously, for helping with economy of Bitcoin and bit Tasker for making this a reality, it's going to be high level production, so really, really good quality, massive screen panels that really will blow you away. We've got the schedule all set up, and we've got a range from philosophy to technical, you know, proper bitcoin core developers discussing the topics that everybody wants to hear about from firsthand, which I think is important to discuss, but also the leaders of the largest circular economies across Latin America and the United States. So, you know, they're going to be talking about community, the important aspect of community and Bitcoin within a community, I think that's not talked about enough, and what's important within a community for its growth? What are the values that are important within that community? I think that's very important. Then the education side, Bitcoin Berlin right now is really hammering home the education. They're educating the kids. They're the teenagers, and it's amazing to see their growth. I've seen over the course of the few months, and you know being able to know what the difficulty adjustment is, or you know how to be able to accept and really stepping up to the plate and taking on responsibility for their local town and for the education of Bitcoin. So like feeling like they are Bitcoin educators within Berlin. So the aspects of education that people need to know in order for it to be effective, there's going to be panels on that technology. Tianki has been, you know, you know, really good for us, for the tickets, so we get to use all our tickets. They're valued in SATs, which I think is really important, the unit of account. But tianki,

Mike Peterson: 57:16

wait, wait. Say that again. Charlie, say that again. Yeah.

Unknown: 57:20

I think the unit of account aspect of Bitcoin is so crucial, because in dollars, we're talking that's it. Yeah, Mike's gonna have a sweary jar. But instead of swearing, it's actually the mention of the accursed. Every time

Mike Peterson: 57:33

you mentioned dollars, we're gonna make you donate to the

Unknown: 57:35

SAT jar. Yeah, yeah. So the idea of valuing in SATs, and why it's so important is, every time we see SATs for things that we value, water or houses, land, things that we need over the course of our life, if we see it in dollars, we will reserve. We will align ourselves in order to attain those dollars over the course of our life. So we will align ourselves to attain something that is coming from a source that is inherently corrupt and becoming more corrupt over time. Whereas if we see things that are valued in SATs, our actions, our mind, our thoughts, will be aligned with what is, in my view, pure and scarce and Bitcoin orientated. So if I see the things that I need in SATs, I will think, How can I earn SATs? And how can I provide value to those who have SATs, which are Bitcoiners? And that sort of cycle will then turn us to be able to just get rid of any liabilities that are denominated in dollars and start to price our products and services in SATs themselves, and it's a complete inverse to the world that we live in now. So you know, less debt, more long time, preference, more saving and the boss. Employee relationship changes the wife, husband relationship changes the intern, international in between nations how they respect each other, and the returns on violence also changes. So I think that's really important. We'll have talks similar to that at economy a Bitcoin. But also the leaders of all these economies are coming together, and they're going to be discussing what it is that has allowed for their economy to be successful. At the same time, there's going to be a festival going on, so you'll be at the conference. It starts at around 9:30am and it will be mainly panels, like it's two days, but it's going to be absolutely packed. We've got over 25 speakers, high end, high signal speakers that are going to be speaking, and you arrive in 930 over the course of that day, then we'll have a lunch break. There'll be loads of activities on during the conference. So there's horse riding, there's like, you get slingshot. It out it's kind of like an activity Park, Echo Park, a beautiful, you know, from last year, beautiful area. And there'll be translation, there'll be a booth area. Area, where you'll be able to talk firsthand with the builders of the tools that we use day to day for Bitcoin to be used. And then after the conference, there'll be a festival that has got a medieval theme, so you'll have the leaders of the circular economy coming in on horseback with real swords, like legit, yeah, Renaissance 2.0 so yeah, we'll have great music on throughout the events. You know, thanks to the collaboration and support that we've we've received, so it's guaranteed good time. But I do suggest that you reach out and book accommodation as soon as possible, because it's pretty much packed out. But there's, you know, alegria, which is beside it, with beautiful accommodation as well. So I really do suggest that you get on and get yourself a ticket, because it's an intimate setting. Come up. The festival itself is completely free. The conference, you know, isn't that expensive. It's two days, and you're supporting something that is highlighting what I think is extremely important in this world, and that's the proliferation of sound money and sound principles. So yeah, I'm really looking forward to, I'm blessed to be working with such amazing people who are highly talented and highly ethical. And this is us for the meetup one month prior to the conference. And these, these are really important people, because you they're the ones that are setting stage for the future of the world, people like Michael Ruiz, who's an entrepreneur, who's bringing entrepreneurs together and risking their capital to be able to serve the needs of individuals on a Bitcoin standard. You know, you have Patricia. I was from Berlin herself, and she's done such great work for the town. Evelyn. Everybody knows how, how hard work and Evelyn is, and what she's provided for for Berlin, and Gerardo ISIS, who came from usulutan, who's the the this poster child of the Bitcoin office, essentially, you know, brilliant mind, she'll be there talking, and obviously a range of other people. John Byrne, working on bit Tasker and the community. So yeah, please come along to Berlin, support the community, learn a little bit, see what's necessary for the growth of circular economies. I'm really, really, really looking

Mike Peterson: 1:02:12

forward to it. And where can people buy tickets?

Unknown: 1:02:15

So Bitcoin Berlin, sv.com you go on to that website, then straight away you'll see economy a Bitcoin ticket. So you'll have, if you're a resident, it's discounted at 40k SATs, if your general tickets are 75k and then Salvadoran is at 10k so that's that's the pricing at the moment. Please reach out to either Bitcoin Berlin or the economy of Bitcoin X, and there's a telegram group that you can join just to see what's happening and just to keep informed. So

Mike Peterson: 1:02:43

yeah, and I think we forgot to mention where people can get the adopting Bitcoin

Unknown: 1:02:48

tickets. SV, two, five, dot adopting bitcoin.org, along that one, but adopting bitcoin.org Click El Salvador. You'll find it. You can also add on a an economy of Bitcoin ticket, if you are purchasing a adopting Bitcoin all, all in one. If that is convenient for you, that's an option. Yeah, we really appreciate adopting support for this. And if I could just add a little bit too, because I've been CO, I co founded this conference with Charlie and yeah, definitely hit all the essentials there. I just wanted to add, we do have free rides arranged from and from San Salvador we're working with bit driver. One of the things we really want to highlight with the entrepreneurship pillar is that there are a lot of great builders here, Salvadorians who have stepped up, seized the opportunity of Bitcoin country. So bit driver was one of the first accepting bitcoin in exchange for rides and car rentals. So he'll be speaking on one of the panels, and he also was arranging shuttles from elizonte and San Salvador at 3pm on Friday. Yeah, so LS got on close to good beans, guys, if you want to get yourself a free ride, you have to book it, because we need to know how many people are coming up, just so that we can get the capacity right. So 3pm and then return on the Monday. If you want to return before that, you'll have to book yourself a transport. But there is transport coming back to the beach and to San Salvador, and if you're in San Blas, you can get picked up there as well, or whatever. So yeah, thank you. So special shout out to bit driver for that and for speaking at the conference some of the other Bitcoin entrepreneurs we have from El Salvador. We've got Bitcoin travel. They've really stepped up a lot. People can actually book their flights if they haven't already yet to come on down with them. We've got Darvin

Mike Peterson: 1:04:28

and just a shout out to them. We've used them recently to book a bunch of flights that we had for the Bitcoin summit that we're doing. We're doing one in Mauritius as part of the Africa Bitcoin Conference there, and then also one tied in to Plan B conference in January here. And so they've been helping with that, and they've been been amazing to work with. Yeah,

Unknown: 1:04:49

I love to see that. And especially, you know, company built out of El Salvador by Bitcoiners, for Bitcoiners, so they're going to be there. We've got Darvin, and we've got several others. One, yeah, Edgar. And we've also got several circular economies. I don't know if you gave the list, but we've got, like, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Dominican Republic. We've got a, yeah, we've got a huge list of South and then United States, different meetup areas there, and people representing meetups there. So no, it's, I mean, I think coming together, you don't know what's going to happen. But when you put such good minds and such good experience in one place and give it a theme, only good things can happen, right? Yeah, absolutely. And especially bringing people together in one of the leading circular economies. You know, we were inspired after adopting Bitcoin 2023 to bring you know so many people come to the city to talk about these circular economies. It's like we should have a smaller, more intimate event, actually, in one of the circular economies. Of course, your support, both you and chimbara coming last time, that was extremely helpful. We had 223 attendees last year, and it was completely filled out the capacity of Berlin. And just to actually speak a little bit about the backstory of Berlin, for anybody who may not know it's named, there was a German immigrant. There was a shipwreck off the coast of El Salvador in the late 1800s he settled in the country, fell in love and moved to this town in coffee country. So it's a cooler climate from the beach. So after, you know, coming down for historico and adopting in the city, then you go to the two different beach events, El zonte and Punta mango. You'll probably be ready to cool off a little bit get that refreshing mountain air. So that's when you come up. Come on up to Berlin, November, 22 and 23rd and it actually used to be one of the wealthiest parts of El Salvador, before the Civil War, because of coffee exports. So it's one of the top coffee exporting regions in the entire country. And that's starting to come back as well. One of the panels actually will be about the intersection of coffee and Bitcoin. And so it's this place that has so much economic potential. It has its own real economy as an agricultural hub for the useless on region. And so Bitcoin has been able to just plug right into that and supercharge it. So it's around 170 merchants who accept Bitcoin. It's one of the most circular of circular Bitcoin economies, according to Samson Mao, because so many merchants actually accept like they not only accept Bitcoin, they don't just cash out. Many of them actually spend it with each other and save long term and reinvest in their businesses. And it's not just a circle, it's an upward spiral. So it's great to be able to bring people together, people like the Bitcoin beach team with so much experience and who inspired what happened there, and then so many other circular economies that have also taken inspiration. Just bringing people together in this town, we're booking out the capacity of accommodations, and we're just going to keep making it as big as we can, and it's still an intimate experience as well. Yeah,

Mike Peterson: 1:07:42

yeah, no, it's, it's beautiful. Definitely recommend, I mean, I recommend people go to everything. I mean, this is like, the the Bitcoin Iron Man or something, to the next to the next to the next. It's, it's pretty amazing that you have El Salvador has, like, so many high signal events happening over the next couple weeks. So if you're not, if you're not on your way to El Salvador right now, what are you doing? Did we cover everything? Feels

Unknown: 1:08:15

like it, yeah, and it feels like we only scratched the surface, like I feel like you, you, you have to be there to, like, genuinely get and see and experience like, yeah, and add to it yourself. Everyone has their own perspective on what they can bring to the world, so you might just fall in love yourself and decide to stay Yeah.

Mike Peterson: 1:08:34

Well, Jethro, I want to thank you for CO hosting this as the Bitcoin country podcast. Let's make sure people know where they can listen to the podcast or subscribe to your channel. Yeah, give us the rundown.

Unknown: 1:08:49

So we just made the Bitcoin country podcast channel on rumble for now. It's exclusive there, and we're actually releasing episode one today, so by the time this is released in a couple days, it will already be out there. So I can send you the link to include in the show notes. So that is the Bitcoin country podcast, and you're going to be seeing a lot more from that channel very soon.

Mike Peterson: 1:09:08

And then will it be available on other just podcast like the normal people's normal podcast apps? So

Unknown: 1:09:15

we'll put it on an RS feed as well. So fountain, Spotify, Apple podcasts, all that good stuff.

Mike Peterson: 1:09:22

So guys, if you could make sure that you give them a review on one of those, that makes it super helpful for the algorithms to find it. So it only takes, like, you know, a minute to go in there, and even you don't have time to write something just, just give him the five stars, because he's a five star guy. But yeah, those, those reviews, make a huge difference in the rankings and making sure people see it and then on rumble. You know, if you follow Him and do the same there, I'm sure he will be very appreciative,

Unknown: 1:09:53

well, very appreciative of you for hosting this and for everything you've done, so much all of these things that make it Bitcoin cost. Tree, all of these events, it all started here with Bitcoin beach. So thank you for that, for all your contributions here, for being so supportive of all these other projects, and for having us here today.

Mike Peterson: 1:10:09

We're excited, and we'll, of course, have in the show notes, we'll we'll put the links for the where you can buy tickets to the various events. And when you're at the events, if you see us, make sure you say hi. We may be stressed and running in one direction and and not even notice you say hi, but then just tap us on the shoulder and we don't slow us down. Yeah. So, yeah, it's great to be back here in El Salvador. Appreciate everybody who I know. We haven't released anything in the last month, so appreciate you guys coming back to watching the show and hopefully we'll see you here over the next couple weeks.

Unknown: 1:10:43

Yeah, cheers, Mike, yeah, thanks. Happy Bitcoin month. Yes, you.