Before El Zonte became Bitcoin Beach, nine out of ten people in El Zonte were without a bank account, had never made a digital transaction, couldn’t save money, and had never bought an asset.
Today bitcoin is accepted all over the region. We’re seeing financial inclusion, a financial revolution. This small community has inspired the whole country to start using Bitcoin as a currency.
We started using Bitcoin in 2019 as part of a social initiative that we have been running for more than ten years. We focus on four pillars: education, recreation, spirituality, and technology. Our goal is to give local kids the knowledge, tools, and guidance they need to stop dreaming about leaving the country—leaving El Zonte—and start dreaming about being right here in El Salvador.
In many ways, Bitcoin turned out to be the missing piece to this quest. We realized that none of us, including our team, had ever been taught about money. Understanding what money actually is and how to use it is painfully uncommon, but you need to know how money works so you can “play the game.”
Our first step in this direction was to recognize that proper financial education had the potential to lift up El Zonte and its people; that’s why we established El Salvador’s first Bitcoin circular economy.
We began by rewarding kids with bitcoin for being good students or cleaning the river and beach. We were moving in a pretty good direction—but then came the pandemic, and as El Zonte’s economy is built almost exclusively on tourism, most families lost their jobs in an instant.
So we changed direction. We supported families with small bitcoin donations, which eventually resulted in our team onboarding the entire community to Bitcoin. We also kicked off construction projects and hired people who’d lost their jobs; we paid their salaries in bitcoin.
This wholly natural integration of Bitcoin into daily life changed people’s mindsets. When tourism returned, it brought with it a boom in Bitcoin tourism, and Bitcoin acceptance in El Zonte went through the roof. Today you can pay with bitcoin almost anywhere in El Zonte. That’s why we’re known as Bitcoin Beach.
