Bitcoiners - Live From Bitcoin Beach

Mike Peterson
  • 5.0 (71)
  • Investing
  • Semiweekly

Live From Bitcoin Beach! This channel is an opportunity to showcase the thoughts and views of Bitcoiners coming through El Zonte, El Salvador.Also known as Bitcoin Beach, this location is ground zero of the Bitcoin and Orange Pill revolution sweeping the nation since President Nayib Bukele made Bitcoin legal tender.We showcase the bustling Salvadoran Bitcoin community, thriving day-to-day using BTC as actual money.From local Bitcoiners to to well-known figures like Giacomo Zucco of Plan B Network, Francis Pouliot of Bull Bitcoin, Robert Breedlove of the What Is Money Show, Max Keiser & Stacy Herbert, Greg Foss of Looking Glass Education, Dr. Jack Kruse of Kruse Longevity Center, and many others, we'll provide an insider's perspective on how Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador is reshaping the landscape locally and globally.We will also be discussing practical tips for those considering moving to El Salvador.Make sure to subscribe and leave us a review on all podcast platforms!

  1. 2h ago

    Moving Your Bitcoin Business to El Salvador? What to Know About Banks, Residency and Self-Custody | Carlos Gil of ECIJA

    Before anyone was buying property in El Salvador with Bitcoin, Mike called a lawyer to ask whether giving Bitcoin away in El Zonte could put him in jail. You’ve heard the country made Bitcoin legal tender. What you haven’t heard is what that did to one law office, one land deal and one very stubborn banking system. That lawyer is Carlos Gil, partner at the Salvadoran office of ECIJA, an international law firm. He’d never heard of Bitcoin when Mike called around 2011 or 2012. He read the paper, and a few months later he was on board. Then came the day Bukele announced legal tender. Carlos’s phone rang nonstop the next morning with international clients asking about taxes, capital gains and how to keep their books. By 2022 he was at a Bitcoin conference where strangers bought him lunch just for being Salvadoran. Then Mike bought land. The closing took six hours because QR codes on the Bitcoin Beach wallet expired every minute and the seller’s brand-new custodial account couldn’t hold the full price. Carlos explains what self custody turns that into, and why a wire from the U.S. still gets flagged while Bitcoin doesn’t. Through all of it, the banks were the slow part. Carlos tells foreign clients to keep Bitcoin off their corporate documents because El Salvador banks wouldn’t open accounts for Bitcoin companies, and his first one waited three months. Here’s where it gets strange. Banks from Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala are now the ones getting licenses, and a bank president who once turned people away called Mike a year ago asking for a favor. Where that leaves the El Salvador economy today, in Carlos’s words, is a sandbox where international chains and El Salvador real estate companies come to test the technology, while a bank officer still can’t process a man who held Bitcoin for 15 years and wants to retire in La Libertad. That same financial innovation grew his firm from two people to 64 lawyers and gave a Salvadoran born in the ’80s something new. For the first time, his country was known for something good! Whether you’re moving to El Salvador to set up a company or just want to know if the legal side holds up, listen before you decide. The lawyer’s answer starts with “it depends.” —Bitcoin Beach Team Learn more about Carlos Gil: X: https://x.com/carlitos_gil X (Law Firm): https://x.com/ECIJA web: https://www.ecija.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ecija/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/ecija_law/ Email address: cgil@ecija.com Support and follow Bitcoin Beach: X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode: 00:00 Intro 02:12 How did Bitcoin Beach get its first lawyer in El Salvador on board with Bitcoin? 06:24 What happened in El Salvador when Bitcoin became legal tender? 13:09 How did Bitcoin change how the world sees El Salvador and Salvadorans? 17:26 How did the Bitcoin Beach wallet work in El Zonte before any regulation existed? 20:44 How to buy land in El Salvador with Bitcoin? 22:13 Self custody vs custodial wallet: which is better for large Bitcoin purchases? 25:28 Is El Salvador a good place to start a Bitcoin company? 33:36 Can a Bitcoin company open a bank account in El Salvador? 39:31 Do banks in El Salvador accept Bitcoin now? Live From Bitcoin Beach

    Moving Your Bitcoin Business to El Salvador? What to Know About Banks, Residency and Self-Custody | Carlos Gil of ECIJA

  2. Oct 24

    This French Family Sold Everything, Moved to El Salvador and Started a Business in El Zonte | Antoine Allain of La Cajita Kitchen

    What happens when a nightclub bouncer from Santa Barbara, California sells everything he owns and opens a restaurant in El Zonte? You’ve probably seen Max Keiser posting from a beach restaurant and wondered how it got there. The posts show the finished version. They don’t show the ten years before it, or the little box it started in. Mike sits down with Antoine Allain, owner of La Cajita, born in Brittany, France, raised in California from age 13, and a former competitive surfer who first came to El Zonte about 10 years ago on a surf trip. He fell for the town in half an hour, surfed, and went home. Three years ago he came back with his dad for a birthday trip and found a different place, with more energy and more room to start something. On the first day they were already talking about what they could open here. Antoine called his wife and told her he thought they were moving to El Salvador. Her answer wasn’t yes. He tells you how she came around, and which part of living in El Salvador was hardest for her to get used to. They sold everything in France and California and opened in a tiny box on the sand, serving the crepes and galettes his dad cooks at home. The risk sat on Antoine alone. One ingredient is hard to find in the country, so friends bring it in by the bag. Then a smash burger went on the menu and the little box filled up. Then Max came to eat, became a partner, and the move upstairs that followed brought a crowd that still fills the place every night of rainy season. Antoine is clear about one thing: Max checks in on the numbers like a businessman, and the growth came bigger than they’d expected. Antoine knew nothing about Bitcoin when he opened. Hear what accepting it has done for his customer count and for the kind of people who walk through the door. He and Mike also get into El Salvador surf from a local’s view: the two peaks he rotates through on the El Zonte surf calendar, and La Cajita Express, the contest he runs where 20 men and five women competed for $1,250. If you’re one of the El Salvador expats wondering how the town treats a foreigner opening a business, Mike asks him directly. His answer is short and worth hearing from him. A family bet everything on a small box on the beach and El Zonte showed up for them! Whether you’re weighing a business of your own in El Salvador or you want to know what’s behind the burger Mike keeps ordering, listen to this one. —Bitcoin Beach Team Learn more about Antoine Allain: X: https://x.com/LaCajitaKitchen IG: https://www.instagram.com/lacajitakitchen Support and follow Bitcoin Beach: X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode: 00:00 Intro 01:02 Why did Antoine Allain move from Santa Barbara to El Zonte, El Salvador? 03:27 How do you start a restaurant on Bitcoin Beach in El Zonte with no experience in El Salvador? 05:39 What is Max Keiser’s restaurant in El Salvador and how did he become a partner in La Cajita? 10:13 How much does Max Keiser’s promotion help a small business in El Zonte? 13:40 Can a foreigner start a business in El Salvador and how do locals treat expats? 17:39 How hard are taxes and permits for starting a business in El Salvador? 19:59 Can you pay with Bitcoin in El Zonte and does it bring businesses more customers? 21:56 What is living in El Salvador like after moving from the US with your family? 25:14 What is the La Cajita Express surf contest in El Zonte and when is the next one? Live From Bitcoin Beach

    This French Family Sold Everything, Moved to El Salvador and Started a Business in El Zonte | Antoine Allain of La Cajita Kitchen

  3. Oct 17

    What Happens to Your Bitcoin If You Die? How a Texan in El Zonte Built a Free Tool for Your Family | Eric Summers of The Bitcoin Hardware Store

    What happens to your Bitcoin if you die tomorrow? In El Zonte, one builder’s answer is a dead man switch and an encrypted seed phrase. If you practice self custody, your 12 or 24 words are stored somewhere safe. How your family would ever reach them is the question Eric Summers set out to solve. Mike first met Eric as the math tutor for one of his son’s friends. Eric’s story of moving to El Salvador begins in Texas in 2023, when a Salvadoran friend told him to come look. He stayed 10 days with his friend’s parents in San Salvador and flew home sure the country checked all his boxes. Then he loaded everything he owned into a Toyota Tacoma and drove to El Salvador, a month down the Pacific coast through Mexico and Guatemala. Border agents took his drone headset for night vision goggles. What they took his telescope for, you’ll have to hear from him. He found El Zonte, started working at the Bitcoin hardware store, and saw what was missing. He’d venture to say 90 to 95% of Bitcoiners have no recovery method for their families. So he built two free, open source tools. One encrypts your seed phrase so thoroughly that he says you could post it on Twitter. The other is the dead man switch, an email check-in that sends your beneficiary the final key if you stop clicking for three months, six months, or a year. Then Mike asked about the weak point. If your heir loses their key, the Bitcoin is gone. Eric’s answer is in the episode. Living in El Salvador gave Eric a second job too. For expats living in El Salvador on the coast, the bilingual college prep schools are in the capital, so he tutors homeschool families one on one. This is why El Salvador is such a good place to build! Whether you hold your own keys with no plan for your family, or you’re weighing a move to El Zonte, listen to this one. —Bitcoin Beach Team Learn more about Eric Summers: X: https://x.com/ericscalibur X (store): x.com/tbhs_sv IG: https://www.instagram.com/ericscalibur/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/@ericscalibur Web: https://ericscalibur.github.io/ Github: https://github.com/ericscalibur Support and follow Bitcoin Beach: X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode: 00:00 Intro 02:05 Moving to El Salvador from the USA, why did Eric Summers leave Texas? 04:23 Can you drive to El Salvador from Texas, and how long does it take? 10:10 What is El Zonte, El Salvador like for a Bitcoiner living there? 15:33 What happens to your Bitcoin when you die? 18:30 How does a dead man’s switch email work for Bitcoin inheritance planning? 21:19 How do you pay employees in Bitcoin using Lightning payments on Blink? 24:29 How do you encrypt a seed phrase? SeedSigner tutorial, step by step 39:07 Is there a homeschool tutor for expat families living in El Salvador? 45:11 Dead man switch vs multisig, which is the easier self custody backup? Live From Bitcoin Beach

    What Happens to Your Bitcoin If You Die? How a Texan in El Zonte Built a Free Tool for Your Family | Eric Summers of The Bitcoin Hardware Store

  4. Oct 10

    He Grew Up With Gang Members in El Salvador. Now He Runs a Car Shop That Takes Bitcoin. | Byron Espinoza of Taller Automotriz Express

    Is El Salvador safe enough to run a business that takes Bitcoin and go running at night? This Salvadoran entrepreneur says yes! Mike sits down with Byron Espinoza, a young Salvadoran who opened a car repair shop with his cousin at 23. He grew up in a neighborhood where the gang members were his childhood friends, and he's had guns pointed at him more than once. So when neighbors warned him that drug dealers would show up at his new shop and pressure him to sell for them, he was afraid. It never happened. The crackdown on El Salvador gangs was underway, the extortion payments that drove many businesses under came to an end, and Byron says business owners finally keep what they earn. Today he feels comfortable running his shop anywhere. That freedom let the shop grow in a direction he didn't expect. About three months after opening, a Bitcoiner named Richard started bringing him cars to check, on one condition. Byron had to accept Bitcoin. He was nervous, studied it, and said yes. Customers pay him in Bitcoin today, he decides whether to keep it or move it to dollars, and he's encouraging his friends to start accepting it in their businesses too. Taking Bitcoin brought him customers most local shops never see. For expats living in El Salvador who don't speak Spanish, a mechanic who speaks English and accepts Bitcoin is a big benefit, and 20 to 25% of Byron's customers are foreigners. For anyone browsing cars in El Salvador for sale, his used car inspection checks the VIN history for hidden damage and mileage before they commit. He tells the story of an American couple who skipped a car agency because so few accept Bitcoin, and says that if he ran one, he'd take it without thinking twice. Byron is honest about what the change has cost. El Salvador crime hasn't disappeared, he has noticed theft that didn't happen before, and two of his friends were arrested without evidence and have spent two years in jail. He sees all of it as a process the country is still working through. He calls himself a survivor of the old El Salvador who can go out at 11 at night, and Mike calls him one of the success stories of the new one! If you're thinking about opening a business here or accepting Bitcoin, listen to this one first. —Bitcoin Beach Team Learn more about Byron Espinoza: Mobile #: +503 6863 2519 IG: https://www.instagram.com/tallerexpressx/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/p/Taller-Automotriz-Express-61555288906787/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tallerautomotrizexpress Support and follow Bitcoin Beach: X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode: 00:00 Intro 01:44 How did a young Salvadoran start a repair shop in El Salvador? 03:39 Why do expats living in El Salvador do car preventive maintenance? 06:50 What's it like starting a business in El Salvador at 23? 10:42 How did a Salvadoran mechanic start accepting Bitcoin payments? 13:39 Can you buy a car with Bitcoin in El Salvador? 15:36 Buying cars in El Salvador, imported used car or agency car? 19:11 Can a used car inspection and VIN check spot odometer fraud? 21:40 Is El Salvador safe after the crackdown on El Salvador gangs? 36:59 Where to find a mechanic in El Salvador that accepts Bitcoin?  Live From Bitcoin Beach

    He Grew Up With Gang Members in El Salvador. Now He Runs a Car Shop That Takes Bitcoin. | Byron Espinoza of Taller Automotriz Express

  5. Oct 3

    What's Coming to El Salvador's Bitcoin Economy Is Bigger Than Anyone Expected | Jose Rodriguez of Nodeman

    Is El Salvador the freest country on earth for a Bitcoin business, or the most heavily KYC'd place a Bitcoiner could choose? Anyone who has bought El Salvador real estate lately has an opinion, and so does the lawyer who reads the regulations for a living. You already know this is Bitcoin Country. What you can't tell from the outside is why the El Salvador banks turned Bitcoin companies away for years, what the digital assets law lets you build here, and who is actually asking the questions at a property closing. Mike sits down with Jose Rodriguez, a lawyer with Nodeman, a Bitcoin-centric legal firm that helped draft some of these regulations and has followed this since day one. Jose explains the bank refusals in layers. The first is political and goes back to who owned the banks when the Bitcoin Law passed. The second is the AML KYC pressure that reaches every Salvadoran bank through FATF, GAFILAT and the US correspondent accounts it depends on to move money in and out of the country. Then he explains what changed in the US that finally opened the doors. Three banks now hold licenses, and a Bitcoin bank is on the way. Then the conversation turns to KYC requirements on property. Jose describes who is asking where a buyer's money came from, and in most cases it isn't the seller. He also says the KYC regulations changed recently, raising the threshold from $1,000 to $25,000, while one government office still hasn't issued the guidelines eight months later. Buying property in El Salvador should look different once that clears. The second half covers the Digital Assets Law. Jose describes what real estate tokenization means today, which company structure makes it legal, and the two laws still standing between El Salvador and a property title that lives on a token. He's blunt about lawyers who wave through deals they don't understand. El Salvador has spent five years writing clear rules for Bitcoin businesses, and this is what those rules look like from inside the paperwork! If you're planning to run a business here, bank here, or buy here, listen to this one before you sign anything. —Bitcoin Beach Team Learn more about Jose Rodriguez: X: https://x.com/nodemanbtc Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nodeman Website: https://nodeman.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nodemanbtc/ Email: j@nodeman.co Support and follow Bitcoin Beach: X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode: 00:00 Intro 01:55 Why did El Salvador banks refuse Bitcoin companies after the Bitcoin Law? 04:21 How do FATF and GAFILAT rules apply to Bitcoin in El Salvador? 09:19 How many El Salvador banks work with Bitcoin companies in 2026? 15:15 What are the KYC requirements for buying property in El Salvador? 18:42 Does the bank or the seller do KYC on a Bitcoin real estate purchase in El Salvador? 22:16 Is there no KYC under $25,000 in El Salvador under the new regulations? 23:14 What is El Salvador's Digital Assets Law and is it Bitcoin-only? 35:25 Is real estate tokenization legal in El Salvador? 39:34 What license does a Bitcoin business need to operate in El Salvador? Live From Bitcoin Beach

    What's Coming to El Salvador's Bitcoin Economy Is Bigger Than Anyone Expected | Jose Rodriguez of Nodeman

  6. Sep 26

    Bitcoin Lawyer: What the IMF Didn't Change in El Salvador's Legal Tender Law | Jose Rodriguez of Nodeman

    Is Bitcoin still legal tender in El Salvador? Plenty of people say it isn't, so Mike put the question to a Salvadoran lawyer who has followed every change to the law. You've seen the IMF headlines and decided the experiment ended. What you can't see from outside is how the El Salvador economy looks to someone who was born here, practiced law through the worst years, and now builds his firm on Bitcoin. Mike sat down with Jose Rodriguez, founder of Nodeman, a Bitcoin-centric legal service provider in San Salvador. Jose became a lawyer in 2008, lost money on a taxi app before Uber arrived, got fired in 2016, went surfing at Sunzal to celebrate, and never went back to a job. Jose has compared more than 15 jurisdictions, and he'll tell you what still makes El Salvador legal tender law different from every one of them, even after the changes cut articles out of it. He and Mike don't fully agree on what El Salvador IMF pressure should have changed about the government's options, and that disagreement is the best part of the conversation. Then there's El Salvador tax. In 2021 you could pay Ministerio de Hacienda in Bitcoin through Chivo Wallet. Today there's no direct option, and Mike pushes Jose on why the government hasn't set up a third party to convert it the way it already accepts cards. Jose's answer comes down to who carries the risk, and it isn't the answer Mike wanted. For anyone weighing El Salvador business opportunities, Jose is blunt about what an El Salvador business still runs into: company formation, corporate structure, banking. Nodeman grew from one desk to a 10-person team and has kept adding people since, and he turns clients away when they don't fit. Living in El Salvador through 2012 and the years since gives Jose a longer memory than most people arguing about this country online. He calls this a renaissance, and he says it while admitting the government still runs a fiat treasury with a Bitcoin treasury off to the side. A Salvadoran lawyer who reads every Bitcoin book he can find and gives his baby son a self-custody wallet is exactly who this country needed in the room! If you're deciding whether El Salvador is still a place to build on Bitcoin, listen to this one before you make the call. Part two comes next week. —Bitcoin Beach Team Learn more about Jose Rodriguez: X: https://x.com/nodemanbtc Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nodeman Website: https://nodeman.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nodemanbtc/ Email: j@nodeman.co Support and follow Bitcoin Beach: X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode: 00:00 Intro 00:59 Who is Jose Rodriguez, the Bitcoin lawyer in El Salvador? 05:26 What was it like starting a tech business in El Salvador before the Bitcoin Law? 10:09 Are electronic signatures and digital contracts legal in El Salvador? 13:09 How did the pandemic change the legal industry in El Salvador? 16:05 What happened in El Salvador when Bitcoin became legal tender in 2021? 19:01 How do you go from shitcoiner to Bitcoin maxi? 23:43 What is Nodeman, the Bitcoin law firm in El Salvador? 31:29 Is Bitcoin still legal tender in El Salvador after the IMF? 35:04 Can you pay taxes in Bitcoin in El Salvador? Live From Bitcoin Beach

    Bitcoin Lawyer: What the IMF Didn't Change in El Salvador's Legal Tender Law | Jose Rodriguez of Nodeman

  7. Sep 19

    Escaping Canada for Bitcoin Country: Was the Cost of Living in El Salvador Worth It? | Charity Hagenaars of Making it in El Salvador

    Would you put your kids in public schools in El Salvador, 40 to a class and no English spoken, to give them a future you couldn't see in Canada? Charity Hagenaars did. Her family of five lives on $3,000 to $3,500 a month, and if you've searched cost of living in El Salvador you've probably seen her videos on living in El Salvador. What you can't see from a video is whether rent in El Salvador comes with a stove, or whether a public school takes report cards printed in Ontario. I sat down with Charity, a retired Canadian government worker, former foster parent, and YouTuber who moved her family from Ontario to Lourdes in August 2024. Her $850 house has four bedrooms and sits in a complex with pools and soccer fields, where six families of expats living in El Salvador have built a small community. Getting there meant Marketplace listings that were photos of posters on telephone poles, and leases where leaving early costs the full year. Car shopping took a friend, a mechanic, and seven phone numbers, because the Chivo ATM caps withdrawals at $1,000 a day per number and she needed $7,000 in cash for a car she ended up passing on. Opening a bank account took a residency card and an hour in the waiting room, and then Banco Agrícola made her wait three months before YouTube could wire her a dollar. Bitcoin and Wise carried the family's money down instead. She'll also tell you what happened at Dollar City when the cashier skipped Lightning. The school story is the honest one. Her daughter got the same classmates two years running, was bullied, and stopped learning, so she's in a homeschool hub now. Her older son is out too, halfway through grade 11. Charity funded the school's parking lot and paint through her channel anyway. Then there's the spare bedroom. Two months ago Maria, the grandmother of two boys from Charity's Saturday English class, lost her home, and Charity offered the room. The boys swim every day. Her WhatsApp group grew to almost 200 members, about 30% already here, four more arriving this week. Some came to retire in El Salvador on a pension, and young families came because they couldn't see a future where they were. If you want an expat El Salvador group that screens out the salesmen, she runs one. Charity describes what it costs a foreigner to live here so nobody arrives with the wrong picture, then chose to stay and put eight people under one roof. That's what belief in this country looks like! If you're weighing moving to El Salvador with kids or a pension, listen to this one. —Bitcoin Beach Team Learn more about Charity Hagenaars: X: https://x.com/HagenaarsFamily WhatsApp: 503-7291-1480 Website: https://hagenaars.com/ Email Address: YouTube@Hagenaars.com YouTube Channel(Main): https://www.youtube.com/@HagenaarsFamily YouTube Channel(2nd): https://www.youtube.com/MakingItInElSalvador Support and follow Bitcoin Beach: X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode: 00:00 Intro 02:53 Why are Bitcoiners moving to El Salvador from Canada? 07:23 Is Canada safe for Bitcoiners after frozen bank accounts and the trucker convoy? 09:10 How to rent a house in El Salvador as a foreigner 12:47 Where do expats live in El Salvador: Lourdes, the beach, or San Salvador? 15:47 How to buy a used car in El Salvador and what to check first 25:40 How do expats move money into El Salvador with Bitcoin, Chivo ATM, Wise, and banks? 35:46 How much does it cost to live in El Salvador for a family of five? 42:15 What is life like for an expat family in El Salvador? 48:15 Are public schools in El Salvador good for expat kids, or is homeschooling better?  Live From Bitcoin Beach

    Escaping Canada for Bitcoin Country: Was the Cost of Living in El Salvador Worth It? | Charity Hagenaars of Making it in El Salvador

  8. Sep 12

    El Salvador's Artificial Intelligence & Bitcoin Explained: What Bukele Made Possible for Salvadorans | Kevin Rivera of TH3 Labs

    How long does Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador have to work before the press admits it worked? Kevin Rivera has been covering this country since the Bitcoin Law passed, and he'll tell you the people writing the obituaries are measuring adoption with a broken clock. He grew up in Chiltiupán, the municipality El Zonte sits under, about 15 to 20 minutes up the road from Bitcoin Beach. He was 20. He heard people down at the beach were taking some kind of digital payment, Googled it, hit the words decentralized technology, and bounced off it completely. He landed at Diario El Salvador covering the economy with zero background in economics, right as the country was about to pass the Bitcoin Law, so he picked up The Bitcoin Standard and started hunting interviews. Max Keiser is the one who took him down the rabbit hole. Kevin saw a tweet saying Max was in the country, cold messaged him, showed up, and got him explaining how Bitcoin works and the role it plays in the financial ecosystem, coming at it from a traditional finance background. Then came Cubo Plus, and this is the part most Bitcoiners outside El Salvador still sleep on. The economics track starts with money itself, how we ended up trading with gold, and how the financial system really works, and only then moves into cypherpunk philosophy and cryptography. Pierre Rochard explains the mining side and Giacomo Zucco is the main teacher, through Plan B Network, which links Cubo Plus El Salvador to students in Lugano and around the world. Kevin says around 1,000 students have come through the program. What they walk out with is the switch from asking how do I survive to asking what can I build. That switch is why he launched TH3 Labs the day we recorded. They build platforms for digital asset service providers, handle asset tokenization on Liquid and Taproot Assets for the new capital markets forming on Bitcoin, and Kevin gets into how L402 Lightning opens the network to AI agents so agentic payments can happen between them without payment server errors breaking the process. His read is that El Salvador's economy will grow through technology and innovation, especially once the small businesses that make up 90 percent of the businesses here get tools to export. Kevin also wants to bring something back to Chiltiupan, which still has poverty in some areas while the rest of the country runs ahead. That part stuck with me. He's trying to be the guy kids in his hometown can point at. If this one hits, subscribe and send it to the friend who still calls Bitcoin a Ponzi at family dinners. Then drop a comment telling us what you'd build if you had legal clarity, two solid devs, and a government that wanted you to ship. Kevin's already building, so the clock's running. —Bitcoin Beach Team Learn more about Kevin Rivera: X: https://x.com/kealrive22 X: https://x.com/th3labssv Web: https://www.th3labs.com/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kevinrivera_token Support and follow Bitcoin Beach: X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH: https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode: 00:00 Intro 02:58 What did locals think when Bitcoin Beach started in El Zonte? 07:55 How to learn Bitcoin from zero without a finance background? 10:59 What did Max Keiser teach a Salvadoran journalist about Bitcoin? 15:14 What is Cubo Plus and what do you learn in the program? 21:47 What is the Plan B Network and what do they teach in Lugano? 25:58 How Bitcoin changed the builder mindset in El Salvador 29:11 How to start an AI and Bitcoin company in El Salvador? 34:58 What is L402 and how do AI agents pay each other on Lightning? 42:58 Is Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador actually working?  Live From Bitcoin Beach

    El Salvador's Artificial Intelligence & Bitcoin Explained: What Bukele Made Possible for Salvadorans | Kevin Rivera of TH3 Labs
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Live From Bitcoin Beach! This channel is an opportunity to showcase the thoughts and views of Bitcoiners coming through El Zonte, El Salvador.Also known as Bitcoin Beach, this location is ground zero of the Bitcoin and Orange Pill revolution sweeping the nation since President Nayib Bukele made Bitcoin legal tender.We showcase the bustling Salvadoran Bitcoin community, thriving day-to-day using BTC as actual money.From local Bitcoiners to to well-known figures like Giacomo Zucco of Plan B Network, Francis Pouliot of Bull Bitcoin, Robert Breedlove of the What Is Money Show, Max Keiser & Stacy Herbert, Greg Foss of Looking Glass Education, Dr. Jack Kruse of Kruse Longevity Center, and many others, we'll provide an insider's perspective on how Bitcoin adoption in El Salvador is reshaping the landscape locally and globally.We will also be discussing practical tips for those considering moving to El Salvador.Make sure to subscribe and leave us a review on all podcast platforms!

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