This Tiny El Salvador Town Has a Thriving Bitcoin Economy

El Zonte, a rustic beach town of just 3,000 people located on the coast of El Salvador in North America, uses bitcoin (BTC) as its sole currency and medium of exchange. However, El Zonte, a tiny rustic town of just 3,000 locals situated on the coast of El Salvador, with no banks or money services businesses, or ATMs, has created a buzzing Bitcoin economy for itself, thanks to the generous six-figure donation of an anonymous bitcoin big whale to the town.

Per sources close to the matter, the anonymous donor partnered with one Michael Peterson, to launch the Bitcoin Beach project, an initiative that seeks to create a sustainable bitcoin economy that would foster financial inclusion for both unbanked residents and businesses in El Zonte that do not meet the requirements for credit card acceptance. To circumvent the scalability challenges of the Bitcoin network and make it easier for residents to send micropayments, the Bitcoin Beach initiative has also integrated the Lightning Network into its processes, adopting Wallet of Satoshi as the town’s preferred wallet, since it supports both on and off-chain transactions.

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