El Zonte is the place we passed on our way to the waves. Today, it’s where people jump to spend some of the best money in human history.
This change has a lot to do with Roman Martinez, co-founder of Bitcoin Beach, a community project that started with beach cleanups and English classes and eventually encouraged nations to issue Bitcoin fiat currency.
In a conversation with Bitcoin News, Roman kept coming back to the same simple truth. If you give people hope for a better future, they will build the future. Bitcoin just happened to be a tool that gave Salvadorans hope.
From surfing lessons to Saturday
Long before it hit the headlines, Roman and co-founder Mike Peterson ran small, unglamorous programs that included English lessons, basic computer skills, and surfing.
“Surfing is also like a lifestyle… There’s a lot of life philosophy in surfing culture.” Roman said. This program has delivered results. Children learned English, secured better jobs, and started small businesses. We progressed one class at a time.
And 2019 has begun.
An anonymous donor from the United States donated Bitcoin to support this effort, but with one condition. As Roman said, “The only condition…was that it couldn’t be converted.” There is no conversion to dollars. Instead, they needed to “teach the community how to use Bitcoin.”
So they did. Children earned degrees through community work and classes, and local stores received Bitcoin for basic funding. The learning curve was short. There was no effect.
They moved quickly when 2020 arrived and tourism fell off a cliff. “We introduced all the families…more or less 500 families to Bitcoin.” Roman said. My wallet has moved to my cell phone. Satellite TV was spent on basic things like internet, food, and school. What started as a reward system has become a safety net and a market.
Then I had a quiet insight. People who once said they couldn’t save suddenly were able to do so. “The problem wasn’t that the pay was too low.” Roman explained.
Without access to banking, families were trapped in a cycle of overspending. Bitcoin finally has a place to hold value over time, and you can hold it for a long time without losing purchasing power.
“The same families now have a place where they can actually store value and start saving money.”
Don’t have cash? No problem!
One of Roman’s favorite examples of how Bitcoin is empowering both locals and tourists involves coconut vendors.
Before Bitcoin, travelers who only had a credit card could not make purchases with Bitcoin. No bank accounts, no point of sale, no sales. After Bitcoin, the same traveler asks, “Can I pay with Bitcoin?” Answer: Yes.
Using Bitcoin as money is no longer a theory. This is a sale that was previously not possible because the vendor could not accept credit cards. That’s important, Roman insists.
For many locals, Bitcoin is not a portfolio asset. This is equivalent to access to a bank. “It’s equal opportunity.” he said. “Being part of what’s happening to grow the community.”
For businesses that already accept cards, Bitcoin offers another advantage. Credit card payments incur fees, which eat into your profits. The calculation is easy. Eliminating these fees means you keep more of your profits.
“You don’t change Bitcoin; Bitcoin changes you.”
Roman believes Bitcoin can do more than just payments. financial education. “Before Bitcoin, most people knew nothing about money.” he said. Learning how money works changes how people behave, what they buy, how they plan, and even how they manage their health. Hope stretches time.
He has seen vendors who started making small Lightning payments when Bitcoin was around $5,000 later come back with “10,000 to 15,000 worth of Bitcoin saved up.” Not everyone was saved, he quickly added. Some people did. And those families served as examples for others.
If you want to sum up his beliefs in one word, it’s Max Kaiser’s mantra, which Roman quotes with a smile. “You don’t change Bitcoin; Bitcoin changes you.”
From one beach to many beaches
In 2021, El Salvador made Bitcoin its legal tender. The world took notice. An investor came. The construction company has arrived. Curious skeptics came along and bought their first Lightning at El Zonte. And Roman’s cell phone exploded.
“There are no secrets.” He teaches people who ask how to copy the model. “All you have to do is work hard and believe in what you’re doing.”
To help the rest of the community take some of the guesswork out, the team created a simple Bitcoin Beach “white paper.” It is not prescriptive, but a 10-page guide that anyone can apply “in any reality, in any community, in any country.”
They also launched a fellowship and grant program to bring local leaders to El Salvador to see Bitcoin in everyday life. Roman said they are currently working with about 70 Bitcoin circular economies around the world, many of them in Africa.
Our gatherings are also expanding. The International Bitcoin Circular Economy Summit was held in El Salvador earlier this year. A regional summit will be held in Mauritius in parallel with the Africa Bitcoin Conference. Another international summit will be held in El Salvador in January of this year.
The goal is simple. The goal is to shorten the path from curiosity to running.
Why Bitcoiners Need to Spend Money and Exchange
Roman has a direct message to Bitcoiners, especially those who fly in, to “spend it.”
He knows there’s a backlash against “never use Bitcoin.” He heard it a thousand times. But to him, that’s a deviation from the mission.
“Bitcoin is everything. It’s an asset. It’s a store of value. It’s money. It’s a financial network.” he said. He worries that if we don’t tap into that aspect of money, we’ll lose the freedom it provides.
His practical advice is to choose Bitcoin’s circular economy for your next trip. “If you’re already in El Salvador, you’ll spend the money.” he said. “Why not convert that money into Bitcoin and use it as Bitcoin?”
Or use the classic spend and replace approach. This means you pay with Sats and then refill your stack. Companies can get signal and volume. Maintain a long-term plan.
When people visit, Roman sees other changes. It means that values become personal. You might not want to give up your seat to Starbucks. But what about paying street vendors in the Bitcoin economy? I feel like that’s different. “For that person in town… it’s access to opportunities that they didn’t have before.”
thanks
If Roman could ask Satoshi Nakamoto one question, what would it be? He laughed.
“I don’t ask any questions. I just say thank you.”
That’s perfect for the guy. He’s not peddling some grand theory. He points to the beach where the children earn their wages by cleaning the streets, where the mother can sell more coconuts and the father is finally able to save money for the family.
He points to the network of countries that took the gamble and the towns that copied the recipe without waiting for permission. Roman says:
“Bitcoin is a collective dream. Some build a circular economy. Some educate. Some write. Some host. And some spend. We all do our part.”
El Zonte showed what happens when these parts click. The waves are still good. So is money.