'From El Salvador to the World'

Earlier this month we closed the nostr:nprofile1qqs0vzw43dp9x3v8drvm4udj326dld0ku6gdnxajwcxg8h36ssxrags952hav office in El Salvador. This was one of the final steps in transitioning what had begun as a local project in El Salvador in 2021 into an international movement.

It was bittersweet--the future shines as bright as it ever has for the project, but there were some great memories in that house

We opened the house in May 2022 and since then it has served as a kind of everything house for us. The second floor hosted our node and important documents, but the main purpose was for living. At all times one or two people lived there permanently and visiting staff from the far corners of El Salvador then the world would often stay temporarily.

Downstairs was an office, co-working space and a school, depending on the day. It was also a social space where plenty of students made their first bitcoin transactions, buying discounted food and drink with sats.

My favorite space was the backyard. There was a waterfall into a self-sustaining pond full of life. It's also where we painted a mural of the world, coloring each new nation orange as our educators network expanded. I spent many long hours, the peaceful sound of the pond behind and the map of the world in front of me, thinking through our ambitious vision of reimagining human potential via bitcoin education.

When the mural was first painted, in 2023, the world was almost entirely green. As time progressed it became ever more orange. The tagline at the bottom predicted the future years in advance: 'From El Salvador to the world'

2026 is going to be a hell of a year. LFG!

see you in Medellin!

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read this & support #freesamourai

Privacy is a fundamental human right and we must defend it with everything we have, for if we lose it, we lose so much more

https://www.therage.co/letter-1-keonne-rodriguez/

i get your point but also think there's plenty of magical things that are actually true. all the time and energy spent of santa can redirected

My earlist childhood mememory is discoving Santa isn't real and being enraged with my parents for lying to me

I plan to never lie to my children about Santa. This was the last Christmas where they are too young to even ask (oldest is 2)

Any parents with some fresh experience with this, this year that they can share some best practices from?

Had a great time chatting with nostr:nprofile1qyvhwue69uhkyat8d4skutndva6hjtnwv46r5dpcxsuqz9nhwden5te0vfjhgcfwdehhxarjd9kzucmpd5qzqxvfqd89dw8kqmrjfaz6zt8gfggcg93p4tm3s2slv4jrszuugfmt74rjkj

The IMF was the enemy yesterday

The IMF is the enemy today

The IMF will be the enemy tomorrow

Know your enemy

https://youtu.be/miWc1mymTa0?si=2KR01CCDn3xP7Thf

Source: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2025/12/22/pr25440-el-salvador-imf-staff-statement-on-el-salvador

The IMF loan to El Salvador is delayed

The loan was scheduled to be disbursed over a 40 month period, with a review before each disbursement. This is the first official news of the delay, but this review and disbursement had been due months ago

Lots of possible reasons, though this does clarify one pending question: Chivo has not yet been sold (the original deadline had been July 31, 2025). It's unlikely that alone would cause a delay though

Presuming this is only a delay, it will also mean that the original 40 month period will be extended along with it's conditions

Depends on the particular topic

The concerns I had 3 months ago continue to concern me, while other great things are still great.

Good morning from El Salvador!

yes

at a certain point the marketing will diverge so much from reality that it will become a liability rather than an asset. In the long run, El Salvador would be better off without it's Bitcoin Marketing Office

The final 32minutes

This is an incredibly special and valuable book

Will a bidding war break out?

Will someone get it for a steal?

👀👀👀👀

https://scarce.city/auctions/history-of-bitcoin-first-edition

Huge gratitude to Smashtoshi and all of the 128 artists who contributed to the Bitcoin History art book

It is truly a masterpiece

And not only have they put in tremendous effort to document the history of bitcoin, they are also focused on preserving the future by making independent bitcoin education the beneficiary of the auction

They are the heroes we need

Just three hours left to bid!

https://scarce.city/auctions/history-of-bitcoin-first-edition

nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyehwumn8ghj7mnhvvh8qunfd4skctnwv46z7ctewe4xcetfd3khsvrpdsmk5vnsw96rydr3v4jrz73hvyu8xqpqsg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q8dzj6n nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqgdwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkcqpqs05p3ha7en49dv8429tkk07nnfa9pcwczkf5x5qrdraqshxdje9sgew2ua nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyv8wumn8ghj7urjv4kkjatd9ec8y6tdv9kzumn9wsqzqpxfzhdwlm3cx9l6wdzyft8w8y9gy607tqgtyfq7tekaxs7lhmxf5dcd8v nostr:nprofile1qyghwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2tcqypn4hp87wh3pd2u5036r3mj3njnhw5mkmhc9mt0m5cnch5qju8tjskrhtdw nostr:nprofile1qyx8wumn8ghj7cnjvghxjmcpz4mhxue69uhk2er9dchxummnw3ezumrpdejqqg9rg869l7t43ats5gdsqrqh6njn5wjf0jpe0unvpekkredvllr6nqwfmhjz

The Bitcoin History book auction, which ends in 6 hours and benefits independent bitcoin education, is incredibly important

Why?

Education is always captured by whoever funds it, this is a big part of why education as a whole is broken and teaches us what to think, rather than how to think (and why financial literacy is so low around the world)

At nostr:nprofile1qqs0vzw43dp9x3v8drvm4udj326dld0ku6gdnxajwcxg8h36ssxrags952hav we are creating a proof-of-concept for a new way forward by rejecting all government and corporate money. We are funded by the community which currently manifests itself mostly via grants and individual donations but we need to continue to expand that and auctions such as this are showing us the way

We need more auctions that benefit independent bitcoin education. We need more initiatives that shave off a percent of profit and funnel it into something the community both controls and benefits from (such as a bitcoin ETF fees to nostr:nprofile1qythwumn8ghj7ct5d3shxtnwdaehgu3wd3skuep0qyt8wumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgtcqypu8xwr40lp96ewdj2fef408wy70gd3carf9n6xu7hrnhq6whpgly925h0z )

Introductory bitcoin education needs to create different funding models to create the right incentives. It's still early enough that we can entrench new norms--otherwise we risk falling into the same trap that fiat education has and thus blunting some of the revolutionary potential of bitcoin

There's 6 hours left on this auction. Let's blow this up. Tell your friends, place a bid, share this

Let's fucking go!

https://scarce.city/auctions/history-of-bitcoin-first-edition

17 hours left, current bid 15,000,000 sats

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30 hours left, current bid is 14,000,000 sats

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throwback to a barefoot panel I did last month at nostr:nprofile1qqs9fmyl5qqak2wee7qfu2f8wyrzmx9zgakfkccx9pgtht52gdgm4hcpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqpzfmhxue69uhk7enxvd5xz6tw9ec82cs0seyg6

(it was about the connection between sound money & sound health, we all just happened to be barefoot)

more barefoot panels at conferences!

Read mire & bid here: https://scarce.city/auctions/history-of-bitcoin-first-edition

In two days an incredible auction ends

I have seen this book and its hard to overstate how special it is. Let me highlight one cool aspect--the book itself is covered in orange bull leather. BULL, not cow. The entire project is full of these incredible details

The limited edition books will be extremely special and will retail for $4,600, but the real gem is the 1 of 1 first edition. That orange bull leather will be inside a case made out fossil oak wood that was already 3,000 years old when Jesus was born. Auctions are tough to predict, esp if art, but to say this is priceless would be an understandment. I'd expect it go for well over a bitcoin, but who knows, maybe someone gets a deal or maybe theres a bidding war (and independent bitcoin education gets a windfall). In any event, check out the page linked in the first comment to learn more

2 days left, current bid is 7,250,000 sats

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Bitcoin is money. I strongly believe that's it's most valuable use case

In order to make sure that is the future of Bitcoin there is something extremely important you must do today....

Use Bitcoin as money. Earn it for your work & spend it for your wants and needs. And if you want to do even more, make it easier for others to do the same via education or technology

A bit more extreme than even this imo but basically this. I don't think we will be willing to make that trade off. Others will make it. To each his own

Good morning from El Salvador

Looking fwd to reading

I'm also skeptical, but we should all be willing to change our opinions when we get new info/ perspectives

NO WAR

Good morning from El Salvador

We are now in DAY 119 since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF (effective since 30 April)

Yesterday the IMF released it's first staff-level review of the agreement which says El Salvador is following through on its commitments. Regarding Bitcoin it only mentioned the prohibition of the state accumulating new bitcoin and the pending sale of Chivo (the govt bitcoin wallet). A link to the full review is in the comments

This should serve as a reminder of how long the IMF loan process is and how early we are in that process. There have been some effects on the ground already--for example since earlier this month the govt can no longer accept bitcoin--but most effects are still to come. The IMF will have inside access to all things relating to the terms on the agreement and will regularly review compliance for years. Also, there remain many deadlines pending over the next months (such as the sale of Chivo)

time will tell. there tons of questions right now but less answers

my position basically comes down to...if you lay down with dogs you get fleas

this will give the IMF deep access and influence over any future Bitcoin related policy while the deal is still active which could be for quite awhile.

Good morning from El Salvador

We are now in Day Three since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF

Some updates...

After skipping a few days for the first time since the 'bitcoin-a-day' program began, the govt seems to have made up for it and purchased 5 bitcoin yesterday. No word on what happened earlier in the week, but good to see they are back on track. As far as I can tell, this program will not be affected by the IMF deal, at least not at first, though we shall see

No other updates from on the ground, but in being very vocal in my opposition to removing legal tender status at the behest of the IMF I have learned a lot about the Bitcoin community. One major surprise is how little Bitcoiners seem to know about how the IMF works

This isn't just some loan. This isn't about the law changes El Salvador quietly pushed through earlier this week. This is about power, and how much leverage the IMF now has in determining El Salvador's future. If the govt decided, you know what, we need to update some laws. Great. But, that's not what happened. They are now making law changes cause Daddy IMF wants it, not cause they do. Expect more of the same now. This is the IMF playbook, always has been

Some background on me: I've been strongly opposed to the IMF since 2001 when I first realized thier actual role in the world. For more than two decades I've been protesting them. Literally. My first IMF related arrest was in 2002. I never worked for them, but I worked for the UN and UNICEF for over 10 years and got some insight into the global bureaucracy that the IMF was born out of. I've also travelled the globe--to more than 70 nations--, working as a journalist and seeing with my own eyes how the IMF has shaped the world

When I first heard about Bitcoin, I understand its potential instantly. I literally sold everything I had (which as a nomadic anarchist was not much) and went all in (I lost that entire first purchase when the exchange was hacked and later, the UK govt seized all my assets cause I was selling p2p bitcoin and they didnt like one of my customers). I understood Bitcoin immediately as a solution because I was already neck deep in the problem, which is best represented by the IMF and how they use 'loans' to control the world and shape our future.

There was only one other time in my life when I dropped everything and went all in. El Salvador in 2021, when they announced Bitcoin as legal tender, and implicitly, gave the finger to the IMF. I've built a life here. My son was born here. Whatever its faults, that this nation was willing to resist the IMF made this place incredibly special to me. Maybe you can understand why this news has hit me so hard

But I digress. I had wrongly assumed that the why & the how of the IMF was widely known among Bitcoiners. I've come to realize over the past few days that most think of the IMF as simply an organization that gives loans to nation states

I'm going to write more in the coming days and weeks about the IMF to try and help people understand how that org works. Any good beginner resources to recommend for those just getting started?