0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BTCLNAT 43m \ on: Donald Trump pays for food at a bar using #Bitcoin bitcoin
That a celebrity uses Bitcoin is not really bad. What is bad is that he does it for a purpose that is not in accordance with what Bitcoin represents.
Mr. Trump, in a manifest political propaganda, attends an institution recognized by the Bitcoin community of the world and attracts cameras and media to see him supposedly make a payment in Bitcoin, and I say supposedly because he did not have the slightest intention of touching the mobile device, fear of what? Is it not his own device to make a payment with the SATs that are under his control?
Politics and politicking stopped mattering to me 18 years ago. But in all honesty, Mr. Bukele never made so many appearances to say that he was going to support and adopt Bitcoin. 2019 he is elected president, 2021 Bitcoin is legal tender in El Salvador, he started buying, against all criteria, 1 BTC daily, he has set up miners near the volcano to take advantage of geothermal energy, he has supported the creation of private Bitcoin Banks for investments, he has supported and promoted the circular economy.
I don't mind if anyone adopts Bitcoin. But I can't agree with the fact that someone uses Bitcoin for anything other than actually adopting Bitcoin and promoting the adoption of Bitcoin.
I also respect everyone's criteria, that is freedom of expression.
Learning and sharing. It's amazing how much I was missing out on before I learned about Bitcoin. That's why it's so important that we do everything we can to educate about Bitcoin and everything that Bitcoin entails. But thinking very seriously about the fundamental laws of stupidity, we cannot underestimate the number of stupid people, stupid people will be stupid no matter the circumstances, in every circle or group there are stupid people and very importantly, stupid people are dangerous.
I understand that not all areas are the same, the background of each region also counts. Here the Ponzzi scams were brutal, and there are even several people who, when they are told about Bitcoin, the answer is "a relative of mine was involved in that and they were scammed," although as Ernesto from Mi Escuelita Bitcoin once said, people are scammed with fiat money and no one blames either the fiat money or the banks.
But I would like to know some suggestions on how to awaken interest in people, what phrases have you used, something that will help me. Brother, today thanks to you I realized that I was wrong. Will we have many H8s?
My inner theory of why Bitcoin is hard to adopt
Since I learned about Bitcoin and have exchanged with the community and read about Bitcoin and its adoption, I always thought that adoption was limited by technical and language issues.
On the one hand, I thought that it would be difficult for people to create a wallet, even more so for self-custody, so I always defended the possibility of starting with custody like WoS, so they wouldn't have to get into technicalities of opening channels or seed phrases. Of course, I understand that they are not the best option, but I had hope that it would work.
On the other hand, almost everything related to Bitcoin is in English, and so that would be another impediment for people to adopt it. Of course, I also thought that if we, those of us who already know something, make an effort and explain it to them in a brief and simple way, at least the subject of fast, secure and free transactions; then people would be more willing to accept using Bitcoin as a payment currency.
An opportunity arises
Today @DarthCoin invited me to do an experiment. He would pay me for a beer with Bitcoin if I helped any non-coiner shop assistant who accepted payment in SATs, I would help this person set up a wallet and then he would make the payment. What I liked most about the experiment was not the beer, @DarthCoin knows that, it was the possibility of testing my inner theory that if I made it easier for adoption, people would be willing.
Something that surprises
Thinking that the established PoW was not very complicated, I went out to some establishments near my house.
I spoke to the shop assistant at the first establishment and explained my goal of buying a beer that would be paid for by a friend who was miles away with Bitcoin and that I would help him receive the payment on his own phone.
That even served to test a very useful form of payment and that no one could track, here merchants do not like to receive electronic payments so that the government does not control what they earn or spend.
The answer: "No man, that's a scam." No matter how much I tried to explain, nothing at all.
Well I had no choice but to go to another establishment. I explained again and even showed him that I had the fiat money to pay for the beer if something went wrong. The answer "Brother, I am not the owner of the business, and that size does not fit me" , I even proposed that he agree to do the test and that I would pay him for the SATs that he received the price of the beer in fiat. But nothing.
History repeats itself
I visited 3 more establishments, the same explanation, similar answers.
The experiment proposed by @DarthCoin could not be carried out, he cannot drink beer and the worst thing is, I could not help someone see the benefits of adopting Bitcoin for business.
Conclusions
First I am very sorry to have disappointed you, friend @DarthCoin. If you allow me to try tomorrow in a different area of the town, it is possible that we can achieve it.
But I answered my Inner Theory of the possible causes of why Bitcoin does not advance in adoption: IT IS NOT THE TECHNICALITIES, IT IS NOT THE LANGUAGE
IT IS THE MENTALITY AND CONDUCT OF THE PEOPLE
I thank you for that information. It really shows that when you want you can, there is a platform here that uses USSD for digital payments, but it belongs to the telecommunications monopoly here, so implementing the use of this technology to pay with SATs is difficult, if not impossible.
The other thing is how Nagako is translating for her people. That shows the commitment.
I have no justification for not educating and adopting Bitcoin
Language is a very important factor in the development of a project. Most of the information about Bitcoin is in English, certainly everyone should be responsible for their education, but if we want to educate everyone, because Bitcoin is for everyone, we should have information in native languages. Of course, it doesn't make sense for an English-speaking person to prepare information in Spanish, but why don't those in the Spanish-speaking world do it in Spanish?
SN is a good example of this. But then there is the other factor, the community. While a good part of English-speaking people are taking advantage of the benefits of this platform, I have noticed people in Spanish-speaking communities looking for where to stack SATs and looking for 100% scam platforms because they are not sustainable and are not PoW.
Bitcoin is the solution to everything. But communities in each region must work hard on education. In principle it will take sacrifice, but there will be rewards.
Smart people strive to do good for others and this pays off in a greater good.
I don't think a child should be taught about Bitcoin.
I AM SURE THAT BITCOIN AND EVERYTHING IT INVOLVES SHOULD BE TAUGHT.
Of course, at all times it is appropriate. Right now Testnet4 is the one that is working and some wallets do not have it yet, especially on mobile, but children always play at buying and selling. Well, it is a good time to use SATs instead of fiat or a piece of paper. Where they can be taught to use their wallet to buy with real SATs. Even in principle they can use custodial wallets and then learn about the rest. They will learn Linux and not Windows. To have a sense of accumulating and not just spending.
I definitely agree.
Among the challenges for Bitcoin adoption and education here are power outages. We've been in the middle of a P2P and the counterparty hasn't been able to finish the operation because the power went out and the available user ran out of battery or sometimes, mobile data towers stop working. Imagine you want to set up a node.
Hardware, power and connection. What do you do?
Don't tell me about the solar panel. Forget it here.
"We quickly learned about the USD exchange rate disparity at the bank versus the street. (1 USD = ~31 EGP at the bank but 37 EGP on the street). This disparity steadily increased during our two-month stay, 41 EGP ➝ 43 EGP ➝ 48 EGP. Economic issues causing this included capital controls, a USD shortage, inflation, and more. This street rate reached as high as 70 EGP in 2024.
As an Egyptian, this meant walking into a bank and not having access to USD or only a limited amount, your credit card could be restricted to foreign usage and ATMs had low limits. During our stay, it was normal to encounter ATMs that were out of cash resulting in long lineups at other locations, a common sight in many cities."
Are you sure you were in Egypt? Wouldn't you be in Cuba?
That is the behavior in Cuba. Of course, with dollar accounts here, it can take months for you to be able to withdraw "your money" from the bank.
They are thermoelectric plants, which generate electricity from fuel and Cuban crude oil, in the case of the island where I live. They are extremely inefficient. There is a solar panel park, but they obviously do not generate enough. As consumption increases, you pay more for each kW used; when you exceed 500 kW of consumption, 25% is added to the total bill.
Good news.
2024, September. El Salvador announces that it will prepare a budget for the country without debt by 2025
This is largely thanks to President Bukele's wise decision to buy BITCOIN, when everyone said it was crazy.
I didn't have the chance to teach my children. Now I'm going to focus on my grandson. He's starting school now. So he'll learn Bitcoin, Linux, fiat money system that steals from everyone, government that exploits humanity. He'll learn the truth
I recently installed Linux Mint, at the suggestion of my friends at Cuba_Bitcoin, so I could use Sparrow better. My first contact with Linux was Knoppix, on bootable CD that I used to repair a machine with problems in Windows, as always Mr. Windows with problems. But then I followed the crowd and kept Windows and my children used the machine with their Windows games and then I was almost forced. Not anymore, now Linux all the time and my youngest son came one day to use my machine and said "in the end you put Linux" but he was surprised by the performance of the machine and how easy it is to use. So here I am with my Linux, learning to take advantage of it.
34 sats \ 1 reply \ @BTCLNAT OP 16 Sep \ parent \ on: Another place in Cuba, same scenes. Photography
Today it is a pile of rubble. A dump and nothing more. People have been destroying the walls to recycle the blocks for building, because there are no blocks or they are very expensive when someone sells them. Potters, like my son and his friends, have been digging and looking for refractory bricks to build their ovens.
The rubble that is left lying around is now being used by a person who grinds it and turns it into stones and other aggregates to sell.
The Isle of Youth was known for its pottery and grapefruit. Now it is neither.
Blink as a BTC and Lightning wallet is a decent option, although it is custodial, but with the concept of StableSat it is very welcoming for people who are concerned about the fluctuation of the Bitcoin price.
Even in one of the answers to frequently asked questions about StableSat, the company Galoy, raises the possibility of a non-custodial wallet in the future, which increases the security of the funds.
The only downside is that to use it from Cuba you have to use a VPN.
It has definitely changed my life. Quoting Jesus Christ, he said, "know the truth and the truth will set you free." Jesus himself said that the word of Jehovah is the truth. That truth frees us from the slavery of governments, rotten wealth and false religions.
But Bitcoin is the truth against the slavery of bandit governments, rotten wealth and also false worship.
The financial and government system has always hidden the reality of fiat money from people. I was never taught anything about money or economics, they told the story however they wanted, one thinking that they were close to fulfilling a dream and that dream getting further and further away. My grandparents telling how in their time everyone ate with 20 cents and I trying to understand why with 8000 pesos I can't even support myself.
Bitcoin has taught me not only about economics, history, money and finance, it has taught me that PoW is the only way to get what we want, but when we get it in the form of BTC, it is safe. It has also taught me to teach, to be a better person, to put V4V into practice, something so far from the minds of people who do not know Bitcoin.
It has changed my life for the better. And in the accompaniment of Bitcoin, I have to say MY FRIENDS FROM CUBA_BITCOIN, along with others who know that they have helped me a lot and STACKER NEWS
It was coming. When Bukele bought BTC at 41k, the market was manipulated and BTC began to fall. Many accused Bukele of being crazy, they even told him "that he had lost money", he very wisely and even-temperedly replied "that I lost money? If I have not sold a single Bitcoin of those I bought"
From that moment on he began to buy 1 BTC daily, the price reached 14k, but he continued buying, time proved him right.
This link takes us to the moment when El Salvador, led by Bukele, pays the public debt before it expired.
Now it will not need funds from the external debt to make its budget.
WHAT OTHER PROOF DO THE BANDITS OF THE GOVERNMENTS WANT? WHAT OTHER PROOF DO THE H8 OF THE VILLAGES WANT?
BITCOIN IS THE ONLY SOLUTION!!!!!
DON'T BE S^INFINITE!!!!