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The 411 On “Adopting Bitcoin,” A Lightning Network Conference in El Salvador

Perfect timing and place for a Lightning Network Conference. In less than a week, Bitcoin will be legal tender in El Salvador. The Lightning Network was instrumental for this to happen. The real-life case study for the Lightning Network is El Zonte AKA Bitcoin Beach. And in Mid-November, all of those factors will collide in an event aptly titled “Adopting Bitcoin.”

Related Reading | How Big Is Bitcoin’s Lightning Network? The Answer Will Surprise You

This Lightning Network conference comes with a call-to-action as its unofficial slogan, “Unite, focus, collab!” And, by the looks of Adopting Bitcoin’s official Twitter, the tribe responded to the call and will attend en masse. 

Unite, focus, collab! ⚡⚡⚡

"Adopting Bitcoin – A Lightning Summit 2021" #adopt21 brings together the Bitcoin and Lightning communities in El Salvador this November

The focus: transitioning 6+ million people onto the Lightning Network!

More info: https://t.co/WWULQ3STIu

— Adopting Bitcoin (@AdoptingBTC) August 29, 2021

What Characteristics Does This Lightning Network Conference Have?

According to “Adopting Bitcoin‘s” website, their purpose:

“… is bringing together the Bitcoin and Lightning community in San Salvador and El Zonte to create connections and foster the future of money and payments in the Central American republic.”

The Lightning Network Conference has the following characteristics:

  • The team behind the Bitcoin Beach Wallet, Galoy, produced the conference. 
  • “Adopting Bitcoin” is a not-for-profit event.
  • The organizers will donate 100% to support Lightning Network development.
  • The Lightning Network conference will be both in English and in Spanish. 
  • “Adopting Bitcoin” will be live-streamed.
  • They’ll dedicate Tuesday and Wednesday to hard-core conferencing.
  • Thursday they’ll finish the peregrination by visiting the place that started it all, El Zonte. “We will have an organized Bitcoin Bazaar 10a-4p…. with kiosks, stands and food stalls anchored at / near Hope House,” said Galoy’s Co-Founder.

Tuesday and Wednesday are full conference days in San Salvador.

Thursday is more casual in El Zonte. We will have an organized Bitcoin Bazaar 10a-4p…. with kiosks, stands and food stalls anchored at / near Hope House.

R/T bus transport SS <> EZ will be provided.

— Hunter 🌋⚡️🇸🇻 (@btcnyc) August 30, 2021

  • The Lightning Network conference is for “early adopters only.” Tickets can only be purchased with bitcoin over the Lightning Network.
  • “Adopting Bitcoin” is for “developers, businesses and general enthusiasts to network and form in-person connections.” 

Adopting Bitcoin: Lightning Summit in El Salvador. Dates: 16 – 18 November 2021. Tickets can only be paid on the #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork. All proceeds of the conference will be donated to the development of the Lightning Network. https://t.co/vZzQb6MOy9 pic.twitter.com/ivizhyD960

— Bitcoin LightningNetwork+ News ⚡️ (@BTC_LN) August 30, 2021

“Adopting Bitcoin’s” Line Up

Tuesday and Wednesday, the party is in San Salvador’s Sheraton Presidente. Both days contain “Lightning 101” workshops. Among the star lecturers are: 

Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation; podcaster extraordinaire Stephan Livera; Bitnob’s Bernard Parah, from Nigeria, one of the protagonists of this historic transaction; “Bitcoin En Español’s” host Camila Campton; Mónica Taher, Tech & Economic International Affairs for El Salvador; Bitcoin Beach’s Mike Peterson, and Paxful’s Ray Youssef.

Full line-up in the Lightning Network Conference ‘s website.

On Thursday 18, the party moves to El Zonte and ends with a literal Taproot Activation Party in El Tunco. For a video tour of both towns, check this mini-documentary out.

BTC price chart for 08/31/2021 on Cexio | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
About Galoy, Organizers Of The Lightning Network Conference

According to their official website, “Galoy offers easy to use Bitcoin ‘Banking-as-a-Service’ (BaaS) products.” They are responsible for the self-referential official wallet for the Bitcoin Beach project. “In October 2020, we launched our branded “Bitcoin Beach” Lightning Wallet in El Zonte.” Galoy describes itself as:

“… a B2B company, serving organizations that embrace Bitcoin as money. We build on the Bitcoin Protocol and the Layer 2 Lightning Network, utilizing the tools created by the team at Lightning Labs.”

Related Reading | Are The Lightning Network’s Almost-Free Transactions The Killer App BTC Needed?

And now, they’re contributing to the Bitcoin ecosystem with this not-for-profit Lightning Network Conference in El Salvador. One that requires that you actually use the novel network to purchase the coveted ticket. And donates all proceeds to Lightning development. 

Nice.

Featured Image: Adopting Bitcoin’s logo | Charts by TradingView

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Top Economist Calls Bitcoin As Legal Tender “Stupid”. Here’s Why He’s Wrong.

Let’s not kid ourselves, a person like Steve Hanke has enormous incentives to defend the status quo. He’s benefited tremendously from it. It could be argued that his livelihood depends on Bitcoin failing. A project to make it legal tender in any country goes directly against Hanke’s interests, and it’s no wonder he spoke against it. The insult was over the line, though.

We´re going to take the higher road and elegantly answer all of his points. The tweet in question was this one:

Is Bitcoin A Store Of Value?

Who decides this? The people. If one person uses an asset to safeguard his wealth, then it’s a store of value. The question then is, is Bitcoin an effective store of value? Well, considering it’s the only commodity in the history of the earth that presents absolute scarcity, it’s probably a safe bet. Make no mistake, though, it’s still a bet. The Bitcoin experiment is an ongoing process and nothing is set in stone.

Related Reading | Why Bitcoin Declared Legal Tender Could Have Major Implications Beyond El Salvador

Scratch that, one thing is set in stone. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins. The supply is fixed, so if the demand increases, the price will go up. It’s as simple as that. To add credibility to the argument, let’s quote Saifedean Ammous’ “The Bitcoin Standard”:

Until Bitcoin’s invention, all forms of money were unlimited in their quantity and thus imperfect in their ability to store value across time. Bitcoin’s immutable monetary supply makes it the best medium to store the value produced from the limited human time, thus making it arguably the best store of value humanity has ever invented. To put it differently, Bitcoin is the cheapest way to buy the future, because Bitcoin is the only medium guaranteed to not be debased, no matter how much its value rises.

Did you know that 40% of all US Dollars that have ever existed were printed in the last twelve months? That’s what debasement looks like. And the whole world is feeling its effects. 

Is Bitcoin A Medium Of Exchange?

Our friend Steve Hanke was answering Paraguay’s congressman Carlos Rejala but, as you probably know, the first country to approve bitcoin as legal tender was El Salvador. This is not a coincidence, since “a real village with real Bitcoin uses in daily life” is right there in El Salvador. 

The Bitcoin Beach project is also the main real-life use case for the Lightning Network. If there’s a place in which small Bitcoin transactions are an everyday thing, it’s this one. As Nasdaq informed last year, when the project was still developing:

In the flagship Bitcoin village of El Zonte, for example, you can use bitcoin to pay for a haircut, get your nails done and chow down on some local dishes (like some delicious pupusas). Soon, you’ll even be able to buy a cup of coffee with it and go to the doctor’s office for a checkup.

If there’s any doubt that Bitcoin Beach was the inspiration for El Salvador’s historic move, Stephan Livera paraphrases what President Bukele said on Clubhouse: 

So yeah, Bitcoin is a proven medium of exchange with real-life use cases. We could include the incredible amount of Bitcoin transactions that the virtual world sees every day, but there’s no need.
BTCUSD price chart for 06/09/2021 - TradingView

BTC price chart on Bitbay | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com

Is Bitcoin A Reliable Unit Of Account?

Let’s admit it, Bitcoin’s price is volatile. Why is that? Let’s quote “The Bitcoin Standard” once again:

As it stands, given that Bitcoin constitutes less than 1% of the global money supply, large individual transactions in Bitcoin can have a large impact on price, and small variations in demand can cause large swings in price. This, however, is a feature of the current situation where Bitcoin as a global settlement network and currency is still a tiny fraction of global settlement payments and money supply.

Bitcoin is still in its infancy. You can’t ask a 12-year-old child to behave like an adult. What does it need to grow? Nurture. And since it IS a currency, nurture is equivalent to widespread adoption. This is exactly what’s happening, with all of these countries considering emulating El Salvador in making Bitcoin legal tender. 

Related Reading | Time To Pay Attention: Bitcoin Indicator Behavior Mimics Historic Rally

If Bitcoin becomes the global reserve currency of the world, volatility won’t be a problem. And the whole planet will be a level playing field because one country won’t have the immense privilege of issuing the global reserve currency. And debasing it at will.