El Zonte (Salvador) (AFP)
El Zonte, a population of 3,000, a popular surfing spot on El Salvador's Pacific coast, became the epicenter of bitcoin even before the highly volatile decentralized cryptocurrency was recognized in the country as its official currency.
At the foot of rocky mountains, 56 km southwest of San Salvador, this is where some of the best waves in the country are formed.
But over the past two years, El Zonte has acquired a new reputation: that of being the very first city to use cryptocurrencies, or virtual currencies, in everyday life, for purchases in stores or to pay bills.
And since the Salvadoran parliament on Wednesday approved the law making El Salvador the first country in the world to legalize bitcoin, El Zonte has inevitably attracted curiosity.
"Here we accept bitcoins", indicates a sign in front of the neighborhood grocery store "Mama Rosa".
"It was a good experience. We started without really knowing anything," Celina Fuentes, an employee of the El Zonte store, which also operates a restaurant, told AFP.
She explains that the pandemic prompted her bosses to use bitcoin because due to the quarantine many customers could not go out to shop or go to the bank to get cash.
And cryptocurrency, which allows remote payments, was the answer.
"The business with bitcoin went really well, there were profits when its value rose. And it was even quite a profit!", She enthuses.
"Now that the currency has come down a bit, we still continue to use it because we have found the experience positive," adds Ms. Fuentes.
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El Salvador's adoption of bitcoin as legal tender delights many cryptocurrency enthusiasts for whom a historic milestone has been reached, while on the contrary many regulators in Europe, China or North America are arming themselves against this market. which has exploded in recent months.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who promulgated the so-called "Bitcoin" law which will give cryptocurrency legal tender in the country within ninety days, intends to assert his independence from the dollar, the US currency used in Salvadoran dollarized economy as in most South American countries.
This, he explained, will avoid losing "millions of dollars" in the interbank exchange rate when sending money from the Salvadoran diaspora, a significant support to the national economy, equivalent to 22% of the proceeds. gross domestic (GDP).
In El Zonte, every day, more and more people are embarking on the adventure either to do business, or to manage their personal accounts, or simply out of curiosity.
Hamer Valenzuela, a mason in his thirties, has recently been using bitcoin and says he is "no longer" interested "in the US dollar".
"I have no more bills in my wallet," he said, paying for his bitcoin can of soda at "Mama Rosa" using his cell phone.
"I watch if the currency goes up or down" because that "generates me profits", he told AFP.
In El Zonte, where most bitcoin users are young people and foreigners who have started small businesses, an ATM allows you to open an account and convert dollars into cryptocurrency.
This country's first dollar-to-bitcoin converter is crowded today.
Since President Bukele enacted the law, transactions have gone from an average of three to twenty-five per day, says Jessica Véliz, responsible for guiding new crypto fans.
"I thought it would be nice to have a virtual currency," Jose Rafael Morales, a sales representative who traveled 110 km from Llobasco, in the center of the country, told AFP to come to El Zonte.
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"Here is my first investment in bitcoins", he rejoices after having swallowed 600 dollars to the distributor, immediately transformed into virtual currency in his new bank account.
© 2021 AFP