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The book documents 5 projects that are using Bitcoin for all day to day transactions.
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That movement began in Latin America, where it continues to grow and expands to Africa.
“Bitcoin Circular Economies: Stories of Hope Built on the Sovereign Money of the Future” documents the development of five community projects with Bitcoin as their central axis. From the ideation of each of these projects by activists and social entrepreneurs, to their subsequent growth, expansion and development, the book provides testimonies that explain the keys to their successes and how they transformed their respective communities.
Editorial data
Spanish edition
Iván Kaleja and Gabriel Kurman: Bitcoin Circular Economies: Stories of Hope Built on the Sovereign Money of the Future (digital and printed). Buenos Aires: Akian Gráfica Editora; 2024.
Front page
Cover of the book Bitcoin Circular Economies. Source: Akian Gráfica Editora
The aquamarine cover highlights the orange of the sunset and the Bitcoin logos. It shows three human figures in typical sunset activities, related to projects in the book. Inside the sun we see a photo of the Mossel Bay neighborhood in South Africa, where the Bitcoin Ekasi project is developed, with houses decorated with Bitcoin murals. Around the sun, two vehicles appear: the Bitcoineta from Argentina and the Bitcoin boat from Lago Bitcoin. There is also a newspaper from El Salvador with the Bitcoin law headline and the Bitcoinize Machines outlet from Praia Bitcoin.
Structure
- Prologue
- Preface
- The Genesis Block: The World’s First Bitcoin Circular Economy
- A Family Mission: How Faith Ignited Adoption in Lake Atitlán
- Satoshi’s awakening: Bitcoin as a spiritual path and tool for the elevation of consciousness
- Winds of change: The transformation of a tourist paradise into a source of human development
- The African Wave: The Story of Surfing, Bitcoin, and Hope in Africa
Content: documentary, empirical, humanistic
The book consists of 226 numbered 20×22 pages, with an almost square shape instead of rectangular. It has a great aesthetic quality given by the use of contrasts between white, black and orange. It has several black and white illustrations that show scenes from what the text tells, the only parts colored with orange, emphasizing the Bitcoin logos.
It consists of five large chapters, subdivided into sections. Each chapter tells the story of a circular economy, in chronological order: Bitcoin Beachin El Salvador; Bitcoin Lakein Guatemala; Bitcoin Junglein Costa Rica; Bitcoin Beachin Brazil; and Bitcoin Ekasiin South Africa.
The story is built from interviews and testimonies of the founders and participants of each of these projects. They follow the same structure, explaining how each project originated, for what purposes or what needs of that place it sought to satisfy, what strategies they used to carry it out and how it relates to other circular economy projects.
Does not address technical details of Bitcoin nor overly theoretical proposals of what it should be or do. Instead, documents how each project incorporated Bitcoin and what effects it had on that community.
Style
The book has a mostly narrative and documentary style. The authors contextualize and narrate the history of each project, some personal stories of the participants, and introduce several fragments of interviews in which they themselves tell all this.
In the middle of some chapters, they offer brief reflections on social inequalities in Latin America and Africa and how Bitcoin helps overcome them.
Children learning about Bitcoin in Mossel Bay, South Africa. Fountain: Bitcoin Ekasi.
Bitcoin in action. Transforming impoverished communities into economic vanguards
Unlike most, if not all, of the existing literature on Bitcoin to date, This book does not lay out the potential or promises of Bitcoin, but instead addresses real use cases. Doing this provides us with invaluable empirical information on the adoption of Bitcoin for everyday transactions.
Some assumptions about the impact of Bitcoin are confirmed by the book’s testimonies: that despite daily fluctuations it allows savings and that this savings allows its users to think in the long term; but it also contradicts a very important assumption, and doing so was central to the success of each of the projects: trust. Although Bitcoin is a trustless system, that does not imply that users should distrust each other, or that it promotes widespread individualism and distrust. in society, as I argued in one of meYos jobs.
On the contrary, and this entire book documents it very well, Interpersonal trust was essential in getting communities to start using BTC. The book emphasizes many times that the beginning is always the most difficult and that it is only based on pre-existing social ties that each person agrees to start using bitcoins, because someone they trust recommends it. To be clear: although Bitcoin is a trustless system, which can work even though its participants do not know or trust each other, adoption runs through different paths. Very few people start using Bitcoin by understanding its value proposition in the abstract. That is why it is crucial that the person who teaches how to use Bitcoin is someone trustworthy, who can be believed that it is not simply a scam.
Group of students in Jericoacoara, Brazil. Fountain: Bitcoin Beach.
From Latin America to the world: teachings from the circular economy to bitcoiners.
Another important point that these experiences teach is start with the little onesfrom school, from education and reward programs. Children receive sats for completing homework and other goals, and then spend them at local businesses. That spark is what begins to grow the use of Bitcoin. It is also explained that The best way to teach Bitcoin is to first use it and then dig deeper.. Instead of giving long talks explaining how it works, it is better to demonstrate its ease of use with a wallet Blockchain/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Lightning and then, little by little, show what is behind it.
In relation to the latter, they also explain that most of the time it is better to start with custody walletswhich offer a friendlier user experience; and, as users learn more and save greater amounts of value, progressively migrate to self custody solutions.
In addition to documenting these success stories and the learnings that will serve to develop more projects of this type (to which the book invites), the book also documents technical advances that these projects have developed, such as the wallet Blink Bitcoin Beach and kit Bitcoinize. Also, Bitcoin Beach has written BUBBLES, a guide to develop projects of this type.
These projects began and are supported by donations from bitcoiners around the world and are established in tourist areas, so they became destinations for bitcoiners to go on vacation to spend their sats. In addition to this, they complement and help each other by sharing their progress and with mutual donations. For example, the Bitcoineta donated a second Bitcoineta to Bitcoin Beach, which in turn donated another to Bitcoin Ekasi. In 2023 he also carried out a tour of europe. The book itself is part of the proceeds, since all sales go to circular economies.
Final comments
Bitcoin Circular Economies is a much-needed book for the bitcoiner community, especially those in the underdeveloped world, as it shows us that the heart of innovation and adoption is right here. The book can be read by anyone, since its content is easy to understand, it does not present great complexity, but it opens our eyes to what is already happening with Bitcoin in these places.
It is strong proof that Bitcoin is changing the lives of many people and communities, particularly vulnerable ones. This serves both to reaffirm to bitcoiners that we are building a system that really does what it promises; to counterargue so many nocoiners who say that Bitcoin is useless, that it only enriches the richest, that it is a scam, and so on.
Just as it is easier to learn Bitcoin by using it, this book can help many people understand what Bitcoin is for before understanding how it works.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to its author and do not necessarily reflect those of CriptoNoticias. The author’s opinion is for informational purposes and under no circumstances constitutes an investment recommendation or financial advice.
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