T.T. 44: valuing life choices :)
And reinvesting dividends of previous effort. This "Proof Of Work" chain is just getting started... we're all bringing the happiness together in this place
Hola amigos,
Greetings from Berlín, El Salvador!
I say it every post, it seems, now.
But life keeps getting even more surreal.
It’s starting to feel increasingly difficult to write honest, comprehensive weekly updates about my life/journey without sounding like I’m bragging.
But I made some good choices.
Choices that seemed risky.
Choices that seemed insane.
Seemed… at the time.
Today, I can’t resist sharing some evidence.
And not just on my own behalf, to be clear.
Nayib Bukele… Michael Saylor… not to mention all the anonymous HODLers around the world. The peaceful army of plebs and “toxic maximalists” who never wavered, even when the pressure to cave was most intense. There’s a LOT of vindication going around.
Through all the FUD…
Through all the lies…
We were all right together.
On a wholesome note — before I shamelessly flip it into my personal perspective on today’s unapologetically positive evidence — credit where it’s due to the Salvadoran locals as well.
Especially here in Berlín, where the Circular Economy — founded by Salvadorans — was forged deep in the heart of a brutal Bitcoin bear market… roughly six months before I arrived in October 2023, at the fiat-denominated turning of the tide.
The locals here are absolute legends. I’ve bragged before about how awesome they are, and I’ll continue to do so in many more cases. My motto here in Berlín is to help accelerate growth by helping to show what’s possible. First and foremost, when it comes to the Circular Economy, THEY are the ones who are making it possible.
But today… after such a long bear market… after many years of FUD… I can’t resist. I’m shamelessly indulging in a bit of vindication for myself as well today.
That includes a business update.
A major entrepreneurial milestone…
Feel free to skip this post if that makes you uncomfortable. Nobody is forcing you to read it. I’ll try to get back to being more humble next week.
Separately, I’ll also be helping to produce more wholesome Bitcoin Berlín content. Check back next week for a more concrete update on that front:
So anyway…
You may have noticed…
I’m a Bitcoiner.
But seriously… longer time readers may have also noticed a related fact:
I rarely discuss BTC’s “price”
Fiat-denominated price…
I won’t pretend like it’s entirely irrelevant.
But my dream for Bitcoin is to REPLACE fiat as a measurement!
I’m not interested in using “fiat-denominated exchange price” as a priority measurement for defining Bitcoin. Especially not in the long run. Fiat measurement is NOT the end game. Quite the contrary, in fact.
That being said…
I can’t ignore it this week.
“BTC vs Dollar” exchange
rate on four specific days:
I’m writing this on a Wednesday btw. My first “Thoreau Thursday” written entirely ahead of time… for reasons I’ll explain at the end.
The price may fluctuate tomorrow. Regardless, let’s go with these four specific days — four pivotal moments in my own personal journey — for context:
The day I decided to move to Bitcoin Country
The day I actually moved to El Salvador
The day I moved from El Zonte to Berlín
Today (time of writing): Wednesday, Feb. 28th
In that same order…
Each date’s dollar price of BTC:
March 22nd, 2023 = $27k
August 8th, 2023 = $29k
October 9th, 2023 = $27k again..
And then today. $60k.
60 THOUSAND dollars
I’ll try to stay humble.
“I told you so” tends to be counterproductive anyway.
Instead, I’ll try to be constructive:
If you’re reading this…
And you don’t own any Bitcoin yet…
It’s NOT too late.
Precoiners section:
(feel free to skip if you already buy Bitcoin)
(I have more real updates after this section)
The global money upgrade is just getting started. Bitcoin is the future of finance. 15 years old, with millions of diehard advocates like me, scattered throughout the globe… it’s not going away at this point.
Feel free to reach out if you have questions about how to get started! But more generally, here’s a good starting point for newcomers:
Step 1:
Allocate a responsible
portion of your savings
into this apex “Store Of Value”
Salvadoran Bitcoiners have mostly skipped to “Step 2” already — the “Medium Of Exchange” phase — with the Lightning Network, which enables instantaneous final settlement of Bitcoin transactions.
But they have an advantage here…
They can earn Bitcoin directly.
Most Americans aren’t there yet.
“The home of the brave” is falling behind…
Behind on Circular Economies.
Behind on Bitcoin in general…
Salvadorans have a head start. It’s easy here. But YOU have access to the same type of Bitcoin technology in the U.S.
(And elsewhere, but I’m mostly speaking to my fellow Americans in this case)
If you want to get both — “Store Of Value” AND “Medium Of Exchange” functionality — it’s surprisingly easy.
There’s a reliable “exchange” for buying Bitcoin (NOT another FTX or BlockFi or some other fraud), which also popularly doubles as a very beginner-friendly “wallet” for Lightning Network (instantaneous) spending.
Shameless “affiliate marketing” plug:
https://invite.strike.me/OU449U
That’s my referral code for Strike. If you use it to sign up, we both get $5 worth of fiat…
$5 which we can each use to buy Bitcoin, within the same app.
Strike’s versatility has made it my main “KYC” (“Know Your Customer”) platform by far. I used it before moving to El Salvador as an exchange in the U.S. for buying Bitcoin… and I’ve used it many times here as a Lightning Wallet for spending Bitcoin on meals, coffee, etc.
It’s an easy platform to get on board the bandwagon!
Disclaimer:
(If you want anonymous alternatives for buying Bitcoin, see here, but Strike is more legally “acceptable” and makes it easy to report your taxes. Make your own choices as you will. Strike is easiest for beginners who want to make sure they’re remaining fully within the law in all jurisdictions wherever it’s available.)
But back on topic…
I’m not JUST shamelessly shilling.
I practice what I preach.
I’ve been living on savings this entire time.
Bitcoin made that possible.
Worth emphasizing:
BITCOIN MADE THAT POSSIBLE.
Moving to a new country…
Without any job…
With zero entrepreneurial experience…
I won’t lie.
It’s been stressful at times.
Even living off my Bitcoin savings… even WITH the fiat-denominated price increasing so much… the Purchasing Power of my net worth has been going up, but the amount of BTC itself in my total savings has dwindled.
So technically… that’s right.
All of my “winning” so far has actually been a loss when I measure my total savings value in Bitcoin. All that bragging at the beginning? I’m well aware of the irony.
That’s the third phase of an emerging money. Store Of Value —> Medium Of Exchange —> Unit Of Account.
So using Bitcoin as the long term measurement… despite the dollar value of my net worth increasing significantly more than the total dollar value of what I’ve spent in six months here… my REAL savings have actually decreased in that time, when measured in BTC.
Significantly less poor in dollars…
Significantly less rich in sats.
It’s been… a weird feeling.
I’m VERY happy here.
But it’s not sustainable.
Fortunately… today…
That trajectory finally turned around a bit.
My first sale.
Renting the room out to a visitor…
An hourly rate, paid in Bitcoin!
Years and years of reading entrepreneurship books… listening to entrepreneurship podcasts… it was all theoretical.
Now it’s REAL.
My “cash” flows are still negative…
But my income is no longer zero.
Today was a “zero to one” moment!
Relevant old photo:
So how is that relevant?
How did I earn that first sale?
And wait…
Isn’t Bitcoin Beach a nonprofit?
Is Bitcoin Berlín also nonprofit?
Are these lines blurred?
What’s the GOAL here?
Freedom…
Flourishing…
“Fix the money, fix the world”
But more specifically?
How am I trying to ADD value?
Curating high signal information flows.
Conducting the alignment of incentives.
Coordinating positive Network Effects.
“The pen is mightier than the sword.”
The microphone is mightier than the pen.
The mic + camera is mightiest of all.
I’ve been setting some pieces in place…
Months and months of preparation…
And it finally IS all coming together here!
I’ll elaborate more next week.
But the short version for now:
I earned my first sale by renting out that podcasting room. Part of how the Bitcoin Berlín team budgeted to upgrade into our larger new Community Center is because I personally pay from my own savings to sublease this room.
I’ve taken on (a responsibly modest amount of) entrepreneurial investment risk. I’ve been paying to prepare this one particular room… to paint the walls… to buy the conference table, the chairs… etc.
And it’s still an early work in progress. There’s still so much more equipment left to buy before it meets the standard for my vision. The standard that the Bitcoiners here in Berlín — locals and internationals alike — deserve for a professional studio in which to tell their stories.
I’m not resting on my laurels.
Time to reinvest the earnings.
And the goal is to do it in a way where EVERYONE wins. In a way where EVERYONE involved here gets to shine.
But since my role is to help shine that spotlight… I’ve realized that I need to start taking a slightly more active role. I also need to deploy a bit more capital, now that the momentum and the moment make sense for taking the next steps.
I’m traveling within Bitcoin Country for at least two of the next three days:
Friday:
El Zonte for Bitcoin Beach meetup
Saturday:
San Salvador on the way back...
Podcast room shopping trip time.
And hopefully also…
Tomorrow/today (Thursday):
San Salvador for Mi Primer Bitcoin meetup
That looks like it might be a game time decision. I have a ride, but no place to stay arranged yet, and other things to sort out before leaving.
That extra night is also an extra expense…
Decisions, decisions… hmm.
Anyway… the top priorities for this trip:
Invest in the high quality podcast equipment — starting with the microphones — in San Salvador on the way back
Definitely at least make it to the Bitcoin Beach meetup
Mi Primer is awesome as well, but adding that extra night in San Salvador at the front end of this mini-trip might be “a bridge too far” this time logistically. We’ll see. Regardless…
It’s all building up to align with this…
The “other” project that I’ve been working overtime on:
My work for that is free btw.
All profits — if there even are any from this event itself — go to the Bitcoin Berlín project.
And that’s worth emphasizing to conclude this post.
Even though I never earned any income in El Salvador before today… and even without guarantee of future entrepreneurial success personally either… the volunteer work I’ve gotten involved with here in Berlín has been so extraordinarily fulfilling that I’m mentally at peace with writing off the losses up to this point.
We’re changing the world with this project.
It’s the honor of a lifetime to play my own small part… to contribute whatever value I can to GROWING the project here.
But I’m not a billionaire.
I’m not a millionaire…
I can’t sustain all this free overtime labor forever.
Charity is better than government handouts.
But NEITHER is sustainable long term tbh.
Eventually, I’ll either run out of savings, or need to move on, if I can’t establish a sustainable and ethical business model to continue my work here.
My goal — I have nothing to hide here — is to bring so much NEW value into Berlín’s Circular Economy that I can profit ethically from the INCREASE, rather than extracting from what’s already here.
My first sale was to a fellow “gringo” Bitcoiner. He’s been stacking for years, and he’s only visiting, not moving here… so I guess he wasn’t shy about spending some of those sats to support local businesses here. He didn’t mind paying simply to rent this podcast studio room from me either.
(Especially after Bitcoin’s price increase today…)
THAT is my “target demographic” if I can ever make this into a sustainable income stream. Renting out timeslots and equipment to Bitcoiners who are visiting (especially digital nomads) and can afford to pay for quality audio/video podcast production.
Today proved that the “demand” for this “supply” is NOT just theoretical. It’s REAL.
I guess we’ll find out if it can grow into a self-sustaining income stream longer term! At least if it could become “cash” flow neutral… that would be a non-trivial weight lifted off my shoulders tbh.
In the meantime… next week’s post won’t focus on my own entrepreneurship and my own finances so much.
Back to prioritizing others again.
Back to focus on organizing Economía Bitcoin.
Working together.
With 100% of profits (if any) going DIRECTLY to Bitcoin Berlín.
Speaking of which…
Tickets are now available online!
And we’ve already sold double digits in the past few days.
(I didn’t count that as my first entrepreneurial sale, but yeah… that’s another “positive evidence” update, proving what’s possible, even though I’m not profiting from those sales myself. The BTC Farmers Market last weekend was essentially my first professional in-person sales booth experience)
Tickets link and payments processing courtesy of Tiankii, by the way… a Bitcoin tech startup founded by a Salvadoran entrepreneur.
And I guess I’ll leave that as my final thought.
It’s NOT all just nonprofits here.
Bitcoin Country is more than Bukele’s government as well.
That side of things — charity and socialism (yes, any govt is still socialist, even right-leaning govt) — has undeniably played a role here too. Even a “greedy” Anarcho-Capitalist like me can’t deny that credit where it’s due in the history of how things have played out here.
But to scale a Circular Economy, the entrepreneurship side is ALSO essential. It’s not sustainable otherwise… and fortunately, it’s ALREADY happening organically, with Salvadoran Bitcoin tech startups like Tiankii, as well as the local merchants in Circular Economies, who are all inherently lifelong entrepreneurs.
Berlín has turned out to be an extraordinary place where it’s all coming together.
April 8th is the perfect time to come check it out… :)
That’s it for now.
See ya next week, amigos :)
JeThoreau@getalby.com
(For optional tips… no pressure)
(DIFFERENT from a “normal” email address, just FYI)
For those who already own their own social identities…
I follow back all fellow early adopters using Nostr:
npub1s3pkx56ynd4yqj7hx7c6j2h9djkfg63p92wqe9v8m67km5368a4qrgzxp3
Peace, amigos.
“The global peaceful monetary revolution will not be centralized.”
Bonus photo:
The other reason I couldn’t resist today’s theme…
More vindication — EVIDENCE — from TODAY.
In a truly GLOBAL context:
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet…