Three tourist cities, Jericoacoara, L'Orante, and São Tomé das Letras, use Bitcoin as their everyday money. Understand how the Lighting Network is playing a key role in promoting the use of Bitcoin as a payment method.
Store of value or medium of exchange?
Bitcoin (BTC), the market-leading cryptocurrency, is establishing itself as a reliable, liquid, and international store of value. With a market value of more than US$1 trillion, Bitcoin is already larger than some currencies issued by governments. Remarkably, Bitcoin is already bigger than the Russian ruble or the Swiss franc.
After years of technical debate, Bitcoin's base layer is establishing itself as a network for high-value payments. At the same time, transactions that require low fees and high speeds are being performed in second-tier centralized or decentralized solutions.
In particular, the Lightning Network (LN), a solution proposed to improve Bitcoin's scalability, is perhaps the most commonly used tool for settling small Bitcoin payments and making everyday purchases. is.
At least in Brazil, LN is establishing itself as a popular choice for everyday payments in three tourist cities: Jericoacoara, São Tomé das Letras, and L'Orante.
In particular, these cities are located in the north, center, and south of Brazil. In all three cities, the use of Bitcoin was promoted by local non-profit projects.
Let's learn a little more about these three success stories in the Bitcoin world.
This article was originally published on the Brazilian blog Coinext, which focuses on providing educational content about Bitcoin and the digital asset market.
São Tomé das Letras
São Tomé das Letras is undoubtedly one of the most mysterious places in Brazil. This city of only 8,000 people is one of the main tourist cities in Minas Gerais, which is part of the state of Minas Gerais.
São Tomé das Letras is located on top of a mountain, offering great views from all over the city. Additionally, the city is surrounded by waterfalls and rivers that are easily accessible. Another highlight is the myriad of legends and mysticism associated with the region, involving gnomes, aliens, elves, and other mythical beings.
And it was in the midst of this scenario that the Mountain Bitcoin project emerged. The project, started by local Bitcoiners, aimed to spread knowledge about the main cryptocurrency to the city's residents, mainly merchants and students.
The results were impressive. Dozens of local businesses have posted stickers that say “We accept Bitcoin.” Payments are made through Satoshi and his LN through Blink Wallet.
Victor Sousa, a resident of São Tomé das Letras, said that the project had sparked a particular interest in Bitcoin among children.
“The children receive Satoshi in their wallets and can buy fruit from the largest local supermarkets that have agreed to take part in the project. The children were very happy and were interested in learning more about Bitcoin. In fact, Bitcoin is a generational technology that tends to spark interest among younger people. After all, it is inevitable and a natural evolution of money.”
Furthermore, Victor pointed out that even though many companies are accepting digital assets, paying with Bitcoin is still less common than traditional methods.
“Cash payments are still common and this is natural. People don’t want to use Bitcoin. They prefer to exclude weak government funds. But you can buy with Bitcoin Simply put, the use of digital money has already come a long way.”
jericoacoara
The city of Jericoacoara, located in northeastern Brazil, has become known as Praia do Bitcoin. Inspired by El Zonte in El Salvador, Jericuacuala pioneered the use of Bitcoin as a currency.
The project was promoted by Bitcoiner Fernando Motrese, who promoted educational activities with local students and merchants.
“The school librarian said that the computers in the IT room have been off for two years. I am a computer technician, so I asked the director to raise money to fix the school computers. I said I would like it.”
Mr. Motleys elaborated as follows:
“We started getting closer. I posted online that I needed resources to fix my computer, and this opened up the possibility of us getting even closer. So, at Bitcoin Beach, People donated 0.1 Bitcoin to us. With the 0.1 Bitcoin donation from Bitcoin Beach, we carried out this activation which consisted of creating 408 paper wallets.”
Integration with LN is fundamental to the introduction of Bitcoin in the region, which now has several companies accepting the leading digital asset.
lorante
Located in southern Brazil, L'Orante has a population of just 21,000 people. However, over 200 companies accept the region's leading cryptocurrencies, which is a huge number.
The introduction of Bitcoin in the region was driven by the couple Ricardo and Camila, who founded the Bitcoin É Aqui project. In addition to promoting the use of Bitcoin in commerce, they also held an event called “Bitcoin Spring Festival” that brought together Bitcoiners from all over the country.
It is noteworthy that although the introduction of Bitcoin has helped boost tourism in the city, the couple said:
“Project “Bitcoin is here!'' This project was born at a time when local merchants were looking for something to boost tourism in the area. And at the same time, I was already restless and at a time when I needed to go beyond myself and convey the benefits of Bitcoin. ”
Victor Souza, head of SEO at Criptonizando, emphasized that the majority of merchants accepting Bitcoin in the city use the writing network to settle payments, which is then integrated into the base layer.
“With the establishment of Bitcoin as a high-value payments layer, LN has established itself as the leading open protocol for these payments. The still somewhat complex UX means that many sellers prefer to use their own addresses. Selecting a custodial wallet to send to.”
Brazil and other Latin American countries are establishing themselves as early adopters of Bitcoin. There are several countries in the region with weak and inflated currencies, which encourages the adoption of major digital assets. Initiatives such as Praia Bitcoin, Montanha Bitcoin, and Bitcoin É Aqui are making progress in adopting Bitcoin as a modern currency, but this could take decades to materialize worldwide.
