Bitcoin citadels are spreading across Latin America as experiments that demonstrate what a truly bitcoinized world could look like.
Now that economic problems are spreading worldwide and it’s much harder to put food on the table, is it time to consider bitcoin (BTC) despite the bear market?
For many, the answer is yes. There are even bitcoiners who are no longer satisfied with meeting, physically or virtually, at events to connect with like-minded people. They want to go further, creating the life they want outside the traditional monetary system.
With more than two centuries under a state-controlled monetary system, a sector of the world’s population is determined to live under a bitcoin standard. They group together in territories, educate themselves, encourage the use of cryptocurrency, and move toward adopting BTC as the only payment system.
This is what bitcoin circular economies, known as citadels, are like. The first one emerged in El Zonte beach in El Salvador, and now its model is being replicated in other parts of the world.
Today, there are bitcoin citadels in Africa, the Philippines, and Vanuatu, east of Australia; but there are many more in Latin America, in countries like El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina. Most are mainly in Central America.
What is a bitcoin citadel?
A citadel is a fortified territory, located within a city, whose purpose is to serve as a refuge for a population seeking to survive enemy siege, as described by Wikipedia.
In the bitcoin community, the term Citadel is now a meme that originated from a utopian story published nine years ago on Reddit by user Luka Magnotta.
He described citadels as “closed, isolated, and fortified cities to protect bitcoin mining equipment.”
Combining these definitions with what is happening in the world, we can understand bitcoin citadels as territories where communities determined to adopt bitcoin grow and form to establish a circular economy based solely on the crypto asset.
Bitcoin citadels are believed to be the first gateway to a truly bitcoinized world, as they are the foundation for transforming a society seeking solutions to economic problems by separating money from the state.
Moving toward a bitcoinized world
And what will a bitcoinized world look like? To understand what a planet where bitcoin is used massively could be like, just take a look at bitcoin citadels. They are spreading around the world as experiments that aim to show how humanity can live under a bitcoin standard.
In these spaces, bitcoiners have decided to unite, convinced that by adopting the first cryptocurrency, they will have a sovereign asset with a supply limit of 21 million.
With this, they believe there will be a chance to fix the flaws of the traditional financial system based on a currency controlled by governments, which can issue debt infinitely, causing side effects like inflation, for example.
Why adopt bitcoin?
The Bitcoin Beach citadel in Guatemala answers this question by highlighting four important points when explaining why they have chosen bitcoin as the sole asset to base their community’s economy on:
- It allows people and businesses in El Paredón (a surf beach in the Escuintla department) to have their own bank.
- It protects savings against inflation.
- Accept payments from anyone, anywhere, at a very low cost.
- Opportunity to create, grow, and accumulate generational wealth.
“El Paredón is largely an unbanked community. Bitcoin will bring growth, stability, and prosperity to the community and future generations,” explained the Bitcoin Beach Guatemala team.
What types of bitcoin citadels are there?
Bitcoin citadels are distinguished by certain characteristics that allow them to be classified by type:
Citadels led by a CEO
Some bitcoin citadels plan to operate under the Patchwork model, an anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic philosophical movement described by American software engineer Curtis Guy Yarvin, known as Mencius Moldbug.
On his blog, Moldbug describes the Patchwork movement as an ecosystem that operates with a governance structure similar to that of corporations.
In this sense, Patchwork is seen as a business or corporation. These are small, independent states governed by a corporate owner who owns the capital. The community benefits by making its real estate as valuable as possible.
Example: Under this model, Satoshi Island, located in the Republic of Vanuatu, east of Australia, would operate. It is a private project seeking cryptocurrency enthusiasts and industry company representatives, with the promise of granting them a plot of land.
Another project developed under this model is Aleph Citadel, a territory designed for bitcoiners, completely autonomous and self-sustaining, located in southern Argentina, in Patagonia.
Citadels based on a social and community development plan
As mentioned earlier in this text, the first bitcoin citadel emerged in El Zonte beach in El Salvador. This community was formed after receiving an anonymous donation, on the condition that the payment be made in bitcoin and distributed directly to El Zonte residents, with the goal of starting a local Bitcoin economy.
Then, this circular economy was boosted when young people and other residents of the area began receiving bitcoin rewards for certain tasks, such as getting good grades at school, working as lifeguards, or picking up trash from the coast. Thus, the social and community development plan based on bitcoin of the Bitcoin Beach project in El Zonte, El Salvador, was launched.
The experience of El Zonte was later condensed into a document that includes the elements to consider for any project wishing to establish a circular economy based on bitcoin.
In this sense, Bitcoin Beach recommends structuring the project based on four pillars: education, spirituality, recreation, and technology.
Using the Bitcoin Beach model from El Salvador, there are now other citadels in Brazil, Guatemala, and Africa today.
Including cryptocurrency in the economy and Bitcoin mining as an environmental solution
Establishing an economy based solely on bitcoin to separate money from the state and also using BTC mining equipment as environmental healers is the plan of the Lago Bitcoin project in Guatemala.
The idea is to mine Bitcoin using renewable energy sources, such as cooking oil, which is a pollutant in Lake Atitlán, but they also intend to use bitcoin to buy this fuel. This would encourage the community to sell the product that currently pollutes the lake, known in the country as the most beautiful in the world.
However, the Lago Bitcoin project has several aspects, as it also encourages local businesses to accept BTC payments while promoting tourism. On the other hand, it promotes financial education and gives hope to the local population for a better future.
