we are not free the walls to our cage are mostly transparent--unseen and untouched--but if you challenge the status quo you will find the edges of your cage

I 🧡 NY Back for the first time since moving to El Salvador in 2021, and it feels good :)

Today is the two-year anniversary of the Independent Bitcoin Educators Node Network On March 29th, 2023 @My First Bitcoin returned the countersigned MOUs to the very first 'nodes' In two short years that network has become self-governing and grown to include projects and educators in 39 nations! This has been a grand experiment to make real the phrase: we are more than the sum of our parts! Happy birthday! Here's to many more!

Good morning from El Salvador We are now in DAY 51 since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF (effective 30 April) It was obvious from the start that most people were unaware of how IMF loans work & why nations ask for them anyway. It was also obvious that the El Salvador govt had no interest in people learning about either--and when govt tells you to stop asking questions, is exactly when you should be asking questions It was an uphill battle that is now won There are lots of people asking these questions now Ironically, what did it for many Bitcoiners was @nayibbukele himself who addressed the concerns in a tweet--by calling anyone who questions him a 'whiner' lol. this is the head of a nation anyway, his immature projection of 'bitcoiners abandoning El Salvador' created a critical mass of people starting to look closer and realize things are not adding up that critical mass with many Salvadoreans was the saga that played out on facebook regarding Chivo Pets. In summary, the govt annouced they were closing Chivo Pets (likely related to the IMF agreement) and got lots of backlash from the local population. The president blamed Salvadoreans, saying they complained too much and thats why it was closing. A day later Chivo Pets was re-opened (it operated at a loss, subsidized by Chivo Wallet which now must be shut down or sold off. I suppose Chivo Pets will move to a new govt dept that can absorb the loss now) Let's pause a second and compare the two situations Both were prompted by the IMF loan, but in both instances rather than explain things openly and honestly the president blamed whoever was asking questions. And in both cases the president ended up calling more attention to the situation and has left more people pondering for themselves what is reality and what is just marketing There are tons of people who will support, without question, whatever this govt and pres does. But, the number of people who are thinking independently about what IMF loans are and why a govt would ask for one anyway is now MUCH higher then it was 51 short days ago I'll continue to ask questions. Always I'll continue to speak truth to power. Always This journey has been liberating and enlightening but at this point my orginal objectives have all been achieved This isn't the end. This is the beginning. Grassroots bitcoin education & adoption is more important than ever in El Salvador & beyond Step one is understanding the problem--how the IMF and govt work is advanced financial literacy Step two is building the solutions. Support everyone who is building toward an alternative future--one without institutions like the IMF nor unquestioning loyalty to any politician or govt

Fuck the IMF

I would rather fail at trying to change the world, than acquise to this one

Make the IMF irrelevant

Recent changes to Bitcoin policy in El Salvador... - Bitcoin is no longer legal tender (effective 30 April) - The govt can no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for anything (effective 30 April) - the govt can not 'accumulate' bitcoin in any way, this includes stopping any public mining (effective unknown) - the govt will have to dox all their bitcoin address and holdings (to the IMF for sure, unclear if this will be made public as well) - Chivo, the govt bitcoin app, will be wound down (by end of June) the reason? El Salvador is heavily in debt, which contrary to govt posturing, has INCREASED significantly in recent years and as a lender-of-last-resort the IMF was able to attach basically whatever conditions they wanted to the loan the future? Bitcoin never needed this govt or any other govt. It should be as clear as ever that if we want a better world, it is up to us to create it. Support independent & impartial bitcoin education

According to the IMF, El Salvador is still compliant with the loan agreement--which prohibits spending public money (buying) or resources (mining) to accumulate new Bitcoin Yet more Bitcoin is added every day to the public wallet I see two possibilities 1. The govt is transferring Bitcoin from their undisclosed (to the public, but disclosed to the IMF) wallets into their public one 2. Some private entity is donating to the public wallet--perhaps Tether In both possibilities El Salvador is trying to walk the tightrope of actually complying with the IMF but projecting an image of defiance & independence to the public I still think the best action would have been for President Bukeke to just talk directly & honestly with his nation Though, I'm an idealist who thinks we can reimagine our world and build a better one. For a politician trying to be popular in the present, marketing sometimes matters more than truth--which seems to be the conclusion he came to on this issue And, sadly, he is very likely correct in the assumption that the false viral message of defiance will spread much faster and farther than a complicated and nuanced truth

question authority. always. blindly trust authority. never.

Okay, the govt of El Salvador is directly contradicting itself regarding how Bitcoin policy will change as a result of a loan agreement with the IMF Let me show you. I brought receipts Yesterday the IMF released a detailed (111 page) document outlining the agreement and supporting documentation This includes a Letter of Intent (LOI) from, and signed by, the government of El Salvador dated Feb 11th. It outlines various financial reforms they intend to make as part of them asking for an IMF loan [screenshot1/ pages 68-69]. The El Salvador govt details the changes they are proposing, including the line "....as per agreement with the IMF, we will no longer accumulate new Bitcoins in our portfolio." [screenshot 2/ page77] Clear definitions of what is considered 'the public sector' as well as a mandate prohibiting ANY new bitcoin accumulation (except via seizure) is additionally outlined [screenshot3/ page89] That was released yesterday. Today, seemingly in response to Bitcoiners reading the agreement and pointing out various changes that were agreed upon, the president tweeted that Bitcoin accumulation is 'not stopping' [screenshot4] So, WTF is happening? The El Salvador govt is disagreeing with itself--simultaneously saying they will stop accumulating Bitcoin AND that it is 'not stopping' It's impossible for both to be true

The 111 page report the IMF released last night about it's recent loan agreement with El Salvador gives A LOT of details and clarity Not only will El Salvador have to stop buying Bitcoin, they will also have yo stop mining Bitcoin this is the first time I've seen the prohibition on public Bitcoin mining here

father son hiking ❤️ San Salvador volcano

Good morning from El Salvador We are now in DAY 31 since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF (effective 30 April) I’ve been posting a lot about the IMF deal and it’s mostly negative from the perspective of anyone who wants to only cheerlead Bitcoin or El Salvador I want to make a few things clear There are great things happening here and that will continue to happen regardless of this IMF deal. I’m happy to be here The changes I’ve seen first-hand since moving here in August 2021 (one month before the Bitcoin Law went into effect) have been incredible and mostly positive. It feels like history is being written in real time and Salvadorians are generally optimistic about the future—a rare thing in this modern world That is NOT a reason to be quiet when things begin to fall off track. That is a reason to speak up, which is exactly what I am doing and will continue to do If you care about the future of El Salvador, then you should be a critical observer of it and do your best to help it continue on a positive path. Pretending everything is perfect, all the time, does not help this nation nor does it help Bitcoin

Good morning from El Salvador We are now in DAY 27 since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF (effective 30 April) In 2022 President Bukele announced El Salvador would buy a Bitcoin a day, every day In 2023 the govt created a page where the public could verify those daily purchases, and every single day, like clockwork, one was added On January 25, 2025 nothing was added to the total for the first time ever Why is that interesting? On December 18, 2024 the IMF announced a draft loan agreement with El Salvador which included various pre-conditions that the govt would have to conform to BEFORE the agreement could become official and the the first payments would begin, including many changes to how the nation would treat Bitcoin (including quietly repealing it as legal tender on Jan 29, 2025) So the automatic buying stopped on January 25th. More Bitcoin has been added to that balance since, though its been sporadic and inconsistent. This week 7 days passed without any new bitcoin added to El Salvador's public wallet and just as people were starting to notice and ask questions, El Salvador added 7 bitcoin Why is this even more interesting? The primary question people began asking was: did the IMF loan affect the one Bitcoin per day auto-buy program? If there was a policy change or technical issue that could have been addressed easily. But maybe the president didn't even know people were asking these questions, you may say. Nope. He heard those doubts and rumors, as evidenced by his tweet yesterday. That is certain. So then, he made a choice to NOT answer them directly Why? Why would he turn this into a loyalty test rather than actually answer the question? Another bit of important context is that the Govt holds Bitcoin outside of this public wallet. I have personally paid the govt bitcoin numerous times for things like my entry fee at the airport or getting my residency. In addition the govt has (had?) a program called 'Freedom Passports' which they sold for Bitcoin, for the equivalent of 1 million USD, and I know various people who made that purchase. Plus they mine Bitcoin in small quantities. Point is the govt has an unknown amount of Bitcoin that exists outside of that one public address I see two broad possibilities 1. El Salvador has stopped buying Bitcoin, but they don't want to admit that. If they wanted to manipulate opinion about this the most obvious thing would be to slowly transfer Bitcoin from thier private stock to the public wallet to make it seem like they were still buying--this would explain why the President won't directly address these doubts. However, if that was the case why wouldn't they just drip one per day? That'd be easy and would draw the least attention 2. The president WANTS attention on that wallet and doubts to surface and fester because the IMF deal will not in fact stop the one-per-day program. In this scenario doubts are very publicly proven to be unfounded and those that questioned him proven to be publicly wrong. This would explain why the purchases are sporadic (which will predictably draw attention) and more importantly why he framed yesterdays buy as a loyalty test of faith Either way, President Bukele doesn't want you to look too closely at the IMF deal--that's about the only thing that is clear. We should be asking why not?

Good morning from El Salvador We are now in DAY TWENTY FIVE since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF (effective 30 April) It's been six days since El Salvador has bought bitcoin The nation launched a program to purchase one bitcoin per day in 2022 and had not missed a day until last month. Since then, the buying has been sporadic with some days missed--with this current six day streak the longest yet Is this related to the IMF deal? Almost definitely The govt has not commented at all on the IMF deal (in sharp contrast to the media tour President Bukele did in the days after Bitcoin was made legal tender in 2021) and thus we are reliant on best guesses from verifiable information The draft agreement with the IMF states "For the public sector, engagement in Bitcoin-related economic activities and transactions in and purchases of Bitcoin will be confined." That combined with the erratic bitcoin purchases since last month make it seem increasingly likely that the IMF deal will affect this program On a related note regarding the govt accumulating Bitcoin--they had accepted bitcoin as payment for things such as the airport tax or even to purchase a passport. I don't believe the address of where that Bitcoin is stored has ever been made public so it will be more difficult to observe if and when that stops but most or all of that will cease if it hasn't already as that condition is clear in the IMF draft agreement: "Taxes will only be paid in U.S. dollars..." The IMF deal is not yet official, El Salvador is currently in the process of conforming to the pre-conditions set out in the draft agreement. Unless the govt finds it's voice on this matter, we will only be able to determine the consequences of it with time and careful observation

are we trying to make USD more convenient/ accesible? OR are we trying to replace USD with censorship resistant money? I'm def here to replace the dollar with decentralized money. That's the world I'm building toward

Good morning from El Salvador We are now in DAY TWENTY TWO since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF (effective 30 April) I had committed myself to post every day for at least 21 days, which has now passed so I may skip days going forward....but there remains A LOT of confusion about core details (why? what lead to this? how do IMF loans work? how can we do better? what is legal tender? what will the money be used for? what other changes are coming? etc.) so I will continue to post about this To try and clarify some timing issues.... The revision of the 2021 Bitcoin Law is NOT yet in effect, that will happen on 30 April The IMF loan agreement is NOT yet in effect, right now El Salvador is working to meet the pre-conditions and only once they are all met will it go into effect--date unknown there but def in 2025 More changes will come as not all public conditions the IMF set have been met yet. There are potential private, unknown conditions as well Unless the govt finds its voice and gives clarity, I expect there will continue to be a lot of confusion around this deal and the consequences of it and clarity will only come with time--likely measured in months and years rather than hours and days