Good morning from El Salvador!

Good morning from El Salvador We are now in DAY 119 since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF (effective since 30 April) Yesterday the IMF released it's first staff-level review of the agreement which says El Salvador is following through on its commitments. Regarding Bitcoin it only mentioned the prohibition of the state accumulating new bitcoin and the pending sale of Chivo (the govt bitcoin wallet). A link to the full review is in the comments This should serve as a reminder of how long the IMF loan process is and how early we are in that process. There have been some effects on the ground already--for example since earlier this month the govt can no longer accept bitcoin--but most effects are still to come. The IMF will have inside access to all things relating to the terms on the agreement and will regularly review compliance for years. Also, there remain many deadlines pending over the next months (such as the sale of Chivo)

Understanding how the IMF works is advanced financial literacy Lesson one: Nations ALWAYS approach the IMF, never the other way around. The IMF is a 'lender of last resort.' They give low or no interest loans to nations that need money and have no other options. Why? Leverage. They take away a nation's sovereignty, and no govt would allow that unless they had to. This allows the IMF to dictate terms and be part of the decision-making process regarding anything related to loan conditions during the duration of the loan IMF loans are a harbinger of bad times to come not because of any specific conditions imposed but because if a nation takes an IMF loan it means they are in a weak position to begin with

Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day! Celebrating Bitcoin as money while eating pizza is my favorite holiday 😁 Spend your sats every chance you get! This is how we push bitcoin adoption forward

Another Sunday morning hike up San Salvador volcano This guy loves nature 🧡🧡🧡🧡

Bitcoin can be humanity's first revolution In every previous 'revolution' we have fought over who has power; we now have a chance to change our very relationship with power

Good morning from El Salvador We are now in DAY 90 since the government rescinded Bitcoin as legal tender, at the request of the IMF. The new laws go into effect today (April 30) Let’s step back for some context The Bitcoin Law from 2021 mandated businesses accept Bitcoin, with a carve out for anyone not able to. On the ground what this meant was that many small businesses never accepted Bitcoin but all of the large chains with a compliance team did—think international such as Wendy’s or Starbucks, as well as regional or domestic ones such as SuperSelectos or Freund The small businesses were never affected by the 2021 law so it’s unlikely we will see any change there. The large chains—which are ubiquitous in San Salvador and to a lesser extent around the country—are the ones to pay attention to They have all already set up their systems, so the heavy lifting is done, still I expect some of them to start dropping bitcoin acceptance over the next weeks and months. Most of them used Chivo, the government bitcoin app, which adds a further upcoming complication. That same IMF deal requires El Salvador to close down or sell off Chivo by June 30th. It’s unclear right now how that transition will go and unclear if it would affect businesses that use that application to accept Bitcoin The bitcoin revolution was never about governments or laws though. Support your local business who accepts Bitcoin—wherever you are

Bitcoin is a means, it is not the end The end is a world where the individual is empowered and able to think critically and independently Anyone who supports that end is an ally & should be supported. Anyone who opposes that is an enemy & should be ignored

Kill your heroes CC: @jack mallers

Kill your heroes Cc: @jack mallers

Three years ago today @My First Bitcoin made history! They taught the first Bitcoin Diploma in a public school system (El Salvador) anywhere in the world. There has been so much progress since... That book shown in the photo...it was only the first 4 weeks of a 10-week Bitcoin Diploma. We were rushing to take advantage of an opportunity and only had weeks to prepare, so we were still building the program when the first classes began. Now, that same Bitcoin Diploma has been improved significantly, made open-source, translated into dozens of languages and used in dozens of nations In April 2022, there was zero bitcoin education in the public schools in El Salvador or any other on-the-ground education efforts by the government. In late 2023 the Ministry of Education sent the first 150 teachers into schools to teach. They used the Bitcoin Diploma as a base, and were trained by teachers from My First Bitcoin & Bitcoinbeach. By the end of 2024 over 500 teachers were trained. This year the govt have taken over bitcoin education in the public schools With plenty of new government and government-supported bitcoin educators now active, @My First Bitcoin left the public school system in 2025 in order to work more on grassroots, community-led education and to shift toward a more international focus--creating open source materials, infrastructure and working directly with educators in 40 nations This is incredible progress on all fronts--all in just three years! Independent, impartial, community-led education will change the world. It already has.

It's good to be home ❤️

What an inspiring day yesterday I attended the 5th @My First Bitcoin Bitcoin Educators Unconference, this one at @Bitcoin Park in Nashville Wow Each Unconference is unique--for example, tons of interest in privacy & 501c3's yesterday, while at the previous Unconference, in El Salvador, the most popular topic was Circular Economies There is one thing they all have in common though. Every single time I leave more confident than ever that not only is a better world possible, but that it's already here if you know where to look

The full schedule for the rest of the day, including incorporating the popular pitches from this morning. @My First Bitcoin @Bitcoin Park

Let's go!

In August @My First Bitcoin ran out of money Here’s an update on what has happened since: We took a step back and identified some core problems: communication & consequences. In response, and as part of a larger re-structuring, we created a more decentralized operations infrastructure with an emphasis on information sharing. We also created aggressive savings goals for the next 5 quarters (Q4 2024 and all of 2025) and mandated team wide penalties if we did not meet those goals. We knew it would be hard, but we wanted to turn a negative into a positive and make sure we were planning far into the future with sustainable raising and spending. We wanted to make sure we would never run out of funding again. I’m extremely happy to report that the team has been absolutely crushing it ever since. In Q4 we over-raised and put some away into savings. We had identified Q1 as perhaps the hardest quarter to raise in—and yet we were still we able to save. This is the communication part now—we plan to be as transparent as possible with fundraising, and that includes sharing our failures as well as our successes. We are now in the strongest financial position we have ever been in—and it’s thanks to YOU. Most of our funding is from individual donations. Follow the money. Always. We take ZERO funding from governments and regularly turn down corporate sponsors. This makes fundraising more difficult—but bitcoin education must be independent & impartial and we will never compromise that to make fundraising easier. We are not teaching WHAT to think, we are teaching HOW to think. We now have a runway to work with which helps us plan farther into the future, insulates us from dry stretches, and ensures our fierce independence. Shout out to the community for supporting us throughout this journey and proving that we can scale bitcoin education without compromising our independence. And shoutout to the entire @My First Bitcoin team. Each year we get a little better, but the current iteration in 2025 has really pushed the movement into a new realm. This team turned a negative into a positive, and consistently sees every challenge as an opportunity to build stronger, better and to recommit to the mission LFG!

On my to @Bitcoin Park in Nashville! Thursday is the @My First Bitcoin educators unconference Gonna be a great week 🔥

Four days until the next Bitcoin Educators Unconference! This one will be in Nashville at @Bitcoin Park This will be a decentralized conference where nothing is for sale and everything is given away. Come to learn & come to share how to be a better bitcoin educator

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 :)