I just sent out Newsletter #2---this is the first one, sent in January...... FOR A BETTER WORLD Welcome This is the inaugural edition of this newsletter, sent to a very select group of 21 individuals. I’ve meet all of you and deeply respect what each of you do in the space. You know me as the founder of @My First Bitcoin, but this newsletter isn’t about that project. It is about the why behind it. I don’t have to waste words on the tremendous potential of bitcoin to reimage what’s possible—everyone here understands that. However, independent, introductory education is severely undervalued in the space. Why is it so important? Why is this the front-line of the next war? Why are we doing this? I am ultra-bullish on the future of humanity. I also believe that the world is broken, on the wrong path, and hurtling toward a cliff. It’s not a feat of cognitive dissidence to simultaneously hold these truths. It’s a recognition that we now have the tools, like bitcoin, that give us new abilities to reimage our future, yet if we ignore this opportunity, this narrow window, we will speed off that cliff into the dark abyss below. My First Bitcoin is NOT focused on bitcoin education. That is simply a means to an end. The world is broken, in large part, because we have lost the ability to think for ourselves. We have lost agency in our own lives. That has serious second-order effects. If we don’t control our money, if we don’t control our present, that is a strong disincentive to plan and create. Bitcoin allows us to take back control of our money, whose effects can ripple deep into our potential. The more we control our present, the better we can look into the future, the more incentivized we are to build, create and learn. The revolution isn’t a better money, it’s a better human. Introductory bitcoin education is our best tool EVER to change our individual relationship with power. If the problem is that we live in a world where we have lost sovereignty and critical thought, then the solution must be a radical departure from what got us here. Bitcoin will be the base layer of the future world. Independent, empowerment-focused education will be the base layer of a better bitcoiner. However, without a serious and conscious effort to build and entrench an alternative approach, bitcoin education will repeat all the same mistakes that got us here. It will be captured by whoever funds it. If we leave it to corporations and governments to define it, it will dictate to students what to think rather than empower them to think for themselves. The next war will be fought inside each of our own minds. Our best chance for a better world to emerge is to build a decentralized, community-led network of front-line bitcoin educators who empower their students not just to learn about bitcoin, but also about themselves, and their own potential future. The difference may seem subtle in the present but the question of whether we can avoid a legacy-world-mentality takeover of bitcoin education, is the difference between the hope that we can reimagine what’s possible and the fear that we will continue down the same path, speeding toward the cliff’s edge. This isn’t just an idea; My First Bitcoin is the proof-of-concept. And it’s struck a chord. As promising as the work has been inside of El Salvador, the greatest success has been how quickly it has spread. This emerging network of independent bitcoin educators around the world now has roots in over 30 nations. This network will be the front-line offense of the revolution. This has been accomplished, starting from zero, in under 3 years, with under a million dollars, entirely grassroots. We need to make the environment even more hospitable to this emerging life. MFB will continue to work hard on explaining the why, building more infrastructure, and creating more proof-of-work. We need your help with more money, attention, and wisdom.

The revolution isn't a better money, it's a better human #Bitcoin

This is a self-sufficient semi-aquatic ecosystem in my back yard And the water lilies are in bloom :) GM from El Salvador!

"In addition, in line with commitments under the program, the stock of Bitcoins held by the public sector remains unchanged.." This is a letter written to the IMF and signed by El Salvador's Minister of Finance Page 105 of the comprehensive report linked in the first comment

A new progress report about the IMF loan to El Salvador was just released Footnote #9....

A new 149 page document detailing the progress of the IMF loan to El Salvador was just published Just starting to read now while watching the day begin over the San Salvador volcano ...

Smart kid

Bitcoin is the means, not the end

Sunrise in San Salvador

NO WAR

We are nearly 4 years into El Salvador’s Bitcoin experiment which seems a great time to take a big step back and evaluate how things are going There’s been lots of talk about expectations vs reality for those that move down here and that’s a valuable conversation to have and I hope it continues. I firmly believe that El Salvador will benefit greatly if we can close that gap I want to highlight a topic that I think is even more valuable to discuss though: censorship Bitcoin attracts each of us for different reasons; at the very top of my list is censorship-resistance so that’s the lens from which I view things There is a worrying trend here of a shrinking independent civil society. In recent weeks prominent critics have been arrested, dozens of journalists are now in exile and questioning the official narrative is more likely to result in name calling rather than a serious response of the issue raised So that’s the problem—what is the solution? IMO it’s two-fold, an open discussion & education that encourages critical thought I’d love to see the shrinking civil society in El Salvador openly discussed El Salvador needs builders and independent thinkers—as many as possible!

In 2018 I traveled to Iran While in Isfahan I visited the 450 year old Khaju Bridge. The river it was built over had decreased over time and on the night I visited there was no water. It had become a local tradition for Iranians to take advantage of the acoustic echos and sing, often the songs were well known and strangers would come in to sing the chorus or alternate parts. It was not a performance, no one asked for money, it was just strangers singing with each other in the cool night air. It was beautiful Isfahan has been heavy bombed by Israel this week and it's unclear if this bridge still stands These are the kinds of things war destroys NO WAR

When I moved to El Salvador in 2021 there was a hopefulness among the general population which was intoxicating and contagious. In the four years since, much has changed What I felt here in 21' rhymes with what I've felt at various times in various places over the past two decades and I've been reflecting on that a lot lately; what conditions lead to it and why it never lasts First, some personal history. In the early 2000s I was in university in the US and heavily involved with activism. My targets then were the IMF & the military industrial complex (they still are, that’s about the most consistent thing in my life actually). As an organizer who never asked the state for permission, I found myself arrested often and one of those nights in jail I made the decision to leave and to stop spending most of my efforts trying to slow the bad and instead spend them trying to speed the good I moved to Ecuador and in 2005 I participated in my first revolution. I was at the barricades when the president fled the country, and the military began to take off their uniforms and join us. It was euphoric. I had never in my life experienced such a feeling of 'mass hope.' Everyone believed that a corner had been turned and was supremely confident that tomorrow would be better than today In 2011 I felt something similar while living in the encampment those first weeks at Occupy Wall Street in New York I felt it again in Myanmar in 2016 when the military dictatorship ended, and Aung San Suu Kyi assumed office It's a feeling I've been chasing my entire adult life and I found it again in El Salvador in 2021--this communal certainty that tomorrow would be better than today. It’s amazing to be surrounded by that and extremely motivating There are always two things in common: it’s preceded by times with little hope, and it never lasts In Ecuador, a charismatic academic who spoke on behalf of the social movements became president, then became authoritarian, built mega-jails, then filled them with his people. Occupy Wall Street descended into infighting, banks got more powerful, and the rich got richer. Myanmar is now in a civil war between a new military dictatorship and various ethnic minorities For me, the honeymoon is over in El Salvador. That hope I felt in 2021 and 2022 is still there but it is far more tempered among Salvadorans now than it had been. Extreme human emotion can’t be sustained, not for the individual and not for the group—after all the basis is contrast. You need some rain to appreciate the sun Just some morning reflections as I watch the clouds over San Salvador on a rainy Tuesday

Breakfast on San Salvador volcano Today we explored the various trails that criss cross the lower regions and met some of the farmers who cultivate in this area. No views but great walking and conversation Sundays are for father-son hiking 🧡

In 2018 I traveled around Iran This is a photo I took of the main square in Isfahan, which was my favorite city there. It was also one of the cities targeted by Israeli airstrikes yesterday My trip was tightly controlled--I literally had a government agent with me at all times as a condition of my visa. But there were stolen moments with everyday people that made a really deep impression on me. Everyone seemed aware that Iran & the US were supposed to be enemies and everyone, literally everyone, went out of their way to tell me that wasn't the case and I should feel welcome and comfortable The people in Iran are NOT your enemy The politicians that want you to believe that--they are our enemy NO WAR

Good morning from El Salvador!