In a country pushing the global envelope by putting its treasury on the blockchain, this may be the place most committed to a crypto-centric future.
Among locals, opinion of Bitcoin remains split, according to a handful of beachside conversations and the observations of Bitcoin enthusiasts.
They are building a beachhead here, buying up property and convening formal meetups.
It was there on Friday evening that I met Alex, who declined to provide his last name, and “Sam,” who declined to put even his first name on the record, citing privacy concerns.
He moved here three weeks ago after getting fed up with the restrictions in Europe on people, like him, who refuse to get a Covid vaccine.
Cryptocurrency has found something of a symbiosis with the preexisting surf scene in El Zonte.
It helps, he said, that authorities in Western Europe and East Asia don’t understand each other’s systems or communicate well.
Sam said he does not know if El Salvador will continue to appeal as a long-term haven, but if things go south, he can leave whenever he wants.
The lifestyles and aspirations of people like Sam and Alex offer a glimpse of the challenges Western governments are likely to face governing their own citizens in the years to come.
Since then the crypto industry has spent big money lobbying Washington over crypto tax reporting requirements, especially around provisions in President Biden’s infrastructure bill which will require crypto brokers starting next year to record and disclose transaction details, much to their chagrin.
For the average person, keeping track of crypto in one’s tax ledger is actually fairly simple: Cryptocurrencies are taxed either as capital gains, when one invests or spends crypto, or income, if one is paid with it.
Just as the infrastructure bill was being passed, Sens.
If the old maxim “cheaters never win” is true in the digital space, it’s only because there are no cash prizes for maintaining a lengthy Wordle streak.
The same fundamental simplicity that quickly attracted millions of players also makes the game a popular and convenient subject for amateur programmers.
Here’s a YouTuber using a Wordle tool to explain information theory and the mathematical concept of entropy.
When the largest sellers on the app stores, with multi-billion-dollar valuations, come to Congress with proposals to reshape the mobile marketplace to suit their needs, policymakers should be rather skeptical.