Adopting Bitcoin is an annual conference held in El Salvador, focused on the practical adoption of the Bitcoin Lightning Network. It is unique among Bitcoin conferences for being held in the only country where Bitcoin is legal tender, giving it an authenticity and context that no other event can replicate.
Origins and Context
The conference was first held in November 2021, just months after El Salvador passed its Bitcoin Law making Bitcoin legal tender in September 2021. The timing was deliberate: El Salvador had just embarked on the world's first national Bitcoin adoption experiment, and the conference was designed to serve as a forum for learning from that experiment in real time.
The event is organized in collaboration with Galoy, the open-source Bitcoin banking platform that provided the technical infrastructure behind the Bitcoin Beach Wallet and subsequently the Blink wallet used by Salvadorans. The Galoy team has been deeply embedded in El Salvador's Bitcoin adoption story, having supported the Bitcoin Beach community in El Zonte before Bitcoin became national policy.
Bitcoin Beach and El Salvador
The conference is deeply connected to Bitcoin Beach, the community project in El Zonte, El Salvador, that demonstrated a circular Bitcoin economy could function at a local level years before the national law was passed. Bitcoin Beach, led by figures including Mike Peterson, served as a proof of concept for Bitcoin adoption in an emerging market, showing that ordinary people -- many without bank accounts -- could use Bitcoin and Lightning Network for daily commerce.
This ground-level experiment attracted the attention of President Nayib Bukele's administration and contributed to the political momentum behind the Bitcoin Law. Jack Mallers and Strike played key roles in the technical implementation. The Adopting Bitcoin conference honors this heritage and continues to draw on El Zonte and its community as a living laboratory for Bitcoin adoption.
Format and Focus
Adopting Bitcoin is distinctly focused on Lightning Network adoption and the practical, human dimensions of bringing Bitcoin to populations that have limited access to traditional banking. Rather than focusing on price, investment, or protocol-level development, the conference emphasizes use cases: remittances, merchant adoption, financial inclusion, and the operational challenges of deploying Bitcoin and Lightning at a community or national scale.
Speakers typically include Bitcoin developers working on Lightning infrastructure, Salvadoran community members and business owners using Bitcoin, NGO workers exploring Bitcoin for humanitarian applications, and entrepreneurs building services for emerging market adoption. Notable speakers have included Elizabeth Stark, Nicolas Dorier, and members of the La Crypta community from Argentina.
Significance
Adopting Bitcoin occupies a unique niche in the Bitcoin conference landscape. Its location in El Salvador places every discussion about adoption theory within walking distance of real adoption practice. The conference has attracted global attention as proof that Bitcoin legal tender adoption generates ongoing learning, challenges, and opportunities worth studying. It remains the primary gathering point for the community of practitioners working to make Bitcoin useful for people who need it most.
External Links
- Adopting Bitcoin Official Website
- Bitcoin Beach on Wikipedia
- Bitcoin in El Salvador on Wikipedia
- Galoy (Blink Wallet)
- El Zonte on Wikipedia
References
- Jack Mallers -- played key role in El Salvador's Bitcoin adoption
- Strike -- company that helped implement El Salvador's Bitcoin infrastructure
- Lightning Network -- the technology at the conference's center
- Lightning Labs -- company behind LND, powering much of El Salvador's Lightning infrastructure
- Elizabeth Stark -- Lightning Labs CEO and conference speaker
- Nicolas Dorier -- BTCPay Server creator and conference speaker
- BTCPay Server -- merchant payment infrastructure for Bitcoin adoption
- La Crypta -- Argentine Bitcoin community with connections to the conference
- Bitcoin 2024 -- complementary large-scale Bitcoin conference
- Baltic Honeybadger -- contrasting European Bitcoin conference