In Havana, the capital of Cuba, a Bitcoin community has emerged from an environment of financial constraints.
“Satoshi Nakamoto didn’t create Bitcoin for Cubans, but it does work for us,” Forte, co-founder of local Bitcoin organization Cuba Bitcoin, told the magazine.
Cubans are turning to Bitcoin because their money is worth less and less. Zimbabwe, Venezuela and Lebanon often fight for media coverage of runaway inflation levels, but the Cuban peso is not far behind.
The Cuban peso has lost so much value in the past few years that it has become increasingly common for rich and poor alike to carry bags of cash.
In fact, even if someone bought Bitcoin at the peak of the 2021 bull market for $69,000, their money would be worth much less in Cuban pesos. Although Bitcoin fell 80% to its bear market lows, it has since recovered 100% and the peso has lost 90% of its value.
At the time of the making of Cointelegraph’s new documentary, it was one of many financial wake-up calls among people who realized they should exchange their local currency for Bitcoin because they knew it would collapse but they would still retain more purchasing power. The truth behind Cuba’s Bitcoin revolution.
In 2021, I read the article “Inside Cuba’s Bitcoin Revolution” by Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation, in which he explained how and why Cubans are taking advantage of Bitcoin’s stateless and low-fee properties to save money and Escape financial oppression.
In line with Bitcoin’s slogan distrust, verifyI witnessed with my own eyes what Gladstein described.
With camera in hand and my trusty travel companion Paco de la India by my side, I entered the Cuban Bitcoin community online, which now has thousands of enthusiasts and advocates.
Cuban culture
After one of the largest financial conferences in the world, the Bitcoin Miami Conference, taking place in arguably the most capitalist arena in the world, the United States of America, I traveled across the Caribbean to Cuba, one of the few remaining socialist countries in existence. one. The contrast hit me harder than the tropical heat of Cuba.
From the moment I landed at Havana’s José Martí International Airport, I noticed some interesting quirks: the doors opened manually (forget about the automatic sensors), and check-in and immigration were done with pen and paper On top of that, the taxi is a 1950s Chevrolet.
People often describe visiting Cuba as a time warp. This is not an exaggeration; Cuba has no access to world markets, financial institutions, or trade. The United States has imposed the longest trade embargo on Cuba in modern history since it nationalized U.S. refineries in 1960.
As a result, Cuba’s industry, economic output, and commerce lagged far behind the modern world.
The embargo, combined with more than half a century of communism, resulted in a highly educated and highly literate but desperately poor and hungry population, many of whom were heartbreakingly eager to leave the island, or, in Spanish, to find “Sa “Lida” – an exit.
Why stay in a country where a taxi driver earns more than an atomic engineer, while a skinny engineer struggles to support his family?
Adopt Bitcoin
In this environment, it’s a wonder why Cubans aren’t flocking to Bitcoin as a currency not controlled by the state. However, many Cubans are learning about and slowly switching to Bitcoin.
Catrya, one of the protagonists in Cointelegraph’s new documentary and one of the founders of Bitcoin in Cuba, explained that there are probably around 5,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts in Cuba, and the number is even higher if you include cryptocurrency enthusiasts .
It’s not easy for Cubans to get into the cryptocurrency space. First, due to nationality reasons, people with an internet connection cannot sign up for Binance, Coinbase or Gemini. For Cuban Americans on the island, the Cuban government restricts access to U.S. websites. Cubans buy Bitcoin peer-to-peer through Telegram or WhatsApp groups and in-person meetups.
It amazes me how little Cubans save to save money or “stack satellites”. For a Cuban living on $40 a month, saving 1,000 satoshis (less than $1 a week) means a lot. The Cuban peso may not be around in a decade, but Bitcoin certainly will be.
The peer-to-peer process is simple but not beginner-friendly, and these barriers may hinder adoption—although they do have a silver lining, as Catrya explains:
“Since we were denied (access to the exchange) by default because we were Cuban, we could never do KYC (know your customer), so that’s a good thing for us, at least in terms of privacy.”
Buying Bitcoin peer-to-peer and storing Bitcoin is more secure by having the private keys. Customers who trusted custodians such as FTX, BlockFi, Celsius and Vauld have been left out. Cubans don’t have that option, which takes longer but is safer.
Erich Garcia Cruz, founder of QvaPay and BitRemesas, a currency remittance agency that uses Bitcoin and has tens of thousands of Cuban users, said the number of Bitcoin customers is small but growing. To a certain extent, it represents Cuba’s fledgling Internet culture.
Connectivity and freedom of information
Since 2013, Cubans have actually had access to the Internet. So while the rest of the world was enjoying iPhone 5Cs and 4Gs, the few Cubans lucky enough to have computers were able to get online that year, albeit with terrible connections.
Now, Cubans can access 3G and sometimes 4G connections through their mobile phones. Tech-savvy young Cubans use VPNs to circumvent online restrictions.
Generally speaking, lagging network infrastructure, coupled with the cost and difficulty of purchasing smartphones for extremely low wages, means Cuba lags far behind in IT.
2021, World Bank report Three-quarters of Cubans have access to the Internet. But while the problem is improving, online censorship is widespread and Cubans are repeatedly told to trust the government through state-sponsored television, newspapers and media.
Independent media publications are classified as “enemy propaganda,” something I realized several times during my investigation. I won’t share those stories here, but it’s safe to say that reciting them would get me in trouble if I stayed in Cuba.
I have since been advised by two exiled Cuban journalists to avoid returning to Cuba for some time, especially since the Cointelegraph documentary has generated a lot of attention.
An interesting warning from state media is that some Cubans are confused by Bitcoin supporter Max Keizer. His appearance on the Russia Today news channel was approved for broadcast in Cuba. Some of Catrya’s peers watched Keizer’s show bashing fiat currencies and promoting Bitcoin.
However, Bitcoin is a magical online currency; it exists on the Internet. If Cubans don’t go online and don’t read Russia Today, how would they know?
Cuban Orange Pills
Bitalion is one of the founders of Bitcoin in Cuba and works in the government telecommunications sector. He explained that as a privileged public sector worker, he benefited from better internet speeds and lower levels of online scrutiny.
Bitalion stumbled upon the Bitcoin white paper in 2014 and became enamored with the idea of an independent, borderless currency. He asked rhetorically: For those Cubans who were lucky enough to be able to travel abroad, what could they bring to the new country? Pesos in your pocket, or Bitcoins in your mobile wallet?
Like other Bitcoin advocates on the island, Bitalion volunteers his time to educate people and support Bitcoin adoption. He is also one of the few Cubans running a Bitcoin node. At Cuba’s first-ever Bitcoin-only gathering, he showed dozens of Cubans how to pay for goods and services directly to his Lightning Network node.
Cruz, Folt and countless business owners explained that Bitcoin is an “orange pill” that is easy to swallow, especially for digitally savvy Cubans. You just explain to them that no one controls it; it’s stateless money.
On the surface, Bitcoin is a useful tool for a country that has struggled financially and economically for generations. But for Forte, Catrya and Bitalion, Bitcoin’s ideology resonates strongly.
“Satoshi didn’t create Bitcoin for Cubans, but it certainly worked for us,” Forte joked.
To encourage more Cubans to explore Bitcoin, the trio and the Cuban Bitcoin community host monthly educational gatherings to explain how Bitcoin works and delve into its philosophy.
they recently introduce The country’s popular Mi Primer Bitcoin program has accelerated in El Salvador and will soon be available in schools across the country.
Do you accept Bitcoin? Why accept Bitcoin?
QvaPay’s Cruz explained that Bitcoin is a financial instrument that allows a small but growing number of Cuban business owners to obtain foreign products.
In recent years, the U.S. presidential administration’s policy on the Cuban embargo has fluctuated from time to time, with different aspects of relaxation and tightening based on political expediency.
Cruz Orange Pill Suppliers Try to Open the Cuban Economy to International Markets as Much as possible:
“You accept Bitcoin because you are dealing with a private (independent) coin. The government has no access to your transactions and you are free to do whatever you want.”
The term “liberty” or “freeWhen I socialize and meet with Cuban Bitcoin enthusiasts, cryptocurrency enthusiasts, and entrepreneurs, the word “…” comes up a lot. The fact that citizens can keep money in their wallets without government interference appeals to many Cubans whose government has consistently failed them.
Being able to store your wealth in a Bitcoin Lightning wallet on your phone rather than in pesos at a bank is also an efficiency gain. This means no more queuing at the bank over the bank holiday weekend to cash out a currency that could lose a few pesos in value.
Cruz and three other business owners also believe accepting Bitcoin would benefit vacationers. Adam, a nightclub, bar and restaurant owner, explained that tourists bring large amounts of cash with them on holiday to Cuba – and that’s risky.
Carrying Bitcoin in a mobile wallet is safer than a wad of dollar bills flashing up on the Cuban black market, which inadvertently supports the illegal and sometimes dangerous black market activity of exchanging paper money in public.
Adam accepted Bitcoin because of the international branding effect brought by the Bitcoin logo. This opened the door to another potential market for his bar. Similar to El Salvador, where Bitcoin tourism has become a trend, bars and restaurants in Cuba may also entice vacationers to spend satoshis at the checkout instead of pesos.
Finally, there are many ways in which adopting Bitcoin can lead to positive and unexpected outcomes. Mr Navi’s bar and restaurant, run by Mr Navi and his son Julian, recently started accepting Bitcoin. After conversations with Forte, Catrya and Bitalion, the Cuban Bitcoin Organization now hosts Bitcoin education gatherings at the venue.
The first day we went to Mr. Navi, I tipped a waiter in Bitcoin. I saw her again five days later when we went out to dinner with Mr Navi and Julian. She looked different – I asked her if she was okay. She admitted she had been robbed days earlier and her attackers stole her wallet, cash and mobile phone.
To her surprise, when she downloaded the Bitcoin Lightning app I tipped her to, the funds magically reappeared on her new phone. Seeing her wide-eyed reaction, I tipped her again.
Clearly, for Cubans, Bitcoin can be an important tool to secure their financial future in the face of runaway inflation and government intervention, or as a way to open up to embargoed markets and the international financial world.
Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Cointelegraph.
Joseph Hall
Joseph is a research and interviews journalist with a keen interest in Bitcoin and the monetary policy implications of cryptocurrencies.
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