Has anyone here ever visited El Salvador and tried paying with bitcoin there?

[sokani]

~

I've not traveled to El Salvador and I don't wish to visit anytime soon but if I wanted to travel to a bitcoin friendly nation, El Salvador would be the least of the countries on my list. The difference between El Salvador and other Bitcoin friendly countries is that Bitcoin is recognized as legal tender, aside that the adoption rate is still at infancy. From what I've been reading, a vast majority of the locals still prefer US dollars as a medium of exchange for their businesses.

[Solosanz]

Nope, and unlikely I would visit just because to feel experience buying something directly using Bitcoin.

Perhaps when I had an important reason, to evade from tax example.

the remittance in and out of el salv via bitcoin (via CEX) is growing(2023-24). but the experience of the chivo-LN(2021) left a bad taste in many citizens and businesses mouth. both citizens and businesses try to avoid using chivo due to that bad LN experience pretending to be bitcoin, which has lead to many still not trusting bitcoin as they are not sure the 'bitcoin' they might get actually being bitcoin and not just another liquidity scam that cant settle of some other network

Pardon me, isn't Chivo a custodial wallet? they don't have to use lightning network because most people don't care about non custodial wallet, so I believe if they own Bitcoin, they will hold it in Chivo. AFAIK Chivo didn't charge any fees if someone send Bitcoin to other Chivo wallet, so why they need to use LN?

[gunhell16]

El Salvador is far from the country I belong to, and what I know is that it was the first country to recognize that Bitcoin was made legal tender in their country, if I'm not mistaken, and most of the communities here on this forum platform also know that too.

Although there are also other places here in our country that have other merchants that accept Bitcoin as one of the payment options in their businesses that they manage, And in El Salvador, it is normal for business establishments to accept Bitcoin as a mode of payment.

[AVE5]

My hands are up 🙌. That's if you're also curious to know who's interested to visit there and have that bitcoin transactions as legal means of payments and not specifically about our holding for investments here.
That'd will be some kind of new phase of life for me because I've always thought about the possibilities of this means of payments and how they can both interact on the P2P during the transaction.
I don't think if there's an existing country with a zero crime rate so just based on the news speculations, El Salvador has be quite a less crime rate country which that doesn't stand a threat for bitcoin holders.
I actually wishes to be there and have that experience of using and asset to pay my bills and how to freely Walk around with everyone suspiciously of having bitcoin without that strange attitude of finding someone holding some strange assets as bitcoin could still be strange to some sorts of societies despites its global spreading.

[franky1]

the remittance in and out of el salv via bitcoin (via CEX) is growing(2023-24). but the experience of the chivo-LN(2021) left a bad taste in many citizens and businesses mouth. both citizens and businesses try to avoid using chivo due to that bad LN experience pretending to be bitcoin, which has lead to many still not trusting bitcoin as they are not sure the 'bitcoin' they might get actually being bitcoin and not just another liquidity scam that cant settle of some other network

Pardon me, isn't Chivo a custodial wallet? they don't have to use lightning network because most people don't care about non custodial wallet, so I believe if they own Bitcoin, they will hold it in Chivo. AFAIK Chivo didn't charge any fees if someone send Bitcoin to other Chivo wallet, so why they need to use LN?

when first released in summer 2021 chivo used LN as the backnone.. where citizens had 'inbound balance from 'strike' .. and within 3 months it failed due to LN issues of strike
alot of citizens and merchants stopped using chivo and its inbound balance model.
basically citizens did not have their own self custody. they had $30 value of inbound balance from a LN institution.. were the LN institution had the actual custody in partnership with the governments coin hoard

chivo(el salv government) then moved to using Alphapoint as a custodian as a CEX backbone from january-ish of 2022 (second attempt).. instead of LN institution(that failed el salv)

the issue is that due to the debacle of the autumn 2021 bottlenecks and problems due to the stuff i said about the first attempt.. alot of el salv citizens and merchants still avoided using chivo and still blamed first attempt issue on bitcoin even though it was LN to blame.. now they just use alphapoint(as a cex) for remittance without the chivo part due to the bad taste left in their mouth due to the to 2021 experience(chivo-LN first attempt)

alphapoint (and its CEX accounts) are growing due to remittances.. but the chivo wallet part of domestic payments is still not as successful due to that first attempt failure due to LN

i personally was going to go to el salv.. but from testimonials i got and even the "2 months living in el salv" video shows trying to get a merchant to accept bitcoin direct is a headache, trying to lock in bitcoin to then use chivo to then ask merchants of they accept chivo is a headache. and using a ATM is usually just to convert crypto to fiat.. but even that is requiring face recognition and ID and a 30minute processing to get a sms alert when its then ok to cash out crypto to fiat is a headache.. so still not a ecosystem of just using crypto to buy groceries, pay rent, bills.

ill wait a lil longer for them to work out the kinks, and try to get people to trust a second/third attempt at launching crypto nationally there for every day use

from what i can see alphapoint is becoming the CEX 'bank' and people just use alphapoint to hoard peoples crypto like people use coinbase as a bank for crypto in america. hopefully alphapoint develops better options than the 2021 first attempt. but only time will tell, and in 2024 i dont see testimonials that people can easily use their alphapoint custody funds to do easy headache free person-to person, person-to-business payments.. and its mainly currently just used for US/EU cex-to-elsalv cex for remittances which is the only growth factor measurably

[kentrolla]

No mate, haven't been there but even I am curious to know how does things work there and I am curious to know how does they cope up wo transaction fees associated with it or they use it only for higher transactions. There are some stores which accepts Bitcoin as shared in this thread but using Bitcoin in a nation where it's legalised would be a different experience all together.

Anyone from El Salvador please share your experience

[bluebit25]

Even though I've never been to El Salvador, that doesn't mean there aren't ways to learn more. You can check out some reliable resources that can give us a comprehensive understanding of the country's Bitcoin status. These can be articles from internationally recognized news agencies, surveys by financial institutions or even interviews with people conducted live over the internet.

I wouldn't go there even if someone wanted to pay for my entire trip. No one wants to risk their life when going to one of the countries with the highest violent crime rates in the world.

[bitzizzix]

I've never been to El Salvador and I think going there would be a waste of money just because I want to know how to pay using Bitcoin there and I think it's better to buy or collect more Bitcoin, and even though El Salvador was the first country to legalize Bitcoin , it's not like I have to go there to find out the situation.
And regarding the issue of Bitcoin as a transaction tool, in my opinion it is the same, there is no difference and it is the same as in our country if there are traders or shops that use Bitcoin payments. And maybe the only difference is that it's legal and Bitcoin can be used freely for any transaction just like fiat, and I think we'll experience that too and it's just a matter of time.

[Z-tight]

The people of El Salvador do not spend or use BTC the way you think they do, yeah the BTC project was introduced by Nayib Bukele, and many people probably downloaded the Chivo wallet because of the $30 bonus, but the majority of the population do not understand what BTC is, neither do they use it. I am not going to travel to El Salvador to spend BTC, i can do that online or in some places in my country. Take note that BTC does not have to be a legal tender in a country before you can spend it there.

[freedomgo]

~

I've not traveled to El Salvador and I don't wish to visit anytime soon but if I wanted to travel to a bitcoin friendly nation, El Salvador would be the least of the countries on my list. The difference between El Salvador and other Bitcoin friendly countries is that Bitcoin is recognized as legal tender, aside that the adoption rate is still at infancy. From what I've been reading, a vast majority of the locals still prefer US dollars as a medium of exchange for their businesses.

Right now, I still have no plans to spend my earned bitcoin since I’m still in the process of accumulation stage, so I have no plans also to explore El Salvador as I’ll only be tempted to spend some of my hard-earned bitcoin. But maybe probably in the future, I will as I also include El Salvador in my bucket list so I can exactly tell how bitcoin adoption went there. And maybe by that time, the crime rate would also lessen as well, unlike now that it’s still somehow not totally safe at all.

[Arenga pinnata]

I didn't expect this topic to have so many responses. And some of the responses already contain the answers I expected. Be it several links to someone's experiences and also several sources from someone's experiences uploaded to YouTube.

And it seems like some of the answers also opened up my thinking that if someone wants to experience using bitcoin as a legal tender. So maybe we can also not have to go all the way to El Salvador. because it may also be available in countries closer to ours. For example, I also found that paying for Taxi Grab in Singapore can also use bitcoin based on sources I read from Instagram.
(instagram)

Since I have found the answer I was hoping for so I will close this topic. Thank you everyone for sharing your views here. All your answers are very valuable. Some of them have even opened my thinking to be more open.