How to Build a Bitcoin Beach: Advice from the Pros

How to Build a Bitcoin (BTC) Community? How to start? Where should I start? And what are the best practices?

Cointelegraph spoke with Bitcoin community builders around the world to shed light on a growing phenomenon in the Bitcoin world.

From Indonesia to South Africa to El Salvador and the Congo, circular Bitcoin economies and community projects have emerged across the globe. Cointelegraph asked the successful community-focused Bitcoiners how to start a Bitcoin circular economy and what advice they would give to enthusiasts who want to replicate the success of projects like Bitcoin Beach, El Zonte.

For Bitcoin community project manager Mike Peterson, it starts with Lightning. Peterson pioneered the Bitcoin Beach project in the sleepy surf town of El Zonte, El Salvador. The circular economy energized an entire nation and eventually led to El Salvador adopting Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021. Peterson told Cointelegraph:

“You have to use lightning for people to trade and build a circular economy. It really has to be built on lightning. [..] You have to get people to act.”

Layer-2 Lightning Network is a payment solution built on top of Bitcoin. In El Salvador, El Chivo is among the most popular Lightning-enabled Bitcoin wallets, although it has experienced problems since its launch. All over the rest of the world, Bitcoin enthusiasts use Wallet of Satoshi, Muun Wallet, CoinCorner or Blue Wallet to trade with each other instantly. Peterson continued:

“If you get them to do the first transaction and they see how easy it is and that they’ve actually sent value from one person to another in like a second time for almost no fees, that’s when the light bulb goes off and they realize the value it has.”

Ultimately, leading with Lightning helps beginners realize that Bitcoin can be easy and even fun. On the Isle of Man, where there is a burgeoning Bitcoin community, UK-based exchange CoinCorner has found inventive ways to demonstrate the Lightning Network.

Hermann Vivier, founder of Bitcoin Ekasi in the Western Cape of South Africa, shared some tricks for establishing a Bitcoin economy. First, while it’s important to “put one foot in front of the other” and “just get started,” he said, try to see if there’s an existing community to tap into:

“We had something that already existed, and we built the Bitcoin community on top of that.”

Bitcoin Ekasi is a township project that keeps children away from gangs at school and among South Africa’s Atlantic waves, where they learn lifesaving and surfing skills. Vivier teaches Bitcoin as another element of her children’s education.

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Furthermore, Vivier also shared that it is important to keep it simple. Stick to Bitcoin, he joked. His hours of work and love given to this community project have made him a “Bitcoin Maximalist” as it helps avoid the risk of fraud in crypto, while blockchain buzzwords can get in the way of progress:

“I would say 100% focus on just Bitcoin. And if there was something better than Bitcoin out there, then that’s what you should focus on. But at the moment, Bitcoin is where it’s at.”

Nourou, founder of Bitcoin Senegal, a community-led Bitcoin project in West Africa, told Cointelegraph: “You cannot create a community if you are not able to answer people’s questions – and that requires a wide range of knowledge. “

Iman Yudha, who leads a group of crypto and Bitcoin enthusiasts in Indonesia, agrees. He told Cointelegraph that it’s important to “get educated first – before making any decisions. That’s my personal opinion.”

After establishing a solid foundation of basic knowledge about Bitcoin, crypto and security. Nourou recommends starting to talk about Bitcoin with close relationships:

“Start with the family if you can’t convince your mother, your brother, your sister, your cousins ​​and so on, that’s a bad start.”

He notes that the following step varies depending on culture, business practices and environment. In Senegal, it is the richest who roughly define fashion, who define trends. So people tend to copy them.” That’s why Nourou tried to target his Bitcoin communications to these communities first. Incidentally, Nourou is hosting West Africa’s first major Bitcoin conference, Dakar Bitcoin Days, on December 2 in West Africa’s largest theater.

Lukas, one of the founders of Global Bitcoin Fest – which holds marathon Twitter Spaces for people all over the world – again encourages Bitcoin enthusiasts to focus on the people. It can be “lonely” in the land of Bitcoin, he told Cointelegraph, so finding a layer of shared values ​​can stimulate things. He shared an example:

“There is a conversation I recently had with two boys in Zimbabwe. They want to kickstart one [project] there. He wanted to do it, but he was alone. […] Then he found Metamorphoses, another big maxi, and now they form a team – and the energy is completely different now.”

Yudha chimed in and shared that energy and enthusiasm are essential and community builders should avoid being “toxic” wherever possible.

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In short, these Bitcoin pioneers suggest finding like-minded individuals to work with, starting small, taking advantage of existing communities, knowing and understanding the subject, and not overstretching. The easiest way to do this is to focus on Bitcoin and Bitcoin only. And to get people interested and to transact, get people to use the Lightning Network because that’s what gives people their own lightbulb moment.