How Merchant Adoption Actually Happens

What if democracy can’t survive sound money, because it runs on promises it can’t fund?

Knut Svanholm sits down with Mike Peterson in El Salvador, fresh from a formal night at the presidential palace with President Nayib Bukele. Phones taken, press everywhere, and a president who feels unnervingly normal to Bitcoiners. Knut’s take is blunt, El Salvador may have accidentally voted “one of us” into office, and the results feel like the inverse of clown world.

Then the conversation turns to the cage, fiat currency. They break down how money printing, capital gains tax, and government overreach work together to punish anyone trying to use sound money as an inflation hedge. If you have ever felt like you are being taxed for refusing to play the inflation game, this will hit a nerve.

From Centro Histórico to El Zonte, they get practical about what Bitcoin adoption actually looks like when it is not just “number go up” technology. A circular economy takes time, merchant by merchant orange pill work, and more people using the Lightning Network for everyday payments instead of treating Bitcoin like a museum piece.

They widen out to Madeira and Prague, where Bitcoin communities are forming in their own ways. You will hear why BTCmap.org (https://btcmap.org/) matters, why Prague gets called the Bitcoin capital of Europe, and why Vexl is one of the most interesting peer-to-peer tools right now for building a web of trust when rules tighten.

Finally, Knut leans into his anarcho-capitalism lens, the Shawshank Redemption metaphor, and the mindset behind “you can just do things.” If this episode made you uncomfortable, good, subscribe, share it with the friend still asking permission.

-Bitcoin Beach Team

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Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode:
00:00 - Intro
01:43 - What is Bukele like in person?
03:52 - Why do Bitcoiners say fiat currency is built on money printing?
05:38 - Why does Bukele push circular economy adoption? 
07:47 - Why do incentives matter more than democracy?
10:18 - Why doesn’t Bitcoin adoption happen overnight? 
14:02 - How did Free Madeira begin? What actually moves merchant Bitcoin adoption?
19:55 - How do you travel on a Bitcoin standard? What tools make a 100% Bitcoin vacation possible
21:26 - Why is Prague a Bitcoin hub? What makes it Europe’s Bitcoin capital
22:41 - What is Vexl for peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading?
24:22 - Why do European Bitcoiners feel squeezed? What role do CBDCs play in the pressure?
32:10 - What Shawshank teaches about hope, fear, and living like a free person?
35:09 - Why is Bitcoin an inflation hedge?

Live From Bitcoin Beach