Adopting Bitcoin 2022 took place in San Salvador on 15-17 November. I wasn't there! But I watched the live streams. Both breadth of content and quality of the talks are impressive. This is an excellent education resource that gives tons of pointers to dig dipper into various aspects of Lightning.
Most sessions are available online alongside links to the slide decks and speaker bios. Check out the event's youtube channel and session schedule.
Here is my takeaway of the sessions clustered by theme.
Lightning deep-dives ⚙️
Bitcoin layer 2 🍰
Taro is a protocol based on Taproot that is used to issue tokens and stablecoins. Currently available on the Bitcoin blockchain and actively developed for Lightning.
RGB: smart contracts execution on Bitcoin as a layer 2.
Liquid: a bitcoin side-chain network optimised for capital markets
Slashtags: a system of identity, wallet and password management based on a single seed and Bitcoin primitives
Panel discussion on Sidechains
Wallets, libraries and tools 🔧
Lightning labs present tools such LSAT for authentication, LNC for web app development, and more.
Bitcoin beach wallet: this is the wallet that was developed by Galoy in El Salvador (before Chivo). Now it has the ability to convert bitcoin to USD to protect your pocket money from bitcoin volatility.
Bitcoin on the web: Alby, an open-source browser extension for Lightning.
BTC Maps: businesses that accept bitcoin are listed on btcmaps.org, which is based on OpenstreetMaps.
How to contribute? 👨💻
Bitcoin core contribution: on the importance of experience, knowledge of the history of the system, mentoring and working with lead maintainers.
Lightning ecosystem: there is a tool called Lightning landscape that enumerates Lightning projects.
Lightning development for non technical people
Geyser fund: crowdfunding for bitcoin creators.
Payment solutions 🛍️
Bitfinex pay: Lightning payment solutions for merchants.
Paysea: an alternative to the Chivo wallet in El Salvador.
The Sovereign Organization: how would international companies benefit from accepting payments in Lightning, taking the example of an airline company. No FX issue, no credit card fee, better user experience, greater privacy for customers.
Mining and Energy 🔋
Bitcoin mining in El Salvador: while solar has the best ROI and hydro potential is limited, the big force of the country is geothermal energy. 20 active volcanoes for a total of somewhere between 77 and 160 volcanoes. Three geothermal plants currently generate 20% of the country's demand. "There is enough geothermal potential to power the whole Bitcoin network forever."
Mining bitcoin with SMRs: two energy engineers working in Canada on Small Nuclear Reactors explain why it would be a good idea to monetise the output from SMRs independently of the demand/supply constraints.
Bitcoin energy efficiency: Michel Khazzaka presents his study of energy use by traditional payment systems, putting it into perspective with energy use of the Lightning network. Michel gave the same talk in French during Surfing Bitcoin 2022.
What is the latest state of adoption in El Salvador? 🇸🇻
Adoption progress in El Salvador: "28% of the population has a wallet, 21% of the population has done a bitcoin transaction at some point. The initial excitement has died down and there is still a lot of work to do."
Year 1 of Chivo wallet: "Chivo is great" The Lightning infrastructure of Chivo (withdrawal processing, invoice generation) is handled by River Financial.
The Lightning Law: "Chivo sucks" "we are just replacing old banks with new banks, we are missing the peer-to-peer element of Bitcoin", says Breez CEO
What about other countries? 🌍
Sovereign adoption of Bitcoin: VanEck's research ranks the countries that are the most likely to switch to Bitcoin in the near future.
Guatemala: Bitcoin Lake and Osmowallet
Brazil: Carol Souza explains how often local currency has failed throughout Brazil's history. In 1993, funds in savings accounts were confiscated by the state.
Honduras: Roatan Island and Prospera.
Costa Rica: Bitcoin Jungle
Philippines: the Pouch wallet is being deployed to small businesses in Boracay. "What you invoice is what you keep". When a merchant creates a 100 pesos invoice, the invoice shows the amount in dollars to the buyer and the merchant effectively receives 100 pesos. No need to worry about FX or credit card fees.
South Africa: Bitcoin Ekasi
Africa: Machankura is a system that bridges the Bitcoin network to low-tech mobile phones that work on GSM only (as opposed to GPRS or 3G).
Canada: Coinos wallet in Vancouver.
Residencies and investments 🐿️
Residency: El Salvador may end up welcoming people fleeing from state violence (whether it's economic war or pandemic restrictions). "it is irresponsible to think that you and I will not become refugees at one point in the future"
Businesses: how to run a company in El Salvador.
Real estate: buy homes (optionally as NFTs) in Belize, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador with bitcoin.
Capital markets: tokenised bitcoin mining and access to funds on top of the Liquid network.
Governance: free cities are autonomous territories adopting innovative policies to support human freedom. More about free cities here.
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