The beach town of El Zonte set a trend that culminated in El Salvador's parliament approving a bill to accept bitcoin as legal tender AFP/Stanley ESTRADAEL ZONTE, El Salvador:The beach town of El Zonte on El Salvador's Pacific coast is a laid back surfer's haven with white beaches, palm trees, and a small population of 3,000 people.
They then use a smartphone app to pay bills, buy groceries or have their hair cut with bitcoin, making a direct online transfer to the vendor. The town has only one cash machine -- in a hotel complex with access reserved for guests. Few El Zonte residents have bank accounts or cards. Locals were assisted to create cyber wallets, and shown how they can receive funds in bitcoin from relatives in the United States rather than using expensive and cumbersome cash transfer services.For Hamer Valenzuela, a bricklayer who collects his salary in the cryptocurrency, it had been"easy to adapt."
Since El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele announced last week that he intended to make bitcoin legal tender, people have been flocking to El Zonte to learn how it works or to invest in bitcoin themselves.
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