Bitcoin World #2 - Bitcoin Youth Programme in El Salvador with Michael Peterson - WBD179
The Peter McCormack Show
Peter McCormack
4.7 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 24 December 2019
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Location: El Salvador Date: Thursday, 19th December Project: Bitcoin Beach Role: Founder
El Salvador is a country gripped by gang violence. It consistently ranks among countries with the highest murder rate per capita and is one of the deadliest countries in the American subcontinent. Gangs are prolific, and unlike other Central and South American countries, the drug route through Central America misses El Salvador, so instead, the gangs here turn to extortion and murder.
Jobs are scarce, and a considerable percentage of men leave the country in search of work, others are pulled into gang life, imprisoned or murdered. The breakup of the family and the difficulty of finding a job makes recruiting new gang members easy, perpetuating the gang culture.
Bitcoin Beach is trying to help. The organisation is building a Bitcoin economy in Punta Mango, a small beach town in El Salvador. Bitcoin Beach offers free Bitcoin classes and pays young people in Bitcoin to do work such as clean the polluted rivers and streets and stay in education. Local businesses are incentivised to accept Bitcoin, creating a local Bitcoin circular economy.
In this interview, I speak to Michael Peterson founder of Bitcoin Beach, to discuss the project, creating a Bitcoin economy, custodial vs non-custodial solutions and the gangs and violence that plague El Salvador.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the What Bit Bitcoin Did Podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | Hello there from New York. |
| 0:07.0 | How are you all? |
| 0:08.0 | Are you all looking forward to Christmas? |
| 0:10.0 | I'm just about to take my final flight for the year back to London. |
| 0:13.2 | What crazy and amazing year. I think it's been 84 flights I've taken this year |
| 0:18.3 | so very tired but it's been such a just an incredible year |
| 0:21.9 | grateful to so many people. |
| 0:24.2 | So I hope you all have an amazing Christmas. |
| 0:26.3 | Anyway, welcome to the What Bitcoin did podcast, |
| 0:28.3 | which is brought to you by Krakhan, |
| 0:29.8 | the best and most secure place to buy, sell and trade Bitcoin. I'm your host Petermack and today |
| 0:34.3 | I've got an interview with Michael Peterson from Bitcoin Beach, a Bitcoin Youth program in El Salvador. |
| 0:39.1 | But before that I have a message from my show sponsors and definitely check them out. |
| 0:43.4 | It's Christmas, give them a lesson. |
| 0:45.0 | It is the sponsors that enable me to travel around and do all these great interviews. |
| 0:49.1 | So first up, we have the amazing Drop Bit. |
| 0:51.7 | Merry Christmas to Drop Bit, the best mobile wallet in the business my favorite |
| 0:56.1 | Bitcoin wallet and you know what they've absolutely killed it this year they've done so many |
| 1:00.8 | amazing things when I first started working them, they were like, |
| 1:04.0 | we're like a Venmo for Bitcoin. |
| 1:05.3 | We've made it really easy to send and receive Bitcoin |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Peter McCormack, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Peter McCormack and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.