How long did you live in El Salvador?

I started in 2018. I left during part of the pandemic, but was there most of 2018,

2019, and then 2020 and 2021 kind of back and forth.

Anna Kat Bridgeta is a reporter who covers Latin America.

She lives in Honduras now, but was based in El Salvador

and has been reporting on the country for years.

And she was there when El Salvador became the first country

to make Bitcoin legal tender last year.

The day that it was announced in June was very much a surprise.

That is why. Next week, I will send to Congress a bill that will make Bitcoin a legal tender

in El Salvador.

The country's president, Neib Bekele, announced his plan on June 7th via video to a conference of Bitcoin fans.

And then from there, everything just went at full speed because the legislative assembly

basically approved everything within a few days. And then they said, you know, within 90 days,

we're going to make this happen.

In those 90 days, El Salvador had to build its own Bitcoin wallet, install Bitcoin ATMs,

and sell the country's population on the idea of Bitcoin, an idea that had been brought

there by expat crypto enthusiasts and embraced by President Buckele,

all by September 7th, 2021.

And so the exact day, I mean, there was a lot of buildup to the day of being like,

this is the day when everything is supposed to be working.

But it was very clear that it was not already by that day.

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