Salvadoran Bitcoin developer Nelson Garay stated that the mass adoption of bitcoin (BTC) in El Salvador has failed among ordinary people, with the notable exception of the Berlin citadel.
The bitcoiner, known as “Ishikawa”, spent three days paying absolutely everything with BTC during the Bitcoin Economy festival on November 22 and 23, 2025. He described the experience as the country’s true circular economy.
“I can say that I have experienced what a true circular economy on bitcoin is like,” said before ensuring that he covered hotel, food, transportation and tips only using the currency created by Satoshi Nakamoto. For the specialist, national contrast with bitcoin stumbles. This is because the population sees the digital currency as alien to their daily problems.
I have a very pleasant experience from this place. I like to check for myself, because I hate false advertising, as unfortunately happens with most things sold about bitcoin in El Salvador. At the country level, Bitcoin has failed in adoption and use among common people. The population has created a bad perception of what BTC is, and the problems it can really help them solve.
Nelson Ishikawa Garay, Bitcoin developer.
Garay applauds that everything related to bitcoin in Salvadoran territory left room for the emergence of community initiatives such as Bitcoin Berlin is now emerging as a global model, as reported by CriptoNoticias.
Other bitcoiners agree with Ishikawa’s vision, and this is what the X user Cyberpunk from The Crypta. For him, this citadel is “one of the largest circular economies in all of America.”
The Berlin community center, orange in color and with the giant Bitcoin logo on its walls, is a symbol of the spirit that is sown in the area. There educates the inhabitants of the region and meeting center for organizing its first bitcoin conference.
The event also featured a festival that brought together vibrant crowds. Thousands danced to the rhythm of Caribbean culture and sang to Bitcoin. Evelyn Lemus, co-founder of Bitcoin Berlin, celebrated that union. “This joy, this unity, this freedom is the normality I choose to build,” he said.
In any case, Román Martínez, one of the leaders of the Bitcoin Beach community stood out the Salvadoran energy that overflowed the events related to the pioneering digital currency.
Martínez, part of the Bitcoin Beach team, closed the idea by noting “an incredible series of events in Bitcoin Country.” He mentioned Historical Bitcoin, Adopting Bitcoin, Bitcoin Freedom Fest in Punta Mango and Economía Bitcoin in Berlin.
In the end, so many events confirm that El Salvador continues to be the place on the planet where Bitcoin is most talked about and lived.