CGTN America reports from Panajachel during the 2022 price slump
A two minute news report from November 2022 shows lake businesses accepting bitcoin while the price fell, and Patrick Melder explaining why the project goes on.
On November 26, 2022 CGTN America published a 2 minute 6 second report from Panajachel by correspondent Alasdair Baverstock. The report calls the area 'Bitcoin Lake' and says visitors can pay for most services in cryptocurrency.
A local voice, which the video does not name, explains why a business says yes: things in the world seem to be changing fast, this might be the money of the future, and many people from abroad ask if they can pay with it.
The report then adds a note of caution. Not everyone has taken the 'orange pill', as it calls adopting bitcoin. It points to El Salvador's reported losses after an investment of more than 100 million dollars, and says the bitcoin price that week hit its lowest level in two years. These are the report's claims.
Patrick Melder, called a promoter in the report, answers with the project's reason. He says they see bitcoin as a tool to bring economic opportunity and freedom to the community, and that teaching someone who is unbanked about its security and freedom is an easy sell.
The report ends without taking sides. It says nobody knows whether the markets will recover, and for a community that lives hand to mouth the orange pill may be hard to swallow.
This is a snapshot from late 2022, a hard moment for bitcoin. Plans have moved since then, so read it as how the lake looked to an outside newsroom at the time.
In their words
Things in the world seem to be changing fast and this might be the money of the future, so we accept it.
We look at bitcoin as a tool to bring economic opportunity and freedom to this community.
For a Guatemalan community that lives hand to mouth, that orange pill may currently be a difficult one to swallow.
This summary is based on the video's automatic captions. If something is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
