Eliazar on how Bitcoin Lago's circular economy works: an interview by Adrián Bernabéu

An interview recorded at the lake

Adrián Bernabéu, author of the book Bitcoinismo and host of the Spanish language channel Bitcoinismo, travelled to Panajachel to meet Eliazar, who leads Bitcoin Lago on the ground. The 24 minute conversation was published on May 12, 2026. It looks to have been recorded in November 2025, about an hour before the meetup where Bernabéu presented his book at the Amaranto hotel. Numbers and plans may have changed since then.

Where it started, and why this lake

Eliazar says the project began as a dream at the end of 2021. The founders saw what Bitcoin Beach was doing in El Salvador, understood the potential, and copied the model at Lake Atitlán.

As to why this lake, he says one of the founders, a doctor, first came to help in Guatemala, especially in Sololá, around 2010 to 2012. From 2012 to 2019 he returned every year on holiday with his family and fell in love with the lake. After he discovered bitcoin, he came straight here to build a circular economy.

Fewer merchants, but the ones who stayed kept saving

Eliazar visited businesses one by one with no plan. At one point more than 100 accepted bitcoin. Few customers came asking to pay with it, so some stopped. Today he counts about 50 or 60.

What he finds most beautiful is that the merchants who learned about bitcoin in 2022 are still in. They prefer to be paid in bitcoin, and most have kept what they earned since 2022.

How did he win them over? He visited, was told no, came back the next week, then twice a month. When a merchant agreed, they did an exercise and sent a few sats. At first he shared some of his own salary to set an example. Now he gives priority to the places that accept bitcoin, has coffee with the owners, and takes visiting bitcoiners to spend there.

Salaries, students and snack money

Eliazar says Amaranto was one of the first businesses in Guatemala to pay half of its workers' salary in bitcoin. The staff came to understand it by watching bitcoin tips at meetups, of 20, 50 or 100 quetzales, gain value.

In the courses, students receive a few sats to practise. After one course, four or five students asked how they could put in 500 or 1,000 quetzales. They bought about 300 quetzales each, around 35 dollars. At a primary school where he goes once a week, sixth graders aged 8 to 12 stopped spending their snack money and put it in bitcoin.

A big goal with a small team

The goal is to educate 300,000 people in the roughly 17 towns of Sololá. The work started in schools of every kind, and in 2025 reached its first university. Eliazar says two people do the work, and he asks for volunteers: people who know nothing about bitcoin will be taught, and people who know can teach in a school or run a meetup.

Why bitcoin matters to him

Before bitcoin, Eliazar says, he saved in cash and understood nothing about money or inflation. He used to work 10 hours a day, six days a week. Now he has a coffee project, a real estate project and his bitcoin work, and he says bitcoin gave him the freedom to start them.

He also links bitcoin to Guatemala's history of racism toward indigenous people. He hopes understanding bitcoin gives them more opportunities and more value for their time, property and work. He speaks Kaqchikel, one of three local languages with K'iche' and Tz'utujil, and uses it to reach people who do not speak Spanish.

He ends by saying the credit is not his: it belongs to bitcoin and Satoshi Nakamoto.

In their words

For me Bitcoin is a proof of love, sharing with everyone.

They saved their snack money. They did not spend it on snacks and they put it into bitcoin.

Before bitcoin I understood nothing about what money was, what inflation was, or the Guatemalan economy.

All the merchants keep saving in bitcoin, they prefer bitcoin, and our challenge is to educate 300,000 people around the lake.

This summary is based on the video's automatic captions. If something is wrong, tell us and we will fix it.