How Bitcoin Lago started
Bitcoin Lago began in 2021 with a meetup, a waiter and a US bitcoiner, and grew by walking into shops one by one. Here is what the interviews, press and posts say, and where they disagree.
In short
Bitcoin Lago is a bitcoin circular economy project in Panajachel, on Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. Eliazar Ajquijay, who leads it on the ground, gave the start in one sentence in a message to this site in October 2026: it began in 2021, he visited businesses one by one, and around 2023 the project began taking bitcoin into schools with a certification. In a voice answer in November 2026 he placed the start in late 2021, in November or December, and said merchant onboarding began in March 2022. This page puts the early story together from interviews, press and posts. Where they disagree, we say so. Patrick Melder says he scouted Panajachel in December 2021 and launched Bitcoin Lago in January 2022. [Eliazar, voice answers, November 2026; Eliazar, message to the site, October 2026; Patrick Melder on scouting and launch]
A meetup and Patrick Melder, late 2021
Most tellings start with Patrick Melder, who lives in Atlanta. Patrick says his family first came to Panajachel in 2012 for an art camp and returned every year until 2016. When he began to think about how bitcoin could help a community, his mind went back to Panajachel. In the Adopting Bitcoin 2023 talk, Rudy said Patrick started the project in late 2021 or the beginning of 2022. Eliazar says it began at the end of 2021, when he went to a meetup in Panajachel and heard about money and inflation for the first time, and about bitcoin for the second. Ricky, a friend and former colleague of Patrick who lives in Montreal, says Patrick had contacts in Panajachel and wanted to launch in 2022. Ricky thought a bear market was a bad time to launch, but Patrick was determined, so he joined. In a later interview Patrick dates the family art camps from 2012 to 2018, while his March 2022 account gives 2012 to 2016. The dates conflict. He also recalls an earlier visit to El Zonte, but its date is uncertain. [Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 6:22; Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 6:55; Adopting Bitcoin 2023 talk, 0:25; Ordermoon podcast, 3:13; Ordermoon podcast, 3:29; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 39:11; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 39:50; Patrick on art camps and early El Zonte visit; Patrick, March 2022, art camp dates]
From waiter to project leader
After the pandemic Eliazar was working as a waiter, in a country that had been closed for seven months. In 2021 a guest at breakfast wore a Bitcoin T-shirt. Eliazar asked what bitcoin was. The guest, Patrick, made a transaction in front of him and told him to download Wallet of Satoshi. The Get Based video repeats the story, including a tip sent to the waiter. A couple of months later Patrick came back, invited him to a meetup in the park and asked him to join. Eliazar says he knew nothing about bitcoin but decided to learn from books. His first job, he says, was reading The Bitcoin Standard, then other books and podcasts. Ricky phoned him and asked for research. One early idea was to make Eliazar an exchange middleman whose profit would pay his salary, but there was no demand. [One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 16:44; One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 17:39; One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 18:30; One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 19:17; Get Based video, 5:31; Ordermoon podcast, 3:48; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 42:10]
A week in El Zonte
In early 2022 Eliazar went to El Zonte, the home of Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, for a week. He says Patrick and a man from Canada sent him and paid for everything. Ricky remembers it as a small training course, and thinks about 10 shops there accepted bitcoin at the time. Patrick told the Descubriendo Bitcoin show in March 2022 that the project had just sent one of its people for a week, but he did not name him. Eliazar says the spark was practice: paying for a Coca-Cola, a hotel room and food with bitcoin. He says his mind changed. Funding, per Ricky, came from a donation from Bitcoin Beach, other donations and the founders' own money. [Ordermoon podcast, 4:14; Ordermoon podcast, 4:43; One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 20:14; One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 21:40; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 43:16; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 44:45; Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 3:12]
Classes first, or merchants first?
The sources disagree here. Patrick told Descubriendo Bitcoin in March 2022 that the first lesson from El Zonte was to teach children first, because adults resist new money. He said he taught a school in Panajachel by Zoom every week from Atlanta, and that after the first lesson the students all raised their hands for bitcoin over the quetzal. The same month he told El Faro the project used "formal school training versus community training". Ricky says the project launched with classes in a school and no businesses, and that Eliazar was not yet involved. A project post in May 2022 shows a school room turned into a Bitcoin education room. Eliazar, though, dates the start of education to 2023, and in an interview recorded in 2022 he said schools were planned for "next year". These may be two different things, Patrick's early classes and the school programme Eliazar runs. We have not confirmed that. Patrick described a node and miner at the school run by Nancy, and said his reason was to help without creating dependence. He explained that the quetzal on the logo is Guatemala’s national bird and means this is not another gringo project. [Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 2:29; Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 13:27; Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 42:01; El Faro, 20 March 2022; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 40:54; Project post on X, May 2022; Ordermoon podcast, 6:02; One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 23:03; Patrick on the school node and miner; School miner interview; Patrick on the quetzal logo]
The first merchants
After El Zonte, Eliazar talked about bitcoin to everyone. He says he visited each business, was told no, came back the next week, then visited twice a month, and did a small exercise sending a few sats. At first he shared some of his own salary to set an example. The first count is Patrick's, in March 2022: about seven businesses. In the same weeks the project's account announced what it called the first hotel in Panajachel accepting bitcoin that it knew of, and began onboarding Amaranto, a hotel and restaurant. In November 2026 Eliazar named the first three businesses that accepted bitcoin: Amaranto, Coffee Art and an ice cream shop, which BTC Map lists as Sarita IceCream. On 12 April Soy502 counted 15 businesses, from cafes and restaurants to hotels and crafts. [Eliazar, voice answers, November 2026; Bitcoinismo interview, 13:41; Bitcoinismo interview, 14:08; Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 29:42; Project post on X, 22 March 2022; Project post on X, 28 March 2022; Soy502 video, 0:18]
How many, really?
Later counts do not line up. Eliazar says he brought about 60 businesses on board in six months, and Ricky says the same after one or two slow months. The project's account said more than 60 places around the lake on 22 September 2022. In an interview recorded in 2022, Eliazar said 65 and the host said over 65 in six months. A supporter counted more than 70 in Panajachel in October. The Get Based video said about 80 in Panajachel in 10 months. Ricky says about 100 in Panajachel by the end of 2022, adding "maybe". Some figures cover Panajachel and some the whole lake, and they come from different dates. BTC Map lists 5 of today's places as added by the end of September 2022 and 49 by the end of 2022, but listing dates may trail the first sign-ups, and places since removed are not counted. [Ordermoon podcast, 5:40; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 45:24; Project post on X, 22 September 2022; One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 22:24; One Love Bitcoin, host, 1:46; Supporter post on X, 24 October 2022; Get Based video, 5:18; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 54:43; BTC Map data, checked 22 October 2026]
The walking ATM
Cashing out was the hard part. Patrick said some cash-out companies charged up to 9 percent or more, so the project used the man it had sent to El Zonte as a "walk-in ATM": he went around with cash and exchanged merchants' bitcoin for quetzales for a small fee. Eliazar describes the same service. After a sale, a merchant could call him and he would exchange right away. Ricky says he managed the money behind the scenes so that Eliazar always had cash. They cashed out almost every day, sometimes the next day, and, he says, never failed. Ricky says this arrangement is finished now. In November 2026 Eliazar said cashing out is now rare: one or two merchants still use it, and only in an emergency. He also says that when the price hit bottom and began to rise, merchants started to hold their bitcoin and the circular flow stopped. This is a historical cash-out arrangement, not a service offered by this guide. Confirm current cash and payment options before your trip. [Eliazar, voice answers, November 2026; Visitor guide: current services need confirmation; Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 28:56; Descubriendo Bitcoin, Patrick Melder, 29:13; One Love Bitcoin, Eliazar, 12:36; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 67:08; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 68:09]
First press
El Faro published "Bitcoin Believers Look for New Paradise at Mayan Lake" on 20 March 2022, and Bitcoin Beach shared it on X the next day. In it, Bitcoin Beach co-founder Mike Peterson said the Salvadoran project had no formal ties to any bitcoin initiative at Atitlán, but was sharing what it had learned. Soy502, a Guatemalan outlet, ran a short video on 12 April, with a banner reading "in association with Bitcoin Beach". CGTN America reported from Panajachel in November 2022, calling the lake "Bitcoin Lake". A local voice said they accept bitcoin because many foreigners ask to pay with it and it might be the money of the future. The report also noted the price slump and doubted whether a community living hand to mouth would take to bitcoin. [El Faro, 20 March 2022; Bitcoin Beach post on X, 21 March 2022; Soy502 video, 0:12; CGTN America report, 0:07; CGTN America report, 0:36; CGTN America report, 1:21]
Where it went next
The count did not hold. Eliazar says more than 100 businesses had been onboarded by 2024, but the lesson was that a circular economy needs people who spend, not only businesses that accept. He gave about 40 or 50 accepting businesses in a podcast published in January 2026 and about 50 or 60 in a Spanish interview published in May 2026. Education, which he dates to 2023 with a My First Bitcoin diploma in a first primary school, has become the main work. Ricky said in 2025 that classes for children in schools are the most important thing the project does. Eliazar's mission is to teach from children to elders, and the team hopes to open a Bitcoin center. In November 2026 Eliazar said about 50 businesses still accept bitcoin and the number is still growing. He also said he is the only person on the ground for now, with Ricky helping from far away and volunteers joining from time to time. The Bitcoin center is a long-term plan that needs land and a building. The first step he described is a small Bitcoin house in a cheaper town, which still needs a fence, a bathroom and concrete work. The pages on the Ordermoon and Bitcoinismo interviews tell that part in more detail. Not to be confused with Bitcoin Lake, a separate project founded by Rishi Bond in San Marcos La Laguna that began in May 2021. [Eliazar, voice answers, November 2026; Ordermoon podcast, 6:55; Ordermoon podcast, 7:41; Bitcoinismo interview, 2:29; Ricky, The Orange Journey, 53:30; Eliazar, message to the site, October 2026; Our page: Ordermoon interview; Our page: Bitcoinismo interview; Bitcoin Lake in San Marcos La Laguna, history]
In their words
The number one lesson was that to create awareness and bitcoin adoption, we had to teach the children first.
My first job in Lago Bitcoin was reading The Bitcoin Standard.
I am the ATM, walking around here.
I am the person who, at the beginning, visited every business one by one and talked to them about bitcoin.
There was obviously nothing, so it was only classes in the school.
Numbers and dates come from the linked sources. When sources disagree we say so. If you know better, tell us and we will fix it.
