Fewer merchants, more spenders: Eliazar on what Bitcoin Lago learned, on the Ordermoon podcast

A podcast from Europe about the lake

Ordermoon is a channel from Bulgaria that follows Bitcoin circular economies and spends sats when it travels. Its two hosts had attended Adopting Bitcoin in El Salvador the month before, and wanted to hear from the neighbouring country. They reached Eliazar, the community leader of Bitcoin Lago, and talked for 37 minutes. The video was published on January 27, 2026. It was probably recorded in December 2025, so counts and plans may have changed.

From a first meetup to 60 businesses

Eliazar says the project started at the end of 2021, when the founders, who had holidayed at the lake, decided to build something with bitcoin. He went to a meetup in Panajachel that year and first heard about money, inflation and bitcoin. His first job was to read The Bitcoin Standard and other books, and to listen to podcasts.

At the start of 2022 he travelled to Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador. He had been reading a lot but had not practised: paying for a Coca-Cola, a hotel room and food with bitcoin was the spark. Back home he talked to everybody. In six months he introduced around 60 businesses to bitcoin.

The mistake he says they made

In 2023 the education work began, with Rudy as the first volunteer teacher and the My First Bitcoin diploma. By 2024 more than 100 businesses had joined. But a circular economy needs people who spend, he says, and not many came. Today about 40 to 50 businesses accept bitcoin.

One of the hosts agreed from experience: in years one to three it is easy to want everyone on board, and merchants get discouraged when payments do not arrive. Sometimes less is more. Eliazar adds that the price lesson helped. In 2022 bitcoin fell from about 45,000 to 15,000 or 16,000 dollars, and merchants felt it. In 2023, when it climbed back toward 40,000, they understood why he had told them to save a part. A couple of them have moved coins to a cold wallet.

How it works day to day

The team uses Blink, Fedi and sometimes Wallet of Satoshi. They started with the Bitcoin Beach app because in 2022 it was the only one with a map of businesses. Each merchant gets QR codes and a big painted sign. Merchants join a WhatsApp group, which Eliazar uses to announce meetups, and news also goes on Facebook and Instagram.

Eliazar now spends his own sats at the businesses, buying coffee and meals, and tells owners that bitcoiners will look for them because they accept bitcoin. Most merchants buy their bitcoin directly from visiting bitcoiners, since there is an exchange in the city but not on the lake. Self custody is taught step by step: a Lightning wallet first, then a cold wallet as balances grow.

Funding and volunteers

He describes the project as a nonprofit that lives on donations, which pay for signs and for helping merchants. They applied for funding on Geyser but, he says, never received donations. This year it was just him and one more volunteer. He plans to start bitcoin classes in three schools in January 2026, and to support another project that teaches English, where around 65 students would also learn about bitcoin.

For 2026 he invites volunteers for six weeks or two months, to teach English or bitcoin and live among local people. Visitors can reach the lake from Guatemala City airport in about three hours, and he can arrange a taxi or shuttle paid in bitcoin.

What we learn

The hosts say it is not yet a real circular economy, because merchants hold their sats and hesitate to spend them. Eliazar had made the same point earlier. His answer is steady work: education, regular visits and slow steps toward self custody.

In their words

Our mistake was to orange pill a lot of businesses and not many people came to spend bitcoin.

We always tell them that all the bitcoiners will come to them only because they accept bitcoin.

Sometimes less is more. (Ordermoon co-host)

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