First Bitcoin Meetup Held in Ecuador

A group of 30 locals, taking heed of global
interest in Bitcoin,
met in Ecuador’s capital to discuss the future of digital
currencies in the region.

Ecuador lags far behind the financial innovations of developed
countries. According to Paul Buitink, one of the meeting’s
organizers, attendees envision a modernized financial system,
spearheaded by Bitcoin, to replace common cash transactions in
Ecuador.

Buitink thinks the unique Ecuadorian political-economic
situation could pose a ripe opportunity for the crypto-currency.
The U.S. dollar swooped in and replaced Ecuador’s currency after a
rapid depreciation of the country’s previous currency in 1999.
Buitink
writes in Bitcoin Magazine:

As Ecuador doesn’t print its own currency, less
resistance should be expected from the central bank of Ecuador. The
government is said to be working on its own currency, and should
they consider to throw cryptocurrencies in the mix, it could set
Ecuador apart from other countries.

But first, members seek to organize and expand the Ecuadorian
Bitcoin community. From an expanded infrastructure, they hope to
launch an evangelizing apparatus composed of lectures, conferences,
and online learning tools. In the long run, they dream of an
explosion of exchanges and merchants in the region.

This is similar to what advocates in other countries
envision.

In first-hand video account of
the first Botswana Bitcoin meeting, leader Alakanani Itireleng
frames her community developing plan. She says she is sharing what
she knows “so that it can help you. And after helping you you can
help others, and those whom you have helped can also help
others.”

So Bitcoin is not just a Western phenomenon. It has massive
global appeal. Meetings, and trade arenas known as “Satoshi
Squares,” have sprung up to feed a growing interest in the novel
financial instrument.
Mumbai, Jordan,
and Botswana all
launched their own Bitcoin meetups in the last couple of months.
Some like the idea of a currency that slips through the hands of a
tyrannical government, some (like the Ecuadorians) are attracted to
the benefits of a modernized financial system, and others are
interested in its potential to reduce transaction fees and
facilitate micropayments.

Energetic advocates are a tiny minority in many of these
countries, and the potential developments are obviously very
unclear. But meetings offer a rallying point that grounds users,
merchants who want to use Bitcoin, and software developers that
want to venture into digital currencies. These timid, early
meetings signal a growing curiosity that could, like Itireleng
indicates, reach others and snowball into bigger things.