Passport, sunglasses, beach towel and Bitcoin (BTC)? A BTC fan on vacation showed that the world’s largest cryptocurrency could soon become one of the most important holidays. Eugenio, a Costa Rican Bitcoin enthusiast, made his way on vacation with only Bitcoin in his wallet during a long weekend on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
The cities of Uvita, Dominical, and Ojochal are a hotspot for Bitcoin adoption and real-life whale spotting, and are home to Bitcoin Jungle, a Bitcoin Beach-inspired venture, as well as an emerging community of Bitcoin-friendly merchants. Eugenio documented his entire bitcoin vacation to the destination on Twitter. “The only thing I had to use was to fill the tank [of the car] before leaving,” he told Cointelegraph.
Eugenio explained that he wants to support the adoption process and show that anyone can do the same thing, in a convenient and fun way, “using the Lightning Network seamlessly without payment processors or participating banks:”
“I wanted to be able to pay for my little sister’s gelato while I was at the beach, for example.”
Eugenio paid more than his sister’s ice cream: he paid for pizza, coffee, steaks, and even a trip to the market for kombucha with bitcoin.
Eugenio in the market. Source: Eugenio
Reportedly, merchants asked, “Would you like to pay with Lightning or on-chain?” On-chain transactions take an average of 10 minutes to confirm, which is slow and sometimes expensive. Eugenio explained that lightning transactions are almost instantaneous, almost free, and are “win-win for me and merchants”:
“It’s very convenient, bitcoin is money. You can use it to spend and you can use it to save, and you can do both in an easy way without the fees and hurdles built into the old system, plus you can always buy back sats with the currency you would have used in the first place.”
