A sector of the world’s population is determined to live under a Bitcoin standard, moving towards the adoption of BTC as the only payment system.

Now that economic woes are spreading across the world and it’s getting much harder to put food on the table, is it time to think about Bitcoin (BTC) despite the bear market?

There are Bitcoiners for whom it is no longer enough to meet, physically or virtually, at events to connect with like-minded people. They want to go further, creating the life they want outside of the traditional monetary system. They group themselves into territories, educate themselves, encourage the use of cryptocurrency and move towards the adoption of BTC as the only payment system.

This is what the circular economies of Bitcoin are like, the so-called citadels. The first one emerged on El Zonte beach in El Salvador, and now its model is replicated in other corners of the world.

Today there are Bitcoin citadels in Africa, the Philippines, in Vanuatu, and in eastern Australia; but there are many more in Latin America, in countries like El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina. Most are found primarily in Central America.

What is a Bitcoin Citadel?

A citadel is a fortified territory, located inside a city, whose objective is to serve as a refuge for a population that seeks to survive against the enemy siege, as described by Wikipedia.

In the Bitcoin community, the term Citadel is today a meme that arose from the utopian story posted 9 years ago on Reddit by user Luka Magnotta.

He described citadels as “closed, isolated, and fortified cities to protect Bitcoin mining teams.”

In citadels, Bitcoiners have decided to unite convinced that, by adopting the first of the cryptocurrencies, they will have in their hands a sovereign asset that has a supply limit of 21 million.

With this, they believe that there will be the possibility of fixing the drawbacks of the traditional financial system based on a currency that is under the control of governments. And that debt can be issued ad infinitum, generating secondary effects, such as inflation, for example.

It is believed that the Bitcoin citadels are the first gateway to a truly bitcoinized world, because they are the basis for the transformation of a society that seeks a solution to its economic problems, separating money from the State.

What Types of Bitcoin Citadels are there?

Bitcoin citadels are distinguished by certain characteristics that allow them to be classified by type:

Citadels run by a CEO: Some Bitcoin citadels have plans to operate under the Patchwork model, an anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic philosophical movement described by American software engineer Curtis Guy Yarvin, known under the pseudonym Mencius Moldbug.

Patchwork is seen as a business or a corporation. These are small, small, and independent States governed by a corporate owner who owns the capital. Your community benefits by making your real estate as valuable as possible.

Citadels based on a social and community development plan: the first Bitcoin citadel emerged on El Zonte beach in El Salvador, formed by receiving an anonymous donation, with the condition that the payment has to be made in Bitcoin and distributed directly to the residents of El Zonte, with the aim of starting a local Bitcoin economy.

By Audy Castaneda

The American rapper joins a long list of celebrities who regret investing in crypto.

Grammy-nominated artist Lil Baby revealed his losses during a discussion with music journalist Sway on his radio show Sway’s Universe. The discussion largely focused on how the young rapper had matured since becoming famous.

In addition to being a good father, Lil Baby also expressed his desire to become a successful businessman.

Lil Baby on Crypto: Learning from Bad Investments

Recalling past investments he had made that were unsuccessful, Sway asked Lil Baby if he had similar experiences. While the younger rapper expressed confidence in the investment, describing it as a safer form of gambling, he admitted that it was a learning process. Lil Baby told Sway the following:

“In fact, I lost millions investing in cryptocurrencies. I will make money in cryptocurrencies before I lose it.” Pressed about his current approach to crypto, he said he was “on the back end now.” Despite having his own cryptocurrency team, he said his unavoidable faith in the technology hadn’t convinced him personally. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen to it,” the American rapper concluded.

Celebrity Losses in NFT

Lil Baby is not the only celebrity who has been burned by bad investments in cryptocurrencies. While many celebrities were able to prosper during the non-fungible token (NFT) boom, others cashed in a little too late.

Earlier this week, Brazilian soccer star Neymar realized a $700,000 loss on the NFTs he bought earlier this year. In January, the Paris St-Germain striker bought a pair of NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club for roughly $1 million. Neymar even wore one of them as the profile picture on his Twitter account.

Neymar’s two boring apes are currently worth less than $350,000. Neymar’s other ape sits on his wallet called the EneJayVault.

Several other celebrities who had bought into BAYC-mania earlier this year saw their investments depreciate significantly. These include pop star Madonna and rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg, who featured BAYC avatars in a release earlier this year.

Considered one of the greatest rappers of all time, Eminem suffered financial damage from his NFT purchases. In January, he bought the Bored Ape 9055 for 123.45 ETH, about $462,000 at the time.

Since then, the price of the token has dropped to $140,000. Not even the actions carried out by the singer around the BAYC ecosystem had an effect. In June, alongside Snoop Dogg, he released a music video in which the two rappers bring their Bored Apes to life.

Despite the fact that fans praised the initiative and the video had more than 56 million views on YouTube, BAYC prices continued to fall. The company behind the collection has taken various initiatives to expand the ecosystem around the Apes. But the collection’s sales volume continues to hit new lows.

To conclude, it is certain that celebrities are not exempt from making bad investments, even in sectors that until recently looked as promising as those linked to web3, the name for the “new” internet that would come from the hand of the metaverse, cryptocurrencies, and other Blockchain technologies. For this reason, it is sensible to do your research thoroughly before investing.

By Audy Castaneda