The Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex has made a sizable contribution to the El Zonte Capital Hyberbitcoinization fund in El Salvador.
Investors, podcasters, and OG Bitcoin dynamic duo, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert made the Bitfinex announcement Monday morning on Cafe Bitcoin.
Bitfinex have made a very sizable contribution to El Zonte Capital
Max and Stacy formed El Zonte Capital with partner Cory Klippsten of Swan Bitcoin. They announced in February and officially formed the past few weeks.
“Bitfinex are coming in,” Herbert said. “Bitfinex and I have been working very closely over the past few months in El Salvador. We’ve been working together on various initiatives including building out an education initiative. People have probably seen there’s a lot of Bitcoin education happening in El Salvador, including with MiPrimer, a Bitcoin 101 course taught across high schools in El Salvador. You also have ‘Toro Goes Dev’ a mid-level intensive bootcamp for coders. I’m doing something with Jimmy Song on the higher bit of it for advanced and elite coders. We’re building a base in El Salvador and Bitfinex is helping us build that out.”
El Zonte Capital will distribute the $2 million of Bitcoin raised for the El Salvador solidarity fund and will be doing that in the coming weeks.
“It was natural for Bitfinex to come in and support what we’re doing, investing in Bitcoin in El Salvador and HyperBitcoinization,” Herbert added.
El Zonte Capital Launched in February
El Zonte Capital formed to promote HyperBitcoinization by investing in Bitcoin companies.
The fund’s name refers to El Zonte, El Salvador, where the Bitcoin Beach community was created to build a circular economy using Bitcoin and the Lightning Network, inspiring President Nayib Bukele to make history in the country.
The “Orange Pill Podcast” and “The Keiser Report” couple Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert founded El Zonte Capital after living in the seaside city for two months and seeing a Bitcoin-based economy firsthand.
“El Zonte is hyperbitcoinization. Hyperbitcoinization is economic freedom, and hyperbitcoinization is our main investment thesis,” Keiser told Bitcoin Magazine in February. “After experiencing what it actually looks like, we see this as the inevitable near future for everyone else. We are riding this wave as any surfer would.”
HyperBitcoinization
At the tipping point known as hyperbitcoinization, Bitcoin is elevated to the position of the world’s de facto standard for measuring value.
This will occur as more people and organizations around the world become aware of the benefits of a system for transacting value that is borderless, resistant to censorship, and natively digital.
It is arguable that the town of El Zonte is the most “Bitcoinized” municipality on the earth due to the fact that Bitcoin is used in a significant portion of the local trade.
Keiser and Herbert have become well-versed in the goings-on in their community by engaging in conversations with local citizens, proprietors of local businesses, and politicians at all levels, including President Nayib Bukele.
Keiser and Herbert Have Invested in Bitcoin Firms since 2013
In 2013, Keiser and Herbert made their first investment in a Bitcoin company. Since then, they have made venture investments in over 15 different companies, such as Kraken, Swan Bitcoin, and Bitfinex; the security company Casa; the payments firm BitPay; and the payroll services company BitWage.
“Back then (2013-2015) it was natural to invest in exchanges because people needed the on and off ramps. At that time that was the right move to make,” Co-Founder of El Zonte Capital Stacy Herbert said. “Today we believe the right move to make is to invest in El Salvador. We have a good track record on seed investing and finding young entrepreneurs, and betting big on them. I think we’re going to find those in El Salvador and we’re glad. We’re happy that Bitfinex believes in us, and our relationship with them. They have faith in us and I think they’re betting big.”
Now, they aim to further encourage Bitcoin adoption by providing assistance to businesses who are crafting a future in which Bitcoin and Lightning are an increasingly important part of the lives of people.
“The future is all around us,” Keiser said. “I haven’t been this excited about Bitcoin since I first heard about Bitcoin.”
EZ Cap launched with a seed-stage fund that had a committed capital base of $5 million.
Cory Klippsten, who also established Swan Bitcoin and Bitcoiner Ventures, is a member of the company’s team of general partners (GPs), which also includes Keiser and Herbert.
According to the partners, the advisory board will consist of some of the Bitcoin users from across the world who have the greatest expertise and are linked to the most people.
El Zonte Capital Board of Advisors
El Zonte Capital makes their first investment in @GaloyMoney
HyperBitcoinization won’t come easy
The idea of HyperBitcoinization underpins EZ Cap’s investment thesis; yet, achieving HyperBitcoinization is unlikely to be a simple process.
The company will concentrate on providing assistance to businesses that are working on solutions pertaining to Lightning, payments, and the utilization of Bitcoin as a savings technology.
These are the three areas that the company considers to be the most important pillars of a HyperBitcoinized world.
Legislation is the fourth pillar, and at the moment, El Salvador is the greatest place to witness it in action.
In spite of the widespread criticism that Bitcoin is unable to be a medium of exchange, El Salvador legalized the use of Bitcoin as currency and its citizens use it in their day-to-day transactions.
This brought Lightning into the international spotlight for the first time. Lightning allows Bitcoin to grow and handle higher-frequency transactions that are not practical on the base layer.
This is accomplished by constructing payment channels off-chain, while while guaranteeing that they adhere to the same rules.
“We will look at education and education technology to onboard as many people as possible,” Keiser said. “El Salvador will be bigger than Singapore.”
