On January 17, 2022, youtuber Paco De La India shared with Cointelegraph media the story of his journey to appreciate the legitimacy of bitcoin (BTC) – if not its “full” legality – in different countries today.
Bitcoin Journey: Is BTC Really a Transactional Currency?
In September 2021, Paco De La India began a journey whose main purpose was to find out if he would be able to survive using only bitcoin as a means of payment in 40 countries. He leaves from the city of Bangalore, India, after selling his belongings. His trip is largely funded by bitcoin donations.
Paco had planned to spend 10 days in each of the 40 countries, but he had to revise his initial plans due to the spread of the Omicron variant, bypassing mandatory quarantines, or countries requiring tourists to stay within their borders for at least 14 days. Paco is also trying to avoid PCR tests that generate additional costs.
His bitcoins have enabled the youtuber to travel through India, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Cambodia so far. Paco prefers to use a non-custodial wallet to store his bitcoins and the Lignhning network to make his BTC transactions.
Surviving on Bitcoin: The Challenge
Paco said he was still surprised at how many people accepted bitcoin in countries where cryptocurrencies were nevertheless in a gray area in terms of regulation. Two people who performed the youtuber’s covid test in India for his trip to the United Arab Emirates, for example, accepted payments in bitcoin without hesitation.
Paco was also able to use bitcoin as a payment method for other use cases, without ever having to impose the cryptocurrency. He was surprised at how many random vendors were open to bitcoin.
Thailand would be, according to Paco, “super crypto-friendly,” as would Cambodia. The United Arab Emirates also seems to be open to cryptocurrencies, “but I feel like it’s just between the richest people.”
During his trip, Paco spoke with more and more “older people who have already lived their lives looking for young people who are really into technology.” According to him, these people want to “make money”. The youtuber comes to the conclusion that “everyone sees bitcoin as a way to make money.
Traveling is good for the young, and Paco found out for himself when he left India that while the Indian government has stated that it has no plans to recognize bitcoin as a currency, citizens of different countries think otherwise.
