Congrats to Costa Rica for so much Bitcoin adoption. 800 merchants using freedom money is almost two-thirds as many as El Salvador's 1300! Genuinely impressive... but the real Bitcoin Country still stands alone by mixing institutional adoption alongside grassroots. El Salvador is a leader on multiple fronts: 1. Bitcoin education 2. Bitcoin capital markets 3. Bitcoin strategic reserve 4. Bitcoin startups 5. Bitcoin circular economies + overall merchant adoption No disrespect to the Pura Vida Bitcoiners, but if the "Bitcoin Country" title is being challenged... Let's take this to the octagon, UFC style, and check who holds the title after all five rounds. As you'll see, Costa Rica only even comes close to El Salvador in one of those categories currently. 1. Education: El Salvador is now rolling out TWO programs for ALL public schools: "What is Money" ages 7+, then the Bitcoin Diploma. There's also the highly selective @cuboplus for training Bitcoin/Lightning developers. Think about the long term impact here. Each new generation learning about money from first principles from a young age, throughout all of El Salvador. Costa Rica has some private Bitcoin education (which is great too! The more the better) but zero countrywide initiatives... Let alone anything even remotely close to the scale that the @bitcoinofficesv is already implementing throughout all of the real Bitcoin COUNTRY. 2. Capital markets: El Salvador still has zero capital gains taxes for Bitcoin, clearly treating it as MONEY. Even regulated banks are clearly allowed to use it as such, including as qualifying capital. Correct me if I'm wrong here... But it seems like Costa Rica has a capital gains tax, typically 15%, for Bitcoin. Their central bank considers it explicitly NOT legal tender... but they do still have KYC/AML compliance for Virtual Asset Service Providers 😂 without any of the actual benefits for institutional adoption. One's a world leading standard. The other? Arguably worse than no government policy at all on this topic. Which sounds like "THE Bitcoin country" to you? In this UFC-style fight for the title, it might be a first or second round knockout already... but let's go all five rounds anyway. 3. Strategic reserve: Over 7800 BTC, verifiable at Bitcoin.gob.sv, accumulated through market means rather than confiscation. Second only to Bhutan for the most per capita of any country on earth. Costa Rica has zero Bitcoin holdings as a country. None bought, none donated... none even confiscated to HODL like several other countries. Nada. Not even close in this category either. 4. Startups: In addition to the ~1300 merchants accepting Bitcoin, at least eight finance/technology Bitcoin businesses (explicitly not shitcoiners) are active with headquarters registered in El Salvador. That's by design with friendly policies, including long term tax breaks and protections for open source development, to make Bitcoin Country attractive for innovators. Costa Rica, as far as I can tell, doesn't have any comparable Bitcoin finance/tech companies. Bull Bitcoin does really cool work there, but it's headquartered in Canada. I'm open to more information on this one... but it seems like yet another round clearly won by the first and only true Bitcoin Country. 5. Circular economies: Credit where it's due, this is the one category where Costa Rica is real "competition" for Bitcoin adoption. Uvita's total of ~300 merchants onboarded is genuinely remarkable. That ranks among the most hyperbitcoinized places on earth, up there with @Bitcoinbeach and @BitcoinBerlinSV for ease of living on a Bitcoin Standard. El Salvador has about 10 total circular economy projects though, all building toward that same standard El Zonte and Berlín have already achieved. Many bigger brands also accept Bitcoin throughout El Salvador: the country's biggest grocery chain Super Selectos, Wendy's, Starbucks, PriceSmart (similar to Costco)... merchant adoption extends beyond the grassroots projects in El Salvador. To be fair, the @BitcoinJungleCR wallet integration with SINPE fiat payment rails is brilliant for spreading adoption. But overall, ~800 merchants onboarded is barely 60% of El Salvador's ~1300 when you compare the totals throughout each country. This round was closer, but I think the winner is still clear. Conclusion: I'm happy that Costa Rica is among the world leaders for grassroots adoption. Genuinely. I'd love to see that example spread even further! I have a ton of respect for Lee, Francis, Eugenio and everyone else making such an incredible impact in @BitcoinJungleCR Although I haven't been to Uvita yet, I definitely want to visit at some point. It looks like a beautiful place with incredible people doing inspiring work. But when it comes to the "Bitcoin Country" title? Let's not get carried away. The entire world still has a long way to go with Bitcoin adoption, but one country is clearly far ahead of the rest. Despite the impressive work in Costa Rica... And despite a vocal minority of haters and engagement-baiters who are incentivized to ignore all these facts... El Salvador still sets the standard. The defending champion still holds the title as the one and only true Bitcoin Country. 🇸🇻🏆