Interview with Sasha from the Bitcoin Hardware Store at Bitcoin Historic.

The Bitcoin Hardware Store in El Zonte: Safeguarding Sovereignty in the World's First Bitcoin Circular Economy
El Zonte, El Salvador—better known as Bitcoin Beach—the mantra "Not your keys, not your bitcoin" isn't just a slogan; it's a lifeline. Nestled on the Pacific coast where volcanic sands meet pounding waves, this community of about 3,000 has pioneered the world's first Bitcoin circular economy, a self-sustaining ecosystem where cryptocurrency flows freely for everything from pupusas to haircuts. But amid the global spotlight on El Salvador's bold Bitcoin experiment, one unassuming shop stands as the quiet guardian of true financial freedom: The Bitcoin Hardware Store.

Founded in early 2024 by Canadian-Salvadoran entrepreneur Ronny Avendaño and Bitcoin educator Jamie Robinson, this flagship location isn't your typical retailer. It's a fortress for self-custody, arming locals and visitors alike with the tools to protect their sats from the very systems Bitcoin was designed to disrupt.

Sasha, a dynamic tbhs representative whose infectious energy and deep Bitcoin savvy turned heads and sparked conversations across the festival grounds. A long-time El Zonte resident with roots in the original Bitcoin Beach pilot, Sasha (known on X as @SashaTBHS) embodies the store's mission: Educating without elitism, one QR code at a time. During the event, she hosted a packed "Self-Custody Crash Course" session, walking 150+ participants through dice-rolled entropy generation and multi-sig setups—complete with live demos on a Bitaxe miner humming under the Salvadoran sun. "Bitcoin Histórico isn't about speeches; it's about tools that last," Sasha quipped during her talk, showing off all the new and leading hardware devices. Her booth became a de facto meetup spot, where global attendees swapped stories with locals about weathering IMF pressures while stacking sats via Lightning remittances. By event's end, tbhs had onboarded dozens of new self-custodians, proving once again that hardware stores like theirs are the unsung heroes keeping the circular economy's promise alive.
What Makes The Bitcoin Hardware Store a Bitcoin Beach Beacon?
Tucked into the heart of El Zonte's vibrant main strip, steps from beachside vendors accepting Lightning payments, The Bitcoin Hardware Store (tbhs.sv) is more than a shop—it's a hub for sovereignty. Walk in (or zap in via their Bitcoin ATM), and you'll find:
Hardware Wallets Galore: Coldcard Mk4s for air-gapped signing, Trezor Models for user-friendly setups, BitBox02 for Swiss-engineered security, and Foundation Passport for multi-sig mastery. No knockoffs here—everything ships sealed and verifiable.
Backup Essentials: Steel seed plates like Billfodl and Cryptosteel to etch your 12- or 24-word phrases against fire or flood.
Mining for the Masses: Mini ASIC rigs like the Bitaxe Supra, a palm-sized beast hashing at 750 GH/s for just 18 watts—perfect for home setups in a country where geothermal energy powers the national volcano mine.
Education Arsenal: Textbooks on running your own node, workshops on CoinJoin privacy, and even business terminals for merchants joining the circular economy.
Fun and Functional Merch: Stickers, tees, and QR-coded guides to get newbies stacking sats without the scams.
But it's not just inventory. The store doubles as an outdoor classroom, hosting free sessions on seed generation with dice rolls (no trusted entropy needed) and inheritance planning to ensure your Bitcoin outlives you. They even offer recovery services for lost wallets—because even in paradise, accidents happen.
Why It's Vital to Bitcoin Beach's Circular Economy
El Zonte's story began in 2019, sparked by an anonymous Bitcoin donation to local leaders like Mike Peterson and Roman Martínez. What started as a way to bank the unbanked—70% of Salvadorans lack traditional accounts—evolved into a thriving loop: Families earn sats from tourism or remittances, spend them on groceries via Lightning, and businesses reinvest in community projects. By 2021, this grassroots model inspired President Nayib Bukele's Bitcoin Law, catapulting El Salvador to global fame. Today, over 500 families and 120 businesses in El Zonte circulate Bitcoin daily, from utility bills to medical care, proving crypto's power for financial inclusion.
Yet, in this fragile ecosystem, self-custody isn't optional—it's oxygen. Custodial apps like the state's Chivo Wallet flopped at launch, plagued by glitches and low adoption. Exchanges? They're targets for hacks or freezes, especially as IMF pressures test El Salvador's resolve. Enter The Bitcoin Hardware Store: the antidote to custodial creep.
Protecting Against Real-World Risks
In a town where Bitcoin is daily bread, losing keys means losing rent money. The store's tamper-evident packaging and open-source verification tools shield against supply-chain attacks—critical in a nation once ravaged by gangs, now rebuilding via crypto. Ronny Avendaño, who ditched a Toronto finance gig for El Zonte's "Bitcoin fever," stocks devices that let users verify firmware on-site, ensuring no backdoors slip through.
Empowering the Unbanked with Education
The store's workshops aren't sales pitches; they're sovereignty bootcamps. Newbies learn to shun seed-typing scams and embrace passphrases for plausible deniability. For locals like fishermen turned Lightning merchants, it's the bridge from "number go up" hype to running a node-backed wallet. Jamie Robinson, the CTO, emphasizes: "We're not just selling hardware—we're teaching why autocustody is key to financial freedom." This hands-on approach has onboarded hundreds, turning passive holders into active stackers.
Fueling Decentralized Innovation
By stocking Bitaxe miners, the store democratizes hashing power, letting families contribute to Bitcoin's network without big rigs. At $5/month in electricity costs, it's accessible sovereignty—aligning with Bitcoin Beach's ethos of injecting BTC to create jobs, not dependency. Profits fund community grants, echoing the circular model's spirit.
A Market Check on Global Trends
When Ledger's 2023 "Recover" fiasco rocked the community, tbhs pivoted to fully open-source options, rewarding trust with loyalty. In El Zonte, where tourists flock for the experiment, this honesty builds resilience against "Bitcoin bubble" skepticism.
The Cultural Heartbeat of Bitcoin Beach: Spotlight on Sasha at Bitcoin Histórico
Chat with staff at tbhs, and you'll hear tales that capture El Zonte's magic: A single mom buying her first Coldcard to secure remittance sats; a surfer trading waves for wallet setups; expats like Avendaño, whose civil war-refugee parents would marvel at this unconfiscatable wealth. The store's Bitcoin ATM hums alongside pupusa stands, blending tech with tradition.
This heartbeat pulsed louder than ever during the historic Bitcoin Histórico conference in November 2025, a landmark event that transformed San Salvador's Centro Histórico into a global epicenter of financial sovereignty. Organized by El Salvador's National Bitcoin Office, the two-day gathering (November 12–13) drew thousands of developers, investors, and Bitcoin luminaries—including Max Keiser, Stacy Herbert, Jimmy Song, and even British actor Russell Brand—for keynote speeches, workshops, and cultural festivities like free pupusa feasts (21,000 served!) and drone light shows. Broadcast on massive LED screens in public plazas, it marked the world's first government-backed Bitcoin conference, celebrating El Salvador's role as a beacon for decentralized innovation amid its evolving legal tender landscape.
For The Bitcoin Hardware Store, Bitcoin Histórico wasn't just an event—it was a homecoming to the front lines of the revolution. The tbhs team rolled out their mobile store right into the heart of Centro Histórico, setting up booths amid the Renaissance 2.0 vibes of the National Palace. There, they demoed air-gapped wallets, ran impromptu seed-backup clinics, and zapped sats for on-site purchases, bridging the gap between high-level talks on Lightning Network scalability and practical self-custody for everyday users. It was a masterclass in accessibility: Attendees fresh from panels on nation-state Bitcoin adoption could walk away with a verified Coldcard in hand, ready to secure their stack against any regulatory headwinds.

As Bitcoin Beach expands globally—replicating in places like Berlín, El Salvador—tbhs remains ground zero. Even amid 2025's legal tender tweaks for IMF loans, the circular economy endures, with tourism and education driving adoption. Ronny worries about "cold feet" from policy shifts, but his shelves stay stocked: "Bitcoin Beach isn't about governments; it's about people owning their future."
Looking Ahead: Sovereignty in Paradise
In a world of ETFs and nation-state hoards, The Bitcoin Hardware Store is El Zonte's reminder: True ownership starts with cold storage. For $50–$200, anyone can claim their keys amid the coconuts and waves. It's not glamorous—no Super Bowl spots here—but in the birthplace of Bitcoin's circular dream, it's revolutionary.
Visit tbhs.sv or zap by El Zonte. Stack, secure, and surf. Your keys, your beach, your bitcoin.