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Raised in Spain, he studied in Ireland and worked in Australia, where he questioned the Fíat system.
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In Berlin, El Salvador, the use of Bitcoin grows, motivated to economic freedom.
In Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland, Charlie Stevens saw a world drowned by regulation, where the euro faded and culture went out. Therefore, he focused on El Salvador, where he found a volcano of possibilities, and now lives in the Berlin citadel in the Usulután department of the Central American country, where he found a home in which Bitcoin (BTC) and freedom flourish together.
Born in Ireland, but raised in Spain since I was four years old, Charlie grew between two worlds. His mother, an English teacher with an love for education, instilled in him discipline and curiosity. His father, a poker professional player, taught him Analyze risks and think as an entrepreneur. «My father gave me the leftovers of his tournaments and said: ‘He sells this, that will give you money for the week,'» recalled during a recent conversation.
Everything was fine in Charlie’s life, until he began to notice changes. The managers, with their «pale skin and alcohol disguised stress,» did not inspire it. The routine seemed like a cage. And later, when Bitcoin sold In Europe, banks closed their accountssuffocating it with regulations. «I felt a darkness, as if I were crushing culture and freedom,» he explained.
Everything happened fast, but until then, he had not noticed that he had a compass in his hands. A spark had lit in him since he approached Bitcoin in 2017, and suddenly things began to make more sense.
«Bitcoin is like fire,» Charlie explained. «You can do incredible things if you play with him.» In 2022, while walking barefoot among trees in Queensland, Australia, he had an epiphany: «I saw a globe with all the coins of the world, and in the center was Bitcoin, connecting all the value metrics.» That vision prompted him to leave the traditional financial system behind and search A place where Bitcoin was not just an idea, but a reality.
So, he soon knew that El Salvador, for his adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, was his next obvious destination.
«Where Bitcoin is money, transactions flow,» Charlie said. And in July 2023, he sold his assets in Europe, took his savings in Bitcoin and moved to Berlin, a Bitcoin citadel very close to the top of a volcano in the heart of El Salvador.
Bitcoin Berlin: A volcano of possibilities
Bitcoin Berlin is also known as the Bitcoin City of the town. This is because it is developed by a community in Salvadoran territory in the absence of compliance with the promise that Nayib Bukele made in 2021. And there, Charlie found a place to start from scratch.
Far from the tourist beaches of Bitcoin Beach, Berlin offered him a blank canvas, a rural place, affordable and with a nascent community of Bitcoiners. «I knew that I could provide a service and attract some capital to this city,» he explains, confident in his previous experience in diverse works, from gold mining in Australia to the organization of parties in Dublin.
Berlin does not disappoint him. There Charlie found a transformed place, where security, once a luxury in a country that was the most dangerous in the world in 2015, now allows him to leave his car with the broken window without fear of robberies.
«It’s scandalously sure,» he says. He joined a vibrant community led by initiatives such as my first Bitcoin, which educates thousands of Salvadorans about the digital currency. Together with premises such as the founder of the citadel, Gerardo Linares and his partner Evelyn Lemus.
Building the Bitcoin City of El Salvador
Now, together with them and other foreign and Salvadoran bitcoiners, Charlie helps grow the local Bitcoin economy. He assures that in a year, the number of merchants who accept Bitcoin in Berlin went from 15 to more than 160, and the Bitcoin farmers market, which he helped to found, now attracts hundreds of people every two weeks.
His vision is clear, since he considers that Berlin can be a model of economic independencefree of dependence on central governments.
Its history is a reflection that, despite the changes in the Bitcoin Law after the agreement sealed between El Salvador and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan greater than 1.4 billion dollars, The Central American country is still a lighthouse for Bitcoiners. For Charlie, this validates your decision. «The Salvador attracts the curious, those who see beyond the Fíat system,» he said. Here, far from the gray offices of Dublin, Charlie not only found a home, but the mission of building a future where Bitcoin is not only money, but also a guarantee of freedom.