Bitcoin Lawyer: What the IMF Didn't Change in El Salvador's Legal Tender Law | Jose Rodriguez of Nodeman

Is Bitcoin still legal tender in El Salvador? Plenty of people say it isn't, so Mike put the question to a Salvadoran lawyer who has followed every change to the law. You've seen the IMF headlines and decided the experiment ended. What you can't see from outside is how the El Salvador economy looks to someone who was born here, practiced law through the worst years, and now builds his firm on Bitcoin. Mike sat down with Jose Rodriguez, founder of Nodeman, a Bitcoin-centric legal service provider in San Salvador. Jose became a lawyer in 2008, lost money on a taxi app before Uber arrived, got fired in 2016, went surfing at Sunzal to celebrate, and never went back to a job. Jose has compared more than 15 jurisdictions, and he'll tell you what still makes El Salvador legal tender law different from every one of them, even after the changes cut articles out of it. He and Mike don't fully agree on what El Salvador IMF pressure should have changed about the government's options, and that disagreement is the best part of the conversation. Then there's El Salvador tax. In 2021 you could pay Ministerio de Hacienda in Bitcoin through Chivo Wallet. Today there's no direct option, and Mike pushes Jose on why the government hasn't set up a third party to convert it the way it already accepts cards. Jose's answer comes down to who carries the risk, and it isn't the answer Mike wanted. For anyone weighing El Salvador business opportunities, Jose is blunt about what an El Salvador business still runs into: company formation, corporate structure, banking. Nodeman grew from one desk to a 10-person team and has kept adding people since, and he turns clients away when they don't fit. Living in El Salvador through 2012 and the years since gives Jose a longer memory than most people arguing about this country online. He calls this a renaissance, and he says it while admitting the government still runs a fiat treasury with a Bitcoin treasury off to the side. A Salvadoran lawyer who reads every Bitcoin book he can find and gives his baby son a self-custody wallet is exactly who this country needed in the room! If you're deciding whether El Salvador is still a place to build on Bitcoin, listen to this one before you make the call. Part two comes next week. —Bitcoin Beach Team **Learn more about Jose Rodriguez:** X: https://x.com/nodemanbtc Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nodeman Website: https://nodeman.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nodemanbtc/ Email: j@nodeman.co **Support and follow Bitcoin Beach:** X: https://www.twitter.com/BitcoinBeach IG: https://www.instagram.com/bitcoinbeach\_sv TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livefrombitcoinbeach Web: https://www.bitcoinbeach.com **STAY AT BITCOIN BEACH:** https://www.stayatbitcoinbeach.com/punta-mango-villas **Browse through this quick guide to learn more about the episode:** 00:00 Intro 00:59 Who is Jose Rodriguez, the Bitcoin lawyer in El Salvador? 05:26 What was it like starting a tech business in El Salvador before the Bitcoin Law? 10:09 Are electronic signatures and digital contracts legal in El Salvador? 13:09 How did the pandemic change the legal industry in El Salvador? 16:05 What happened in El Salvador when Bitcoin became legal tender in 2021? 19:01 How do you go from shitcoiner to Bitcoin maxi? 23:43 What is Nodeman, the Bitcoin law firm in El Salvador? 31:29 Is Bitcoin still legal tender in El Salvador after the IMF? 35:04 Can you pay taxes in Bitcoin in El Salvador? Live From Bitcoin Beach