On Sunday night, 60 Minutes followed their feature on Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky with a piece focused on Bitcoin Beach. The piece started with a quick anecdote "If you feel like you've been hearing a lot about bitcoin lately, those aren't voices in your head." Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi went on to mention reports of Russia using bitcoin to "skirt sanctions" and Biden's executive order. Once they got that dig out of the way, they really focused on El Zonte, the small coastal town in El Salvador where Mike Peterson, an American expat started missionsake, a charity that supports missionaries and created local jobs in El Zonte, and eventually brought bitcoin to the town through an anonymous donor. The piece focused on the people of El Zonte and how it has brought hope to residents, and helped them build businesses. The piece continued further pushing attention to Jack Mallers and Strike and the eventual Bitcoin legal tender pushed into law by President Nayib Bukele, ultimately wrapping the feature with critiques of the President.
All together, this feature was relatively positive with some (albeit fair) critiques of Nayib Bukele, and some back handed comments on Bitcoin peppered in. Regardless of these critiques, this report was a far cry from the years of lambasting by the main stream media. Where once we would only hear how bitcoin was for criminals or how it was worthless, this feature focused on the human lives that have been positively affected in Bitcoin Beach. It was refreshing to see a media outlet take this path. At the end of the day we should all be striving to affect positive change, empowering others to better themselves. We could be at an inflection point where mainstream media may be coming to the conclusion that Bitcoin can do just this.
Watch the feature here and let us know what you think.