With a rich history and recent development, Belgrade is now home to the most modern Bitcoin workspace and demo.
This is an op-ed by Blomski, a native of Serbia and founder of the Belgrade Bitcoin Hub.
“What we want now is closer communication and better understanding between individuals and societies around the world, and the elimination of selfishness and pride that have always tended to plunge the world into primitive barbarism and strife…”
Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla.
As Bitcoin adoption grows at an unprecedented rate for new technology, Bitcoiners are creating physical locations around the world where enthusiasts can work and play in a communal atmosphere.
For those of us who were involved in this “renaissance” period for Bitcoin, it was gratifying to witness the success story of Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador that could potentially lead to the nationwide adoption of bitcoin as legal tender. Since such projects are numerous in Africa and Central and South America, Bitcoin miners living in Eastern Europe watched these developments with excitement. Added to this is the fact that Eastern Europe is economically backward compared to its counterpart in Western Europe.
Inspired by what we have seen in other parts of the world, a small group of Bitcoiners stationed in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, recently opened a Bitcoin Center where we want to welcome visitors from all over the world.
A new chapter for a historic city
Belgrade is the city It is located at the confluence of two large European riversand the Danube and Sava, whose summit is distinguished by greatness Kalemegdan Fortress. This defensive fortress has stood the test of time for more than 15 centuries and witnessed far too many battles. The history of Belgrade and the Serbian people as a whole has been turbulent.
Having the (misfortune) to be located in the middle of the geopolitically important Balkan Peninsula, often on the frontier of two rival Eurasian empires, its people have been fighting for their independence from foreign influence throughout their history. Although this is difficult to estimate, history indicates that Belgrade was It was destroyed and rebuilt more than 40 times Throughout its existence in the seventeenth century. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, Belgrade has always been the economic and artistic center of the region, as well as home to people of all races, religions, and denominations.
Today, Belgrade is once again going through an important historical transitional period. During the 1990s, civil wars broke out Croatia And Bosniarepublics of the former Yugoslavia, culminating in the NATO bombing of Serbia and its capital in 1999 and nearly 15 years of economic isolation from the Western world.
Although the transformation was not fully completed, Belgrade has re-emerged as a vibrant cultural center in the region. Much like the mosaic of architectural styles visible in the city’s buildings, ranging from communist-style, soulless piles of gray concrete interspersed with handsome old Secessionist buildings adorned with ornate facades, its street facades are an unassuming mom-and-pop combo. Companies clash with modern boutiques and glass-clad office buildings. Gone are the days when food options in city restaurants were limited only to traditional Balkan cuisine. Now, poke, sushi, Chinese and Indian food, American style burger and diners are all on the menu for the city’s residents.
Contributing to the transformation of the city’s cultural fabric is also a marked shift in the population that makes up its population. Perhaps due to the relatively low cost of living compared to other capitals of the world, the lax pandemic restrictions in Serbia in general, or the political uncertainty that seems to have gripped the Western world lately, I have seen a city that was once highly migratory. Welcoming back a large segment of its ancient population and an influx of digital nomads who now call this place home.
Bitcoin’s Resilience, Despite Hurdles
In Serbian, the term “inat”, which is historically characteristic of its people, can be translated as “resilience”. This mentality is ingrained in its inhabitants who, time and time again, rebuild their homes in the wake of ruinous periods of their former glory, much to the chagrin of invading armies, occupiers and detractors, because: inat.
As a result of years of unfulfilled promises from regional politicians, it is difficult to convince Balkans of the long-term benefits that can be achieved through the use of bitcoin in one’s life. The low time way of life preferred by most of the people in this region is associated with the disillusionment and low living standards that occurred many times before.
Promises of quick riches (especially those implying no risks whatsoever attached) are more preferable to many, thus, the power of the shitcoin narrative has unfortunately blossomed in this area as “cryptocurrency” and “blockchain” marketing schemes have taken over the entire world. For those of us who grew up in this part of the world, it is a dark comedy, for example, the bankruptcy of Celsius affected our country as well. Like an exaggerated piece of satire from the Emir Kusturica movie, when the dust about this company’s disastrous financial collapse finally settled, legal documents revealed that Several entities associated with the Serbian government are listed as creditors well-known Ponzi scheme.
In general, it is hard to find bitcoin-only businesses and projects here, but the growing community of bitcoiners in the Balkans imagine a different world of financial freedom for their citizens.
And like Belgrade many times before, my personal life is going through a period of restructuring. In my travels down the bitcoin rabbit hole, I’ve met many people who are re-designing their lives around this paradigm-changing technological discovery. As I recently returned from Canada to the city I grew up in, when I look around, it’s easy to draw many parallels between Bitcoin’s network structure and the somewhat chaotic organization in Belgrade that somehow seems to work – tick tock, next block.
Introducing Twenty One
A group of us Bitcoiners from the countries of the former Yugoslavia started having regular get-togethers about a year ago. Our group, called Twenty one It is a branch of German Twenty one The initiative that started to bring the common folk together in the meat space so that enthusiasts could socialize, exchange ideas and craft business ventures together in an informal setting.
The idea behind Einundzwanzig is that independent, geographically dispersed Bitcoin communities can form all over the world and eventually collaborate on their ongoing projects and offer mobile bitcoins a home wherever they are. In the Balkans, DvadesetJedan records weekly Podcast In Serbian/Croatian to cover Bitcoin news, philosophy and technical architecture of the network. We are very proud to be the first Bitcoin only podcast in the area and it is a great way for people who are very far away from the urban centers of the city, where our meetups take place, to receive high signal Bitcoin content on a regular basis. This podcast is also complemented by our active Telegram channel, and while our core group consists of minimal shitcoin, a medium sized portion of the group consists of noobs. We take special joy in guiding them through their journey towards understanding Bitcoin.
since Four of the six republics of the former Yugoslavia Which are now independent nations speaking the same language, our initiative is multinational in nature. We cooperate with members from Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro and our group has been growing steadily over the past year. We have a mix of Bitcoin builders, content creators, developers, and Bitcoin enthusiasts in the group who all get together on a regular basis for pub hopping, barbecues, and road trips to Bitcoin events in the area.
While breweries and trendy coffee shops for our get-togethers are plentiful in Belgrade, there was no space dedicated to bitcoin here nor in the wider Balkan Peninsula. A small group of us decided to take on the task of finding and setting up a space where more serious discussions and presentations could take place.
Since Bitcoin professionals here are somewhat isolated compared to more established regions like Germany and the US, we also wanted the space to serve as a co-working environment for locals to bounce ideas off of other experts in the field. As we plan to partner with local developers to build a Bitcoin-focused business, this office space will also serve as a physical location for new startups to work with their teams.
Meet in Belgrade: R0ckstarDev and Johns Beharry show off Bitko Yinowski’s famous Bitcoin jam made with Serbian apricots.
The search was on and we scoured Belgrade for the perfect location. We focused our research on the city center so that future visitors can not only work in a comfortable space, but also have easy access to the museums, galleries, music venues, bars and restaurants that make up Belgrade’s exciting social scene. We finally found a duplex apartment on the top floor of an old mixed-use building next to the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, and it is perhaps fitting that Fort Kalemegdan is a two-minute walk from the new Belgrade Bitcoin Center.
Welcome to the Belgrade Bitcoin Hub
An elevator control panel that reaches the top floor of the building where the hub is located. Source: author.
The center features a large shared performance/demonstration work/show room where most of the action takes place, with two additional rooms that we will set up in a recording studio and a more private office space.
At our disposal for visitors, we have a variety of hardware wallets, a BTCPay Server powered POS module, a Bitcoin node, and an Antminer S9 to experience the latest software being developed by tenants in the space. For educational purposes, or to get more inspiration, the hub has a small collection of bitcoin literature for visitors to read.
During the center’s early days of activity, it was filled with home visitors who preferred to work in group settings. As we go forward, we will develop the center as a venue for cultural events, art exhibitions/auctions, and hackathons, as well as a mini-exhibition center for bitcoin subscribers. While advanced users will work in the centre, beginners will benefit from hands-on presentations and demonstrations that will take place in the evenings and weekends. Inspired by the many projects around the world with similar goals in mind, we are particularly proud to have made this center a reality by using our own funds to fund these initial steps.
In one of the first public presentations at the center, Pavlenex described the history of the BTCPay Server project along with a live demo to the public. Source: author.
We want this space to be a permanent home for Bitcoin in Belgrade and hope that organizing such events will enable the space to fund itself for many years to come. While locals will be able to purchase an annual membership, we also have a structure in place so that bitcoin clients who don’t live in Belgrade can come and work from the hub during their visits to Serbia. We are especially excited to welcome foreigners to Belgrade Bitcoin Hub to build and help us build, however, space will be limited.
In fact, matching bitcoins from all over the world with the massive talents located in Serbia is one of our top priorities. After all, everything our small group of believers has done so far has culminated in the formation of the Genesis Mass in Belgrade.
This is another guest post by Plumski. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.