Module 8 of 9
Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin
The bitcoin circular economy: earning in sats, running a business on bitcoin rails, spending without touching fiat, and the communities — from El Zonte to Lugano — proving it works today.
Film · Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin · 1:36
Block ———A short film in the language of this site's homepage, from one person's side of a circular economy: why every change between bitcoin and fiat currency costs something and leaves a record; income that arrives as sats; a business that takes sats but changes its takings into fiat currency bill after bill, against one that pays suppliers and staff in sats too, so the conversion drops out; tax, honestly (paying with bitcoin can count as a disposal, and sats paid to staff are still wages); and finding your people, through meetups, community-made maps of places that take bitcoin, and the people you already trade with. Few prices are set in bitcoin yet. Measured in fiat, bitcoin's price moves, but one bitcoin is always one bitcoin. It loops while on screen; use Pause to stop it. Turn on Narration to hear it explained aloud. A transcript follows.
Read the film, with its sources
- Module 8 of 9Circular economies and earning in bitcoin. The Living on Bitcoin course tells the loop from a town’s side; this film takes one person’s: how you step into it, by earning in sats, running a business on them, and finding the people who already do.The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin (Bitcoin Essentials, module 8 of 9)The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies (Living on Bitcoin, module 4)
- The round tripWhere prices are set in fiat currency, bitcoin gets changed on the way to being spent, and often changed back again. Each change costs something, a spread or a fee, and each leaves a record with whoever made it.The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin (Bitcoin Essentials, module 8 of 9)
- Earning in satsThe loop starts with income that arrives as sats: a share of a salary, a freelance invoice paid in bitcoin, or tips streamed for writing, recordings or other work you publish. Sats earned are never bought, so the first change never happens.The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin (Bitcoin Essentials, module 8 of 9)
- Running a business on bitcoinA business that takes sats from customers but pays its suppliers and staff in fiat currency has to change its takings first, bill after bill. Each change brings back the cost, and the record, that taking bitcoin avoided.The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin (Bitcoin Essentials, module 8 of 9)
- Paying out in satsWhere suppliers and staff will take it, the business pays them in sats as well, and the conversion drops out: money comes in and goes out as the same money. Not every supplier will take bitcoin yet, so most businesses that try this start with one or two.The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin (Bitcoin Essentials, module 8 of 9)
- TaxClosing the loop does not close the tax system. In the UK, HMRC counts “using tokens to pay for goods or services” as a disposal, for people and for companies alike; in the United States, the IRS says paying for a service with bitcoin you hold gives a gain or loss, and bitcoin paid to staff is wages. In many countries, spending bitcoin counts as disposing of it for tax. This is general, not advice: check your local rules.HMRC Cryptoassets Manual, CRYPTO22100: Capital Gains Tax, what is a disposal (updated 28 November 2025)HMRC Cryptoassets Manual, CRYPTO41250: Corporation Tax on chargeable gains, what constitutes a disposal (updated 28 November 2025)IRS, Frequently asked questions on virtual currency transactions, Q14 (reviewed 30 June 2026)IRS, Frequently asked questions on virtual currency transactions, Q10 and Q11
- Finding your peopleCircular economies start as communities, so the entry point is social, not technical. Bitcoin meetups run in many cities: go to one, and meet the local economy in person. Whole communities already run loops like this, from Bitcoin Beach in El Zonte, El Salvador to Bitcoin Ekasi in Mossel Bay, South Africa; the Living on Bitcoin film tells their stories.Bitcoin Beach (bitcoinbeach.com)Bitcoin Ekasi (bitcoinekasi.com)The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies (Living on Bitcoin, module 4)The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin (Bitcoin Essentials, module 8 of 9)
- Starting smallCommunity-made maps show which places nearby already take bitcoin. Be honest about the gap: most shops still price in fiat currency, and few prices are set in bitcoin yet. So start small, with the people you already trade with. The module’s first step: “Price one thing you sell — a product, a service, an hour of your time — in sats, and offer it.”The Bitcoin Transition, Circular Economies and Earning in Bitcoin (Bitcoin Essentials, module 8 of 9)
- One bitcoinMeasured in fiat, its price moves. One bitcoin is always one bitcoin: you don’t price bitcoin, you price things in bitcoin. Few prices are set in it yet, and keeping it safe takes care: on this site, savings go into multisig, which has risks of its own, and a spending wallet holds spending money only.The Bitcoin Transition, Multi-sig Basics (Self-Custody, module 4)
- The Bitcoin TransitionFiat currency: a cut at every change. Sats: nothing to change. Money earned, spent and paid out as sats stays the same money all the way round, and the loop starts with you.
The endgame of everything in this course is a circular economy: bitcoin earned, saved, and spent as bitcoin, with fiat reduced to an occasional bridge rather than the default. Every participant in that loop removes a conversion, a fee, a surveillance point, and a taxable event — and strengthens the network for everyone else. This module covers the three roles in the loop: earner, business, and spender.
Earning in sats
- Payroll: services like Bitwage convert part or all of a salary into bitcoin, even when the employer never touches it.
- Freelance work invoiced in bitcoin: the global talent market pays in a currency that crosses borders in seconds with no correspondent bank in the way.
- Content and value-for-value: podcasting apps stream sats to creators by the minute; platforms like Stacker News pay for writing directly.
- Services to the bitcoin economy itself: consulting, development, education, mining hosting — the industry pays its own in its own money.
Earned sats are the strongest sats: no exchange, no KYC trail, no conversion spread — income arriving directly as savings.
How to earn your first bitcoin without buying it →
Running a business on bitcoin
Accepting bitcoin is a smaller project than most owners expect — self-hosted with BTCPay Server, or hosted with a Lightning payment processor — and the operating advantages are concrete:
- No chargebacks: bitcoin settles finally, like cash. Card fraud and chargeback abuse end structurally.
- Settlement in minutes, not days — cash flow without the acquirer float.
- Fees measured in fractions of a percent instead of the card networks' 1.5–3.5%.
- A global customer base with no currency conversion and no cross-border friction.
How to accept bitcoin payments: the business guide →
Bitcoin for businesses — the full picture →
Proof it works: the circular communities
- El Zonte, El Salvador — 'Bitcoin Beach' — ran groceries, wages, and school fees on Lightning before the national law existed, and inspired it.
- Lugano, Switzerland accepts bitcoin for taxes and city services, with hundreds of merchants on board through its Plan B programme.
- Boracay, Philippines — 'Bitcoin Island' — has hundreds of merchants transacting sats daily in a tourism economy.
These are not pilots run by a payments company. They are towns where the loop closed — and each one demonstrates that the missing ingredient was never technology, but a first mover willing to pay wages in sats.
Finding your people
Circular economies start as communities. Bitcoin meetups exist in every major city; Nostr hosts the liveliest bitcoin-native discussion online, with sats-denominated tipping built in; and btcmap.org shows you which businesses near you are already in the loop. The practical entry point is social, not technical.
Action steps
- Price one thing you sell — a product, a service, an hour of your time — in sats, and offer it.
- If you run a business, stand up a test BTCPay or Lightning checkout and take one real payment.
- Attend one bitcoin meetup this month and meet the local economy in person.