Building bottom-up bitcoin economies with Isabella Santos

Isabella Santos is a content creator, educator, and bitcoiner. She runs BTC Isla on Isla Mujeres, where she’s planting seeds of financial literacy, self-custody, and sovereign empowerment—starting with Bitcoin education for locals. In this episode, Isabella joins The Bitcoin Frontier to share how she’s turning a sleepy island into a vibrant circular economy, what she’s learned documenting bitcoin adoption across Latin America, and why saving in sats is changing lives in Mexico.SUPPORT THE PODCAST:→ Subscribe→ Leave a review→ Share the show with your friends and family→ Send us an email: [email protected]→ Learn more about Unchained: https://unchained.com/?utm_source=youtube→ Book a free call with a bitcoin expert: https://unchained.com/consultation?utm_source=youtubeTIMESTAMPS:0:00 – Intro1:18 – From journalism to bitcoin advocacy3:02 – Why she moved to Isla Mujeres4:38 – Building BTC Isla and teaching bitcoin to locals6:01 – Financial literacy, circular economies, and bottom-up adoption9:10 – Saving in sats vs. fiat: real stories from her students11:00 – Why Western bitcoin narratives don’t always resonate globally13:02 – Documenting bitcoin in Peru, El Salvador, and beyond15:03 – Adapting messaging to different cultures and education levels17:03 – Launching Get Based TV for sovereign storytelling20:41 – What “awakening the sovereign individual” really means25:33 – Cultural hurdles to long-term thinking—and how Bitcoin helps27:04 – Escaping abusive systems via bitcoin circular economies29:34 – Lightning vs. on-chain: what matters on the ground31:04 – How self-custody education meets infrastructure limits34:18 – BitFit Games: gamified bitcoin education + community fitness36:07 – Building her own bitcoin citadel, gym, and villas39:02 – Accepting bitcoin at the gym and beyond40:05 – What’s next: villas, education reform, and new docs42:13 – How to support BTC IslaWHERE TO FOLLOW US:→ Unchained X: / unchained→ Unchained LinkedIn: / unchainedcom→ Unchained Newsletter: https://unchained.com/newsletter→ Trey Sellers’ Twitter: https://x.com/ts_hodl