It doesn't really help my faith in BTC when the article never refers to actual Bitcoins like currency, and instead uses USD equivalent everywhere.

> Transfers of $35/family are made to 600 families every 3 weeks, which covers 50% of basic needs per household.

$35? Or $35 equivalent in Bitcoin? The article never really explains why giving them bitcoin is better than just giving them $35 in paper bills and coins. Just that the person giving the money will only do so as BTC, it doesn't sound like the townsfolk have any say in it.

> At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin is $9226.56.

So anyone who paid their utility bill with Bitcoin at the time of the article overpaid by 4x compared to current bitcoin prices, or about 6x compared to the peak.

How realistic is it for this to continue when delaying a utility bill by a month could possibly make the value of that bill half, or double. I don't see how this can scale, and it sounds like the El Zonte situation only works because of the guaranteed BTC income by a benefactor.

My question to you is have you used it to buy anything real with it?

Not only I have used it many times, I've even built a lightning network wallet (link in my profile).

You just have to look around and you'll see that millions of people are using it on a regular basis. Pure speculation can't make something become worth as much as Bitcoin is worth right now.

I would consider you wise then to use BTC for day to day activities considering you have used it many times. Did you use it to buy coffee when it was $60K and then use it to buy more BTC when it fell to $30K? Would you buy coffee with it when it is $150K or when it is $1 per coin?

Can we use Omni assets on Lightning yet? I havent checked in two or three years if anything besides bitcoin can be exchanged on that blockchain or state channel again