The plan for Zacatlán de las Manzanas was to go shop by shop. Escuela Bitcoin México’s brigade set out to install a wallet on each merchant’s own phone, back up the keys “right there, before we leave,” and leave a sign at the door that reads “Aceptamos Bitcoin” (Bitcoin accepted here).
The town is a Pueblo Mágico in Puebla’s Sierra Norte. Escuela Bitcoin México teaches Bitcoin and Lightning Network in Mexico. The project is called Economía Circular Bitcoin Zacatlán, and its aim is to make the town “Mexico’s first Bitcoin Pueblo Mágico.” The project bills the Brigada Educativa Bitcoin, scheduled for 7 September to 2 October 2026, as its activation phase.
From the campuses to the hotels
Escuela Bitcoin México laid the brigade out week by week. From 7 to 13 September the brigade was due on the campuses, under “Universities and UNLOCK Summit 2026.” That week was set to cross the fourth edition of UNLOCK Summit, with campus stops, a dinner to open the meeting, talks, workshops and the Consciousness Brunch. The campus syllabus covered the path from older forms of money to Bitcoin, and Bitcoin as a way to protect savings, in the line “21 million units, nobody controls it,” the book “Bitcoin Coach,” and practice at downloading a wallet and backing up the keys.
The fourth UNLOCK Summit was set for 11, 12 and 13 September 2026 at the Centro Cultural de Zacatlán, “the heart of the Zócalo.” September there is “a season of fog and apples.” The four weeks carried the aim “to turn Zacatlán into Mexico’s first Bitcoin Pueblo Mágico.”
The week of 14 to 18 September was “Artisans and merchants.” Monday was set aside for setting up La Cabaña de Satoshi. Tuesday through Thursday, the brigade was to visit shops in the center, by the floral clock, down Calle del Arco and through the town market. The payments the brigade teaches go over Lightning, and the Friday community assembly at La Cabaña de Satoshi was planned to include a live Lightning payment for a purchase.
Families, businesses and hotels were next, from 21 to 25 September, “Families, businesses and tourism”: houses, then local businesses, then hotels and tourism services, “so Zacatlán is ready to welcome Bitcoin tourism,” and a second assembly. The last week, 28 September to 2 October, was “Consolidation and measurement”: “follow-up with the pioneers,” signs still to go up, a list of the places that joined, and an assembly to close the week.
On the “Measurable goals” board, “21” sits under “Shops running on Lightning,” with the note “Goal at the close of week 4.” Alongside it: 40 students with a wallet, 15 merchants and artisans, 10 families, 21 hotels and tourism services, and 50 women with their own wallet at the Consciousness Brunch.
La Cabaña de Satoshi
La Cabaña de Satoshi is “the educational heart of the Bitcoin circular economy in Zacatlán,” “following Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador and Bitcoin Jungle in Costa Rica.” Monday’s list included Wi-Fi, a projector, a whiteboard, printed manuals, the “Aceptamos Bitcoin” signs, and training for three local facilitators in Lightning Network and in how to teach it.
The doorstep version sits under “We don’t give lectures. We knock on doors.” Four steps: “We knock,” “We explain one to one,” “We install the wallet” and “We leave the sign.” Under the wallet step: “Downloaded on their own phone and their keys backed up, right there, before we leave.” Under the sign: “‘Aceptamos Bitcoin’ at the entrance, and a listing on the public adoption map.”
850 estimated attendees, by UNLOCK’s count
UNLOCK’s University Route report covers 7 to 9 September 2026 in Zacatlán and the Sierra Norte de Puebla. The closing line: “850-plus estimated attendees · 200-plus wallets · 947 Luma registrations · 6 activations · 4 schools in the Sierra Norte.”
Campus figures carry the label “Official figure · rough eyeball count.” BUAP Zacatlán, 560, from two sessions on 7 September, 280 and 280. ITSSNP, 160, from two sessions on 8 September, 80 and 80. On 9 September, UniPuebla in the morning at 80 and UGM in the afternoon at 50. The four campus figures add to 850.
The 200-plus wallets reported compare with a week-one goal of 40 students with a wallet on the project’s board.
Among the facilitators is Steph Serrano, an international-relations specialist with Escuela Bitcoin and UNLOCK. Her session is “Evolution of money.”
On 4 September, SheCrypto wrote, in a write-up of its podcast episode with Abi Cupido of UNLOCK: “Ahead of the summit, the team is connecting with universities around Zacatlán and organizing merchant brigades to help local business owners download wallets, understand Bitcoin and learn how to accept it.”
100-plus merchants, still a goal
Four figures sit in a row under the four-week project: “4 weeks,” “500+ people,” “100+ merchants” and “1st Bitcoin pueblo.” The organizers list 100-plus merchants as a goal, and they have not published a measured count of merchants since the brigade’s scheduled end on 2 October.
BTC Map is centered on the town. On the project’s terms, a business shows up on that map “when a shop verifies Lightning and is tagged on OpenStreetMap.”
Quotes from the project and UNLOCK pages are translated from Spanish.
PTYcoin received no payment for this article, and nothing here is financial advice.
