financialinclusion

One year ago, El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender — the first nation in the world to do so. But how did Bitcoin make its way into this Latin American country? It all started in the coastal town of El Zonte, which earned the nickname 'Bitcoin Beach' after being flushed with the cryptocurrency thanks to a mysterious donor. In the second part of our mini-series, Tales from the Crypto, we take a dive into the key players (and controversies) of El Salvador's Bitcoin journey.

****** Credits: This episode was written and produced by Megan Cattel. Mixing and sound design by Matt Reed. Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson are the co-hosts.

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN: 02:43 - What it was like to start up Bitcoin Beach. 06:16 - What Mike's distribution plan and onboarding were like for getting people to use Bitcoin? 10:01 - Mike's opinion on the international Bitcoin summit for central bankers in El Salvador. 15:11 - What was the most interesting takeaway from the summit? 17:55 - What have the benefits been for the people of El Salvador thus far? 31:46 - Mike had never met with a billionaire before in his life and then this year he has met with three - why? 33:51 - What the central bankers thought of Bitcoin Beach. 35:54 - What the central bankers think of Lightning Bitcoin transactions. 57:27 - What about replicating Bitcoin Beach in other areas around the world? 01:04:16 - How did the original donor communicate with Mike & what was their guidance? *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, and the other community members. Mike Peterson's Twitter. Bitcoin Beach Website. New to the show? Check out our We Study Billionaires Starter Packs. Are you looking to start investing? Check out our article on How to Invest in Stocks: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: River Toyota Linkedin Marketing Solutions Fidelity Efani Shopify NDTCO Fundrise Wise NetSuite TurboTax Vacasa NerdWallet Babbel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN: 04:02 - Jack Mallers' recent El Salvador announcement and what it all means 15:12 - Creating equity versus always being an employee 27:08 - What is the user interface like in El Salvador for Strike users? 32:53 - How is Jack going to bring near-zero exchange fees for buying Bitcoin to Strike? 42:35 What impact do near-zero fees have on other exchanges that offer Altcoins? 54:16 Which other countries contact Jack? 01:01:30 - What does opening a Strike API mean for the company moving forward? *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Stig, Clay, and the other community members. Jack's Twitter account Download the Strike App Jack's interview with Peter McCormick Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: River Toyota Linkedin Marketing Solutions Fidelity Efani Shopify NDTCO Fundrise Wise NetSuite TurboTax Vacasa NerdWallet Babbel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest this week is Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase. The topic of our conversation is the future of cryptocurrency and decentralized finance. Its been a while since I checked in on the world of crypto and while prices are still below the 2017 highs, there’s been a ton of additional work and infrastructure laid. We discuss the major events of the past decade and what might happen in the 2020s. Perhaps most interesting, we cover the potential benefits of a modernized financial system, which Coinbase hopes to help usher in. As I’m trying to do more in conversation with CEOs, we also discuss the lessons he’s learned building a business. Please enjoy my conversation with Brian Armstrong.   This week’s episode is sponsored by Bottomless. Bottomless is a smart coffee subscription which automatically re-orders coffee for you based on your consumption habits.    Bottomless is offering one month and your second bag of coffee for free at bottomless.com/patrick.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes (2:23) – (First question) – Most important developments in cryptocurrencies             (3:00) - What happened in crypto over the last decade (3:01) – What will happen to cryptocurrency in the 2020s (4:01) – Long term vision for Coinbase (6:57) – Why should we be aiming towards an open financial system (11:41) – How crypto improves the movement of money (14:22) – Creating sound money and currencies (16:21) – Why economic freedom is an important variable in what he’s trying to do (19:44)  - How economic freedom can happen with various regulators around the world and in different countries (22:49) – How Coinbase attracted its first users (26:33) – The December 2017 madness of cryptocurrencies (29:50) – How he thinks about recruiting teams and motivating them to be productive (33:40) – Mistakes with people he’s learned from (34:56) – Steering a product roadmap and creating a successful business (37:17) – What do the non-Bitcoin currencies offer that Bitcoin doesn’t (41:19) – Innovation in cryptocurrency that excites him: DeFi (43:40) – Interesting geographic locations and their impact on crypto (45:29) – How his thoughts on company building has changed over the years (46:47) – Battling any loss of confidence as a founder (51:01) – Improving decision making as a leader (53:54) – Aspects of the job that he loves the most today (56:25) – Largest impediments to mass adoption of crypto (58:25) – His curiosity for scientific research and bioengineering (59:19) – Advice that helped him that he would offer others (1:01:38) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag