Lots of improvements coming to the mobile app and River Lightning Services is going to make a few splashes :)

I think the majority of people will always want to trust institutions in some capacity, but at River we strive to create products that people aren't forced to trust and can always opt out of. Therefore we try to avoid things that trap people in River, we like to keep a big door in and a big door out, as that sets up the incentives for a healthy and trustworthy institution long-term.

Right now we are focused on the US, but there are some great fiat onramps in Africa like Bitnob!

I've started to realize that a really good UX around non-custodial mobile LN wallets is further away than many people think. I don't think its impossible, but it's a very challenging technical problem. That said, I'm glad some very smart people are working on it.

I.e., not just the RLS side of the business

We typically only open direct channels with enterprise-tier nodes but we may change that policy. I will ask my team.

Yes your USD is safe. We use Silvergate for payment processing but keep the vast majority of cash at other banks and we have a large cash treasury for the company we could draw from if necessary. In the event of cash being frozen at Silvergate we would be able to make clients whole just fine.

I have no idea. But I can tell you we move real Bitcoin for Chivo users through River Lightning Services (RLS). No Algorand involved.

My stance is that I believe the Bank Secrecy Act requiring KYC is unconstitutional but is unfortunately the law of the land. I actively work to try to get it repealed. However, even without the BSA we would require personal information to sell BTC for ACH payments in order to prevent fraud. That would not be the case for BTC bought with wire transfers. I don't think River is an attack on anyone more than any other financial app in the United States. Long-term I believe we are a net good if we accelerate the adoption of Bitcoin.

Likely no. DCA for selling is a very niche product and often bills are variable so people want to sell a different amount each month. I recall years ago Coinbase shut down their sell DCA because only a few dozen people out of millions were using it.

We are focused on the US for now, as international expansion significantly increases our regulatory and fiat operational burden.

When we can find an Android engineer who's the right fit for our team. We're picky :) If you know any, send them our way: https://boards.greenhouse.io/riverfinancial/jobs/4504247004

I'm sorry to hear that. Usually these are approved quite quickly. Did you get a follow up email? If not, please email me at alex@river.com with your account info and I will look into it.

I would love to see some smart people build on the ZKCP work that Greg Maxwell did years ago: https://bitcoincore.org/en/2016/02/26/zero-knowledge-contingent-payments-announcement/

We get random emails about that sometimes but just ignore them. No idea what they would pay and don't care either!

We grow a lot through organic referrals. It's very common for a Bitcoiner to refer their nocoiner friends to us!

Likely the Aerospace industry

One thing that surprised me while building River was how important "touchy feely" skills are as a founder. To build a healthy team and culture you need to have the right people onboard, be very picky with hiring, and you need to have the humility to constantly reflect and identify your own shortcomings. At the end of the day a company culture will reflect the personality of the founder, both the good and bad.