Depressed AF in a corpo job mindlessly working for someone elses dream and not having any time with family and barely scraping by.
CryptoCloaks gave me the freedom I wanted. I spend time with my family all the time, my kid comes in the shop whenever and I get to have lunch, go fishing, go to the park whenever I want.
Families more important than Bitcoin and in the end. I might be more fiat poor, but hell I'm richer in everything that matters.
How close are we to having lots of other Bitcoin heating appliances (water heaters, food dehydrators, etc.) that are consumer ready, the way space heating devices have become?
I'll give it 5 years. Space is moving fast, starts with the tinkerers and small shops, the big boys will come soon enough after realizing the profit potential.
I played the safe route working a full time engineering job while building it up until it was basically burning me out working 20hour days and running the shop until 3am and then getting up at like 5am to go to work.
I'm extremely happy where I am now, I just see a lot of opportunity I could've had if I jumped in full time earlier.
Honestly the hardest part is getting too many orders in Bitcoin and needing fiat to pay the bills. Every now and then you have to take out a fiat loan to cover.
I just hate selling bitcoin and having to deal with the taxes.
Using Strike for Lightning Orders and having it auto convert to fiat helps cover the gap a bit.
That was a fun period in time in the bitcoin space everyone being #reckless
Home mining is up there along side dabbling into more Bitcoin art myself. The only problem is having a million ideas and not enough time in the day to do them all.
That's very impressive! I assumed conferences were a big selling opportunity. I'm surprised that it's not the case. I don't go to many conferences though...
The actual idea of a Bitcoin Grenade came from Andhans, years ago he reached out helping a conference in hanoi vietnam (CryptoEcon 2020). We thought it'd be cool to have a grenade to give out to everyone. Thus the idea was born!
The best part was dealing with customs and a vietnam vet having to make sure they were real.
FYI, do not ship grenade shaped items internationally assembled XD The full story can be found here!
I honestly do not see anything taking Bitcoin out. It's for anyone.
I think what we'll see and kind of already are is the cypherpunk aspect of it fading into history. The Culture and community has changed so much over the 9 years I've been in it and I think as it just becomes more mainstream it'll just be some boring thing (Which is good, I like boring when it comes ot freedom money).
The greatest risk is forgetting where we came from and what we built from.
Honestly the Bitcoin Grenade. It was a fun idea that was for a conference in 2020 and the way it took off and what it's become is truly something special.
I never expected to see it in so many hands. Always makes me smile when I ship out another one.
reliably detecting print issues mid print or always throwing errors when it's turned on.
I think as AI gets better and tuned, it will be so much better at detecting an issue with a print and on the spot changing what needs to be changed to fix it mid print.
Bert de Groot did a lot with industrial scale greenhouses and bitcoin miner heat a while ago (you probably know). But doing a small scale personal greenhouse heater package would be really cool!
Hi Rick, great to see you around here. I've been following CryptoCloack journey and has been surprising to see how something started as a hobby became an established business. Well at least taht's how it look from the outside :)
Not sure you are aware, but we run here on SN a P2P marketplace, the ~AGORA territory. You can learn more about it in here #942038
Have you noticed it before? Would you promote or sell your products there? As a vendor, what would you expect from it?
Make sense, would be great to see your Crypto cloak products there, we will be happy to promote it in our network. Hopefully it will bring some business to you.
For now we just point the spotlight to it #1591422 ;)
If you had to bet on one application of 3D printing in the Bitcoin space that hasn't been fully built yet, something that could help with adoption, circular economies, or just making Bitcoin more tangible, what would it be and why?
How do you determine what to sell and at what price?
What do you think you would be doing now if you hadn't started CryptoCloaks?
Depressed AF in a corpo job mindlessly working for someone elses dream and not having any time with family and barely scraping by.
CryptoCloaks gave me the freedom I wanted. I spend time with my family all the time, my kid comes in the shop whenever and I get to have lunch, go fishing, go to the park whenever I want.
Families more important than Bitcoin and in the end. I might be more fiat poor, but hell I'm richer in everything that matters.
How close are we to having lots of other Bitcoin heating appliances (water heaters, food dehydrators, etc.) that are consumer ready, the way space heating devices have become?
aaah, yes, the heatpunk questions!
It’s really fucking exciting
I'll give it 5 years. Space is moving fast, starts with the tinkerers and small shops, the big boys will come soon enough after realizing the profit potential.
Any particular applications you expect to catch on quickly?
I hope melting snow on driveways/pathways goes full send.
If you could give your past self advice one piece of advice when starting CryptoCloaks, what would it be?
Believe in your idea sooner and go all in faster.
I played the safe route working a full time engineering job while building it up until it was basically burning me out working 20hour days and running the shop until 3am and then getting up at like 5am to go to work.
I'm extremely happy where I am now, I just see a lot of opportunity I could've had if I jumped in full time earlier.
What is the hardest thing about accepting bitcoin payments as a business?
Honestly the hardest part is getting too many orders in Bitcoin and needing fiat to pay the bills. Every now and then you have to take out a fiat loan to cover.
I just hate selling bitcoin and having to deal with the taxes.
Using Strike for Lightning Orders and having it auto convert to fiat helps cover the gap a bit.
The taxes do sound unpleasant. Do you have any advice on the bitcoin loan front? I've always been a little nervous about the idea.
Yeah... I honestly stay away from Bitcoin Loans. Seen to many people lose their bitcoin to companies getting rekt.
I think as time goes along, there will be more reliable places, but I just can't shake losing the stack due to a market crash.
I had never heard about you guys before until now -- but I have seen the granade -- why do you think that is?
The algos XD
The early days were easy to be seen. Bitcoin is all grown up.
I'll just blame the suits and ETFS!
nice, LOVE IT! They're always to blame in my book, whatever the topic
Suits came in hot and changed the culture, we'll take it back when it's boring for them again! :)
I have three kids. One of them is really interested in 3D printing, but we haven't gotten a printer or anything yet. Any advice?
OH YES!!!!!
This is my favorite! Absolutely get one!
I actually designed webpage to help you go through the basics and help with this!
https://www.cryptocloaks.com/3dprinting/
oh thats dope!
no kidding, I think the kids and I are gonna go deep on this in the next few months! Homeschooling 3d print shop here we come!
If you're home schooling a 3D Printer is a no brainer!!!
What's the easiest way to accept bitcoin payments in an online store?
For me it has always been BTCPAY Server. We've been running it for close to 7-8 years now and it's never let us down via on-chain or lightning.
The software stack has come along ways since the beginning.
I bought a raspberry pi case from you guys years ago.
What projects are you most excited about currently?
THE LIGHTNING SHELL!!!!!!!!!!!
That was a fun period in time in the bitcoin space everyone being #reckless
Home mining is up there along side dabbling into more Bitcoin art myself.
The only problem is having a million ideas and not enough time in the day to do them all.
Do you think you have sold more items at conferences or via online sales?
I have sold 1000x more items online than at conferences.
When we go to conferences we usually just go to show/teach people about 3D printing and what we do at CryptoCloaks. Rarely ever sell anything at them.
Rather just give stuff out and show the fun in printing!
That's very impressive! I assumed conferences were a big selling opportunity. I'm surprised that it's not the case. I don't go to many conferences though...
I know a lot of other companies do sell and probably make a lot more than online sales.
I've always just took them as an opportunity to showcase.
I'm probably missing a lot of revenue XD
What do you think average Bitcoiners can do to increase adoption?
Use it as money and be apart of the circular economy.
Everything will build from that.
Something so simple and doing it around others will spark a curiosity of what's happening.
What is your favorite thing you've 3D printed?
This is always a tough question!
The Bitcoin Guitars we printed were seriously cool.
Printed a lot of guns also that were awesome. Made one a "McDonald's Big Mac gun" It's hilarious and also comes with a dipping sauce mount!
Some of the most simple things are my favorite in the end, like a christmas light clip I designed and put up on my house to hold lights easily.
What's something you believe about bitcoin that even bitcoiners disagree with you on?
That wars will just suddenly end with hard money.
Power and greed will always keep them running.
Howdy Rick!
I want to know if you are the one who came up with the Bitcoin grenade, and if so, what's the story behind that?
Yeah!
The actual idea of a Bitcoin Grenade came from Andhans, years ago he reached out helping a conference in hanoi vietnam (CryptoEcon 2020). We thought it'd be cool to have a grenade to give out to everyone. Thus the idea was born!
The best part was dealing with customs and a vietnam vet having to make sure they were real.
FYI, do not ship grenade shaped items internationally assembled XD
The full story can be found here!
https://www.cryptocloaks.com/2026/03/history-of-the-bitcoin-grenade/
wow, that sounds like doing it on hard mode. I didn't realize that it was for an international event. don't envy you that one!
What do you think is the biggest risk Bitcoin faces as a whole?
I honestly do not see anything taking Bitcoin out. It's for anyone.
I think what we'll see and kind of already are is the cypherpunk aspect of it fading into history. The Culture and community has changed so much over the 9 years I've been in it and I think as it just becomes more mainstream it'll just be some boring thing (Which is good, I like boring when it comes ot freedom money).
The greatest risk is forgetting where we came from and what we built from.
Which products have surprised you most in how well they sell?
Honestly the Bitcoin Grenade. It was a fun idea that was for a conference in 2020 and the way it took off and what it's become is truly something special.
I never expected to see it in so many hands.
Always makes me smile when I ship out another one.
From the perspective of a merchant receiving bitcoin, do you have a favorite among the Ark, Spark, Cashu, Liquid wallets?
For receiving, really don't have a preference. As long as the transaction goes through. There's so many good ones out there now it's hard to go wrong.
What are 3D printers bad at now, but you think they will be great at in the future?
reliably detecting print issues mid print or always throwing errors when it's turned on.
I think as AI gets better and tuned, it will be so much better at detecting an issue with a print and on the spot changing what needs to be changed to fix it mid print.
Bitcoin miner heat reuse projects are really cool, got any novel heat reuse projects you are noodling on?
My favorite is always just designing "Boxes" that direct heat where the user wants. Simple or flashy the key is managing where the heat goes.
I love watching people use them for Greenhouses etc and I'd love to dig into this part deeper as one wanting my own greenhouse.
Bert de Groot did a lot with industrial scale greenhouses and bitcoin miner heat a while ago (you probably know). But doing a small scale personal greenhouse heater package would be really cool!
Yeah! Love what Groot built out.
That's exactly what my mind was thinking, small time personal greenhouse heaters.
Will you ever move back to where you got your start?
Hi Rick, great to see you around here. I've been following CryptoCloack journey and has been surprising to see how something started as a hobby became an established business. Well at least taht's how it look from the outside :)
Not sure you are aware, but we run here on SN a P2P marketplace, the ~AGORA territory.
You can learn more about it in here #942038
Have you noticed it before? Would you promote or sell your products there? As a vendor, what would you expect from it?
Thanks
Appreciate you following the journey!
Crazy what an idea and a printer can turn into hahaha
I have not seen that before, I'll look into it. If I can get my intern to help promote/sell on there than I'd be game haha
As a vendor, it just needs to be REAL easy to use and see orders.
Make sense, would be great to see your Crypto cloak products there, we will be happy to promote it in our network. Hopefully it will bring some business to you.
For now we just point the spotlight to it #1591422 ;)
If you had to bet on one application of 3D printing in the Bitcoin space that hasn't been fully built yet, something that could help with adoption, circular economies, or just making Bitcoin more tangible, what would it be and why?