I'm Brad Mills, bitcoiner in the streets, shitcoiner in the sheets, AMA! \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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I'm Brad Mills, bitcoiner in the streets, shitcoiner in the sheets, AMA!

18.4k sats \ 66 comments \ @bradmillscan 28 Jul 2022 bitcoin freebie

Hi everyone! I am @bradmillscan, long time Bitcoiner and angel investor in Bitcoin companies.

I'm host of the Magic Internet Money podcast (bradmills.ca/podcast) and run the Pleb Ventures group, which is a group of Bitcoin-only angel investors & VCs deploying capital to the Bitcoin-only ecosystem.

I am also known for being the Peter Schiff of DeFi as I'm very critical of Ethereum & Crypto generally, while I spend a lot of my time using other blockchains & also investing in that ecosystem to have a deep understanding of not just Bitcoin but everything going on in the crypto ecosystem.

One thing I'm super excited about right now is Geyser Grants, which is an initiative I co-founded recently with the Geyser.fund team to help fund Bitcoin culture by supporting Bitcoin-only creators (artists, musicians, podcasts, books, etc) as well as developers & educators globally.

AMA!

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227 sats \ 3 replies \ @Malcodes 28 Jul 2022 freebie

What opportunities do you see for entrepreneurs to build bitcoin-centric companies, or put another way, what gaps in the market most need to be filled?

150 sats \ 2 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

I think there's a lot of opportunity to build in the Bitcoin gaming space.

Bitcoin for boomers.

Converting home equity to Bitcoin (diversification as a service)

Bitcoin security tokens.

Bitcoin DeFi on Liquid Network.

Decentralized exchange applications using the upcoming decentralized web stack that bitcoiners are building (synonym's slashtags, Tether's hole punch, Block's TBDEX, webs of trust)

Integrating with Fedimint.

Building Bitcoin-only & BItcoin adjacent exchanges & onramps that prioritize privacy & peer to peer.

Those are a few.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @Malcodes 28 Jul 2022 freebie

Thanks. I've been thinking about where to invest my energy for my next thing and I'd like it to be in bitcoin. 🙌🏻

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @blocktock 28 Jul 2022

105 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b 28 Jul 2022

What are the main things you look for when investing in companies?

138 sats \ 1 reply \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022 freebie

I look for impact on bitcoin adoption globally & impact on Bitcoin culture.

If someone is building something in another part of the world that's meant to onboard people to Bitcoin as a savings technology or peer to peer cash to help protect them from the collapse of the fiat system, I'm very excited to invest in that.

Things like Galoy Money, Bitnob, Bitcoin Mtaani, etc ... global bitcoin impact startups I like to invest in.

5 sats \ 0 replies \ @KenyaCoin 28 Jul 2022

There are some projects that would otherwise fit that, but they are shitcoin-related.

For example, Kotani Pay (Celo, cUSD stablecoin), and World Mobile (Cardano, plus their own WMT token).

Unfortunately, no bitcoin equivalents for those.

200 sats \ 2 replies \ @DarthCoin 28 Jul 2022

If you would have a time machine and you could go back in time (but no more than 15 years), what would you change? (only one option)

Buy/mine more BTC in 2010
Stop the mess and inside job of Mt.Gox
Educate more people about BTC in 2010-2012
Change BTC code to be more than 21 M :)
Other crazy shit you can do with a time machine. Please specify.

336 sats \ 1 reply \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

I think I would buy more Bitcoin and not sell it.

That way I could be more effective with my investing now.

MtGox actually taught us a very valuable lessons of not trusting insiders via "don't trust, verify" culture & "not your keys not your coins"

The 21 Million meme is very strong, I don't think it needs to be changed.

Educating more people in 2010-2012 is not necessarily needed ... waves of adoption make sense to bootstrap Bitcoin to be a global reserve asset over multiple decades.

Yeah, I think I'd want more BTC myself so I could fund more bitcoin development & research etc.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 28 Jul 2022

I like your answer!

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @blocktock 28 Jul 2022

Curious to know what you look for in a project before investing? Significant traction already, a proven track-record, or just a badass business plan?

100 sats \ 2 replies \ @andyleroy 28 Jul 2022

What kind of company specific financial metrics and growth rates are most important to you as an investor at this stage of bitcoin adoption? How do you look at balancing investments in specific companies vs any expected returns on bitcoin the asset?

133 sats \ 1 reply \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

I really look at most of my investing as a way to strengthen network effects of Bitcoin. I really don't think I'm going to beat bitcoin gains over the next 10 years with VC investing - I'm doing it to help strengthen the fundamentals of Bitcoin so that my Bitcoin position is more valuable over the long term.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @andyleroy 28 Jul 2022

I've been curious about this question for some time, thanks for your transparency. And thanks for pushing forward the whole ecosystem and everything it represents - and the btc price along the way :)

110 sats \ 1 reply \ @Kukks 28 Jul 2022 freebie

What's your take on Liquid?

200 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

I'm a big fan of Liquid network for things like game assets (I'm an investor in Infinite Fleet) https://twitter.com/InfiniteFleet

I am following the guys from Vulpem and what they are doing with Fuji https://twitter.com/fuji_money

They are building covenants (a form of smart contracts) for Bitcoin which not many bitcoiners are paying attention to yet https://twitter.com/adam3us/status/1552099964603564032?s=20&t=_k0aM0esfzi2kPyZ5IeSoA

You should also follow what James Wallace is doing with Digitl and security tokens, that's a huge opportunity. https://twitter.com/ijameswallace/status/1527809935827927041?s=20&t=_k0aM0esfzi2kPyZ5IeSoA

105 sats \ 4 replies \ @andyleroy 28 Jul 2022

Thanks for doing an AMA! Whether DeFi, Bitcoin, Lightning, etc, what kind of data is most interesting and valuable to you when looking at adoption, use cases, or overall success?

40 sats \ 3 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

It's hard to value anything on crypto because it'a all incentivized growth with honeypots & perverse incentives.

All of the TVL & users on "crypto" are paid to be there.

The growth of Lightning Network is natural, altruistic usage - I value that a lot more.

I take sentiment from all sorts of places.

Does that make sense?

20 sats \ 2 replies \ @andyleroy 28 Jul 2022

That definitely makes sense on the "crypto" front.

On Lightning growth, adoption, and usage - what kind of sentiment are you referring to?

I see you invested in Galoy - are there some data points there or other anecdotes or overall data you are looking at when telling people about Lightning, its adoption, and its evolving success?

105 sats \ 1 reply \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

One of the things i'm most excited about for Lightning is Square / Cash App.

The fact that the square / cash app team is focusing on lightning network is very bullish for the future of money.

They have distribution.

millions of merchants and tens of millions of users are going to be exposed to bitcoin and decentralized web thanks to Jack and team.

20 sats \ 0 replies \ @andyleroy 28 Jul 2022

Thanks, it's really inspiring to see all of the work they are doing for everything in the space (and with the massive distribution to play those cards) 🙏

136 sats \ 1 reply \ @sb 28 Jul 2022

How can we improve financial, history and Bitcoin education in languages other than English to reach those that need it the most? How can Geyser Fund help in the developing world (specifically a market like India which has a large, young population)?

53 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

Check out what Anita Posch is doing with Bitcoin For Fairness on Geyser: https://geyser.fund/project/bitcoinforfairness

Then look what Guantai is doing with Bitcoin Mtaani: https://twitter.com/BitcoinMtaani

Paxful is doing "Built with Bitcoin" https://twitter.com/LordFusitua/status/1527808527950942208

Hope House in El Salvadro https://twitter.com/natbrunell/status/1493746280157401088

There's lots of people trying to translate bitcoin materials into other languages & build community banking in developing communities.

I think doing more of that is the way to go!

117 sats \ 1 reply \ @sagaz 28 Jul 2022 freebie

Geyser is a global crowdfunding platform that helps Bitcoin builders and creators to fund their ideas.

Also I read about Bitcoin Education and adoption in Nigeria, Geyser have plans to expand to another's Africans Countries?

Ty!

73 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

Yes, the Geyser team built this actually because a lot of countries can't access crowdfunding tech ... Bitcoin makes it so that the barriers to crowdfunding are removed.

Also, Bitnob has a crowdfunding platform for Nigeria that they'll be launching soon.

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @TCNPsandwich 28 Jul 2022

Also...do you think ARRR is more sound money than BTC?😉

100 sats \ 2 replies \ @bitcoingraffiti 28 Jul 2022

Hi Brad. What is your bitcoin origin story?

193 sats \ 1 reply \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

I heard about Bitcoin in 2011 from a youtube video at $5 and instantly recognized how awesome it was that you could have a censorship resistant peer to peer cash system that also acted as a digital gold for the internet.

I came in through the Ron Paul / Occupy Wall St era of post-bailout angst & rage.

I looked at Bitcoin as both an exciting new technology and a protest / activist mission.

I fancied myself a trader though, and when BTC pumped to $30 I sold half, then a couple years later I lost a bunch more in MtGox, and lost on a cloud mining scam a couple years later.

Over the years I've learned a lot more about risk management and thankfully I've had enough conviction on where Bitcoin is going, so I'm still here despite all the mistakes I made!

That's why I only advocate for Saving in Bitcoin.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @bitcoingraffiti 28 Jul 2022

Reminds me of Eric Cason. Wow, ok rough ride. Great you made it through. Looking forward to Geyser. I applied for a grant a few weeks ago. Thank you for bringing that platform into existence.

101 sats \ 0 replies \ @earnbitcoin 28 Jul 2022

Cory Klippsten just asked this on Twitter:

What are some ideas to help ONE MILLION people go from standing start to Bitcoiner, skipping "crypto" diversions completely?

Would you have a response to that?

101 sats \ 1 reply \ @bitcoin_west 28 Jul 2022 freebie

can you post a YT video of your best vitalik buterin impression?

153 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022 freebie

what's youtube?

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @softsimon 28 Jul 2022

Why do Bitcoin VCs invest in risky companies instead of simply buying bitcoin for better risk reward?

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @blocktock 28 Jul 2022

What advice would you give to those looking to:

start a career
to build a startup

...in Bitcoin? Particularly those without the best dev skills

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @spraveenitpro 28 Jul 2022

What would be the best way to stack sats in Canada, with support for Canadian banks?

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @ThrillerX_ 28 Jul 2022

Hi Brad thanks for doing this SN AMA.

What kind of music do you listen to? What are some of your favorite albums?

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @TCNPsandwich 28 Jul 2022

Thoughts on privacy coins? ARRR, XMR etc?

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @patrick 28 Jul 2022

What's the most promising project in the Bitcoin DeFi space right now?

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @kr 28 Jul 2022

are there any books that have meaningfully changed your view of the world?

99 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator Tao of Seneca Humans Need Not Apply The Price of Tomorrow Blood Meridian

100 sats \ 2 replies \ @sagaz 28 Jul 2022 freebie

I'm planning visit Canada soon, do you recommend extending my trip until Cape Breton Island?

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

yes and DM me we'll get some cape breton pizza

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @sagaz 28 Jul 2022

Definitely I will, ty Brad!

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @sagaz 28 Jul 2022 freebie

What's your thoughts and the main target about Bitcoin Genome Project?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

I think someone should do it!

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @bitcoinplebdev 28 Jul 2022 freebie

Hey Brad! I've talked to a few investors and business development people in the Bitcoin space that are super skeptical about the long term viability and business models of a lot of the bitcoin only startups today. What do you think are some of the most promising business models in Bitcoin today outside of mining/exchanges?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

#50782

There's a lot of opportunity ... we're only at 5% max penetration right now.

If you have any ideas, feel free to reach out to becca on twitter and we can setup a call https://twitter.com/BeccaAmilee

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @bitcoin_west 28 Jul 2022 freebie

who do you vote as the bitcoin maxi most likely to be related to the Buterins

43 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

Jason Williams

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @clubhouselee 28 Jul 2022 freebie

What’s the fastest way to attain and stack 1000 Bitcoin in my cold wallet?

43 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022

Did you hear about that guy who lost thousands of bitcoin in a landfill? You could start digging.

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 28 Jul 2022

What's something you disagree with nearly all Bitcoiners on?

205 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022 freebie

I disagree that "there's nothing interesting being built on other blockchains" that most bitcoiners believe.

I think that's burying your head in the sand.

We should definitely try to cope better with the rise of other blockchains, figure out where the valuable things are and put those on Bitcoin layers.

There's better ways to criticize what's happening in crypto - there's a lot to criticize, but there is some actual legit things being built there that we need to acknowledge if we want to have better arguments.

15 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 28 Jul 2022

What's your favorite thing you've funded with Geyser Grants?

59 sats \ 0 replies \ @bradmillscan OP 28 Jul 2022 freebie

Round 1 of Geyser Grants is just wrapping up now, there's still 2 days left to make a submission!

https://geyser.fund/grants

There's 60+ applications so far, Giacomo Zucco and others will be helping me and the Geyser team go through all of the applications in August to award sats.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheBTCManual 29 Jul 2022

If you have a website/tech business but you want to pivot to supporting bitcoin and laying bitcoin into the product what are your tips for doing so without alienating your current user base and how do you attract funding for something that is deemed as a "risk" to many