The following is a transcript of Bitcoin Well’s AMA session on May 8, 2024
CEO.CA would like to welcome Adam O’Brien, CEO of Bitcoin Well, to today’s Ask Me Anything session. Adam, can we start with a quick overview of the company?
We are on a mission to enable independence. We do that making it easy to use bitcoin. Currently that is done through our Bitcoin ATM business unit, and our Online Bitcoin Portal business unit. The end goal is to give the world the convenience that we currently enjoy with modern banking platforms, but enable them to use bitcoin from their self custody - which we all know is the safest way to interact with bitcoin!
In other words - we future proof money!
How does the Bitcoin Well platform enable independence and what makes it so easy to use?
Contrary to most other platforms, we take a bitcoin first approach, not a fiat first approach. This means we analyze every decision through the lens of “does this make it easier to get the customer’s bitcoin into their custody, and out of ours”.
Specifically, this has turned into our signature “no login purchases” which no other platform can do. A customer can send an e-transfer and instantly receive bitcoin to their personal wallet.
How much does management own of the company?
Insiders own over 50%. I own ~40%
Bitcoin Well recently closed a raise. How will you use the funds to grow the company?
This money will be used to help our marketing efforts to ensure we can maximize the market sentiment as well as continue to grow the newly launched USA operations.
We will be focusing on customer acquisition in Canada and USA.
Can you touch on the recent partnership with BTC Sessions and what this means for the company?
Ben is the bitcoin tutorial GOAT. Through him we are partnering with an individual and a brand that has on-boarded tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, to bitcoin in self custody.
He will now be talking about Bitcoin Well while he shows people how to buy bitcoin and take it into self custody - which I believe will be very powerful for our brand.
Are there any plans for Bitcoin Well to move into additional countries?
Yes, we have a strategy in place to determine which countries will be the most efficient to expand. We are hopeful that Bitcoin Well will be a platform that everyone in the world, wherever they are, will be able to use the Bitcoin Portal in some shape, way or form.
Can you talk about some other recent notable milestones?
We recently announced our lightning infrastructure. This will enable us to make transactions faster and cheaper for our customers. It will also open up a new subset of the market and showcase something not many other bitcoin/crypto platforms currently are.
The latest press release says "Bitcoin Well will give customers a dedicated Bitcoin Well Lightning Network Payment Address (“Payment Address”) associated with their Bitcoin Well account". Is this a payment address self-custody or Bitcoin Well hosted? Does this change the timing of the delivery of Bitcoin customers purchase and whether the OSC considers Bitcoin Well a crypto exchange under CSA Staff Notice 21-327?
We will automatically be converting these bitcoin to dollars, and sending the dollars to the customer’s bank. It speeds up the “selling bitcoin” process. The Company won’t have any custody of the bitcoin, ever.
What was the cost of implementing the lightning network and how can it improve profitability?
We spun up our own node, implemented the lightning capabilities and have included multiple lightning channels for a few hundred dollars of server costs. The beautiful thing about the decentralized Lightning Network is that is essentially free to set up, with the right knowledge and infrastructure. Our team of bitcoin experts made this a reality for Bitcoin Well.
As far as profitability, it will allow us to cut back on miner fees, where customers opt to receive their bitcoin via the lightning network, and make the customer experience faster and less expensive when they are looking to sell or use bitcoin. I see this more as a new feature that will attract new customers and increase transactions per customer, rather than a way to reduce expenses.
Is the bitcoin lightning offering for customers to sell bitcoin only or can they buy bitcoin and use lightning too?
It will start as customers being able to only sell bitcoin through the lightning network, but we will be shortly expanding that to use the lightning network to pay bills and credit cards, and then to buy through the lightning network.
Of course, we will also have the ability to swap bitcoin from the blockchain to the lightning network and will then eventually add it to the ATM network as demand increases.
What should investors expect next? How big can they expect the company to grow to?
I have a hard time staying grounded with questions like these. I’m shooting for billions of people using the Bitcoin Well products and services. Maximum independence for the world, not just North America. I have a great deal of conviction for the world that we are leaving our future generations, and I’ll be damned if we don’t leave them a world where they can be financially sovereign.
Closing Remarks
Thanks to everyone who has supported us to this point! I love that our business invites our customers to be our investors, and our investors to be our customers.
Please continue to share the message that we are on a mission to enable independence and I will continue blazing the trail to make bitcoin easier to use. Thanks everyone!
