072 - Highlights: Mexico City to Silicon Valley: The Global Bitcoin Infrastructure Boom

This episode of the Build With Bitcoin podcast highlights the emergence of Bitcoin hubs and the integration of Bitcoin into legacy institutions. The hosts discuss the importance of physical spaces for innovation, the challenges faced by wealth managers in adopting Bitcoin, and the potential for Bitcoin in employee benefits and real estate. They emphasize the need for education and collaboration within the Bitcoin community to foster its growth.

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Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:20 Bitcoin Hubs
10:33 Bitcoin's Integration into Legacy Infrastructure
24:31 Real Estate and Bitcoin

References
https://www.buildwithbitcoin.xyz/
https://x.com/BuildwBitcoin
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❗ DISCLAIMER: This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any decisions consult a professional.

Transcript

Israel: 0:00

Lynne and I are partners at base layer advisors, where we use our network of Venture Capital Partners and startup founders to connect investors with unique opportunities within the Bitcoin innovation space. Alongside this, we help startup founders with their growth and fundraising. Visit our website's advisory section to learn more. You foreign Welcome to the build with Bitcoin Podcast. I'm co host Iran Munoz, and along with Lynne Bairstow, today we have a highlights episode where we're going over the recent content of the five guests we've had on. And today we'll be going over two primary themes, the first one being the proliferation of these new Bitcoin hubs, and the second theme being Bitcoin entering legacy institutions and legacy models generally. So with with those two themes, we'll be covering all five recent episodes and guests. So let's get right into it. What about the proliferation of Bitcoin hubs? Lynne,

Lynne Bairstow: 1:05

yeah. And so this, these last five episodes we had on two different two different groups that have physical Bitcoin spaces. And this is a new topic for us, because generally, on build with Bitcoin, we cover the entrepreneurs that are starting companies and creating the infrastructure that Bitcoin will operate on, or the investors that support them, but kind of a side of that are the spaces. And both of these spaces, Presidio Bitcoin in San Francisco, and Casitas Satoshi in Mexico City, they both combine community spaces for events with co working spaces. So they actually have Bitcoin entrepreneurs physically in their buildings that support innovation on Bitcoin. So I think that's a big important theme. And we want to support the spaces that are encouraging entrepreneurship, encouraging infrastructure. And you know, the early days of Silicon Valley. That's really how it kind of came together, all that energy working together and the sharing of ideas. So I think having these physical spaces that encourage innovation in Bitcoin is really what we want to see and foster and support. So I was excited Israel that we have these two spaces on in the last five episodes and and obviously there are more spaces that we want to include like Bitcoin Park, which is kind of the grandfather of them all, in Nashville, and also Bitcoin Commons has converted into bitcoin Park in Austin and Bitcoin Spaces Spaces in Denver. So these are other hubs that we want to get to cover. And then there's some others in Europe as well. But I love the idea of a physical space that encourages this innovation and the sharing of ideas. What were some of your takeaways? Israel,

Israel: 2:47

yeah. I mean, I think these physical places for for the startup ecosystem to kind of grow are just extremely important. I mean, I've actually seen it a little bit myself and learned, learned a little bit about that, pre Bitcoin, let's say pre pre Bitcoin hubs, when I

Lynne Bairstow: 3:05

helped you were part of it. Yeah, you were exactly part of that. Yeah. Well,

Israel: 3:09

so we launched the 500 startups initiative out here in Miami, back when I was working with them. And that was precisely to foment, you know, the ecosystem development. And you know, it may be just right now it's coming to mind reflecting on that. So that was 2018 and now fast forward to 2025 and the ripple effects. And you know, it takes a lot of effort, and it takes a lot of work to get the ball rolling, to put it that way, and you have to do a lot of partnerships. And, you know, university collaboration and get plugged into big networks where the the young talent is get plugged into the investor community. But it really does lay fruits, because I look at Miami now in this example, seven years later, and it really has grown up as a meaningful startup hub. I mean, it's still, you know, I won't compare it to other cities, because there's, there's, there's just differences in these startup ecosystems around the globe, right? But all of that to say that the ripple effects are actually huge. You know, you you need a place for people to gather, to discuss, to have resources, have mentors, know that there's an investor community, or at least there's a network that can connect you to the investor community, get some feedback. And so what I'm seeing in these Bitcoin hubs is the very early days of these efforts and foundations that I'm positive are laying the groundwork for a pretty vibrant entrepreneurship community and just educational platform generally, on Bitcoin. And so it's extremely exciting to see, I mean, Presidio Bitcoin and Casa Satoshi, which were the two featured episodes in this recent. Said they, they're tapping into, I think, pretty different communities, just naturally. So as you would expect, Presidio bitcoin is plugging into the to the tech and existing venture capital scene out in Silicon Valley, which, of course, is very rich. And then you have Mexico City with Casa de Satoshi. And they're, they're a lot more of a grassroots layer zero, as Santiago puts it, effort right on just basic education and, of course, with some entrepreneurship components to it. But I think they're naturally plugging into just the realities of their respective communities and cultures, but with the shared mission, really, which is just collaborate with builders, collaborate with builders, collaborate with investors interested in getting involved and lay the foundation for this physical space to interchange ideas, right? And so I think both spaces, in their own way, are doing a lot for under a year that they're, they've both been in existence, really. So I loved both episodes. I mean, as you would expect, different flavor, Silicon Valley in Mexico City. But you know, it's, it's a wonderful initiative that they, they have going, and it'll pick up, I'm certain,

Lynne Bairstow: 6:17

yeah, and you bring up some really important points, like the silicon Presidio Bitcoin air. They've done some incredible events, and again, they're under a year in operation, but they just ran that quantum computing summit that examines how quantum computing could impact Bitcoin and the and what's being done to kind of alleviate that threat, or the or just talk about how real that threat could be. AI is a really strong focus, and they have some of the entrepreneurs and residents that are working on that, and they're planning some summits, and they're having an upcoming summit with venture capitalists to kind of educate because I think Silicon Valley in general has really gone more for tokenization and more of the crypto just exploring the different other avenues and not being as involved in Bitcoin. And so I think the leadership of Presidio bitcoin is really trying to bring in some of the great minds in Silicon Valley and say, hey, you know, you're kind of missing the, you know, the really important player here with Bitcoin and in Mexico City. Mexico City has been a super strong hub and entrepreneurship in terms of fintech. And, you know, meeting the financial challenges of the region and having greater inclusion, having greater tools. I mean, completely different environment in terms of how financial technology has what needs it meets. And so it seems natural that Bitcoin would be a perfect fit for that, yet it hasn't really been adopted for some of the same reasons that crypto tends to, you know, catch the attention with the strong marketing departments of the different other blockchains and projects. So you know, Casa de Satoshi is really meeting an important need. And I love the fact that they're really going deep into the university alliances. And it's a younger you know, the the demographic in Mexico City is much younger than in Silicon Valley and the peop, the builders in the community, which I've been a part of the Mexico City startup ecosystem for over 10 years now. So I know it well. And just love seeing the incredible traction and growth of the attendance of the which I see personally in the Casadei Satoshi, how they're bringing in different sectors, FinTech, Wall Street, real estate, interested. So the crowds that the themes that they choose to talk about at their 101, or basic series are, you know, really hitting different factors in the community. So it's, it's, it's a wonderful contrast to see. But I think to your point, Israel, both will be come, you know, will continue to emerge as really important factors in the builder space, the innovation space, which we love to cover,

Israel: 9:00

yeah, and as you mentioned there, they really are putting on some very high quality workshops and and events, really great efforts that they're both doing. And maybe just, you know, final comment on on this theme, I think these hubs can are just so important as well for an entrepreneur, because the entrepreneurship path or journey, it can be kind of a lonely one, right? I mean, not many people may understand or be supportive as to why you're doing what you're doing. And then add in a second layer to that, which is Bitcoin, which is still, you know, misunderstood by 80 90% plus of people, and that can also be a pretty lonely path as well, when you're when you're working in that space, having having just that, that social layer and the the physical community space to gather and exchange, you know, thoughts with other people that are all. Working on innovation, entrepreneurship, and then Bitcoin, of course, which is the core of these hubs, I think, is just extremely important. So, yeah,

Lynne Bairstow: 10:11

yeah. And talent, talent, I mean, when you're starting a company, talent becomes important, and there are less developers that are trained in some of the some of the languages that Bitcoin technology and the protocol is developing along like rust and so I think, you know, having developer workshops, the bit devs project itself, which is encouraging conversation among developers to become more familiar with what's being built. You know, that's and Presidio Bitcoin has the builder section, which is, you know, even project management people who are not developers but want to be involved in Bitcoin companies, but maybe they're marketers, or they're product managers, or they're people who are affiliated, but not super technical. So there are all these different opportunities for developing talent and job pools that can help support these Bitcoin companies that are emerging. Yeah, 100% we can talk about this forever, and

Israel: 11:04

we really could, but I mean, maybe just to close it off that give those a list in if any of what we just mentioned is interesting to you, they're they're both great episodes in the recent set of five, and build with Bitcoin as a proud affiliate partner of river, A Bitcoin only financial services company that I've personally been using for years, I really enjoy the strong folks they have on security and reliability, which ultimately leads to peace of mind. I know you. You're a big fan as well.

Lynne Bairstow: 11:32

Lynne, I am, I am. I feel so confident referring people to river, in addition to what you mentioned, also they've got us based phone support, which I think for somebody who's less familiar with the space or used to personal service, is really helpful. In addition, they have a private client services division, so if you're looking to invest 100,000 or more, they have a special suite of services designed for you, whether you're a high net worth individual, a family office or trust. I also really appreciate the continued improvements they make in the back end, so that that reliability and security continues to be really apparent.

Israel: 12:04

They they additionally also have US dollar cash deposits paid out in Bitcoin. They have a yield product for that, which is an interesting alternative way of accumulating Bitcoin. Overall, fantastic suite of services. If you're interested in onboarding and opening up an account at River use partner.river.com/build, with Bitcoin for personalized onboard. And moving on to the second theme is Bitcoin entering legacy infrastructure generally, right? So here we had three different subcategories of that. Let's say we had wealth management focused episode with Andy Edstrom, CFA, CFP, very qualified Wall Street background, and he sheds a light on how Bitcoin is starting to enter into the wealth management sphere. We had an episode with Scott D Dell's a co founder at start, at the start of block rewards, and they're working on integrating Bitcoin into just general employee benefits and compensation incentives packages for big companies. Then we had an episode with Joe consorti from horizon, and that focus is on real estate. So if, if it's not clear, all of these are pretty legacy institutions and infrastructure generally. And it was very interesting, because you see these very concrete examples and people very well qualified in their respective field talking about each one of these categories. So maybe we start off with Andy Edstrom on the wealth management side,

Lynne Bairstow: 13:41

sure. Andy's one of my favorite people in bitcoins. Let's do that. And also, as a former Wall Streeter and being in the registered investment advisor world for a while, I mean, it's been no surprise to me that this is a sector that is slow to adopt because number one, Bitcoin isn't really commissionable, and a lot of the larger brokerage firms and wealth management firms have been shy to adopt it, even though it's the best performing asset over multiple timeframes. But you know the fact that it's just been so ignored by this sector, and Andy's just done a great job for many, many years on trying to educate financial professionals and wealth management as to how to speak to their clients, or how to how to become educated about it. What are the risks from a reputational standpoint that you have as a wealth advisor for not recommending Bitcoin or at least exploring it or becoming more knowledgeable about it? So Andy just gives a real you know, the things that we're still very early, that he still has, has a lot of friction and and realizes that not that many of wealth managers are even paying attention to it yet, which is kind of surprising, but he's got a big job ahead of him, and he's, I think he's been laying the ground. On work for it. And, you know, worked at multiple firms to kind of help develop products that help financial managers and wealth managers, you know, be able to be more comfortable with this sector. What were your takeaways with Andy segment?

Israel: 15:14

Yeah, Andy. I mean, Andy just does a very good job articulating the framework around bitcoin and how you should think about it as a new and emerging asset class. So I think he's got a special talent for that. He's, as we mentioned, very well prepared and comes from he knows how traditional asset allocators and wealth managers think. So he just puts Bitcoin into perspective in a very good way. He I mean, I would recommend anyone listening, whether you're a beginner or, you know, expert in Bitcoin. It's an episode worth listening to, because we got into right now what Andy still sees as some of the risks as well. So he has a very well balanced approach to how he looks at Bitcoin. He does get into what he sees and the probability that he sees around, you know, certain risks in the market and things that could affect Bitcoin. We get into that, in that conversation, into a little bit of the Bitcoin treasuries or reserves for a private and public company, and how the those are two very different frameworks as well. So highly recommend that episode for just basic thinking on this new asset class. And as you mentioned, Lynne he, he makes it clear that we still have quite a bit of of work ahead of us. Because he, he does, has have that insider perspective, right? I think he mentioned something like nine out of 12 financial advisors probably still are just completely ignoring this, this new asset class. I believe that's the figure he used

Lynne Bairstow: 16:56

is. I think 2025, has definitely been the year that everybody thinks that Bitcoin, Wall Street is coming to Bitcoin, or the financialization of Bitcoin, or what I love, what Marty bent says, The bitcoinization of finance, but, but there's a long way to go, and it hasn't yet trickled down. Maybe we're seeing at the higher level with the ETFs and some of the you know, investment products that are being designed for it. But you know, when you come to a typical broker, wealth manager, talking to their clients about Bitcoin, they're not going to talk to somebody unless they understand it. And it takes time to understand it. So, you know, I know a lot of my friends say, Oh, my wealth manager says, Don't touch it. It's too risky. It's too volatile. It's, you know, and it's, and I just get so sad to hear that I think people just are not taking the time to do it. So hopefully Andy can help, you know, with his tools, with his book, with some of the work he's doing, help financial and wealth managers feel a little bit more. Have the, have the, have something available to that they can relate to, that help them learn and get up the learning curve.

Israel: 18:02

Yeah, and it is making some strides, right where we've still got a long ways to go, but it is clear that Bitcoin is making inroads into this wealth management industry. So yeah, I highly recommend Andy's episode. Then we had block rewards on that was Scott details, the co founder at block rewards. Very interesting industry as well, which I at least prior to researching, you know, the HR and benefit space to prepare for, for a scouts episode, I was not as familiar with that industry, but also not surprising, pretty sizable industry, right? So they're taking the approach of basically providing software solutions that can just easily integrate into the existing infrastructure that most most benefits providers use today, and basically plug in a Bitcoin compensation or incentives plan into that right so very early days for block rewards. But what were some of your takeaways? Lynne, well,

Lynne Bairstow: 19:02

I love this episode, and I actually did quite a bit of work when I was at Merrill Lynch with employee benefit programs and designing like manage money programs for employee benefits. So I'm very aware of it, and I'm aware of how important it is. So it's kind of the flip side of with Andy. We're talking about wealth managers and high level wealth with Scott employee benefits, we're talking about people who put a portion of their savings or their match by their employer, and they never really look at it. And so you know, as you and I know that, just like, you know, dollar cost averaging and putting little bits can make a tremendous difference when you look at, you know, investing in Bitcoin over long periods of time, consistently. And so the early takeaways it's got seeing is the increase in loyalty to companies from employees that have started investing in Bitcoin, and then all of a sudden, just see this, this opportunity of wealth that they never thought possible before, and the increase in their savings. Because, you know, if you're. Are. Most people just don't want to be stock pickers and traders and things like that. They're too busy with their lives and their work and and if you just put it in Bitcoin, and it saves the historic, you know, increase in that over the last 10 years has been tremendous. And so, you know, I think Scott seeing this, being a real bitcoiner, and then creating a product that allows us to to be offered. And right now it's in Canada, but they'll be releasing it in the US shortly. I mean, I just think he's really hit on an important way to just get some grass, talking about grassroots, you know, adoption with just by having this option. And he said that some of the biggest, the biggest gains in the companies are just water cooler talk that, you know, employees are just sitting around talking, and somebody who's been investing in Bitcoin tells their friends, and their friends start looking at the increases compared to, like, the s and p5 100 pool that they invested in, and it's like, they switch it around. Yeah, it's, it's a, it's a great product that they're building. And I also, I mean, Scott's just such an impressive guy, and he wrote this book, like the zen of Bitcoin too. So he has this super interesting perspective of both Bitcoin and then having this product and being in the Employee Benefit space for a long time. So I loved that conversation with Scott. I just found he was a fascinating person to talk to and just enjoyed his journey and and why he feels so passionate about creating this, this tool that enables broader savings and investment in Bitcoin across, you know, all different realms of of individuals.

Israel: 21:35

Yeah, you hit on the most important aspects of the episode. I think Lynne, the Dow of Bitcoin, I believe, is Yeah, and, and, you know, I met him in person recently, and I was telling him, this is why I told him, I think you guys are going to make it big, because they're which, by the way, they also have a great team. Yes. So his co CEO and co founder, very qualified. And just generally, they're there, if you go, go on to their website and look at it for yourself. But they have a very high talent bench on their team, and they're CR and they're going to be creating lots of different products on this compensation and benefit side that just makes it easily blend into into traditional tools for putting away money for the long term, for an employee, and you hit on a you hit on a super key point, Lynne, what you know looking at the other side of the coin, as opposed to wealth management, which is just basically people who already have quite a bit of wealth and are looking to conserve it right and make it grow. What I really like about this, this blend, blending Bitcoin into traditional employee benefits and incentives, is that you're plugging in a super powerful savings technology into something that people I mean, it's not, it's not something that eats into people's disposable income. It's not having to think about putting money into bitcoin based on the cash you have, which is just a different mindset, right? I mean, if you think, if you really strip it down to these benefits plans that companies offer, I mean, as an employee, you're not thinking much about what you know, what's really going on behind the scenes. I mean, it's, for most people, it's of some sort of fund administrator. I mean, all the most the thought process is basically, I'm just going to put a small percentage of my paycheck that I can basically ignore and just basically pretend like I never received it, right? And the purpose of that is for it to be long term growth, right for my future. So plugging Bitcoin into that mindset and that product just makes all the sense. So I think I think they're gonna do well if they execute things, you know,

Lynne Bairstow: 23:54

correct. One other thing that I have to touch on Israel that you and I are spending a lot of our time talking about these days are new ways of funding a startup. So talking about block rewards itself, and Scott goes into this a little bit in the episode, but we dug deeper into it after the episode was their current fundraise using a different structure than traditional VC, with secured debentures. And just, you know, it's, almost like Michael Saylor at strategy has kind of re imagined how capital raises and financial markets are operating under a Bitcoin standard. And Scott is one of the early entrepreneurs that we see also taking that same approach with startup funding. And I just really admire and congratulate him on taking a different mindset of, how can I raise money for my startup while I still retain control and give my investors a healthy return without having to give up traditional VC shares and and VCs could invest in this as well and get a healthy rate of return. So just reima. Managing the fundraising, start a process for a startup, which you know you and I are going to be talking a lot about more and sharing with with our listeners too, as we explore this with other companies. But have to bring that out and highlight that with Scott,

Israel: 25:13

yeah, then it's a great point, because they are taking a very creative approach to their fundraising. And to your point. Lynne, I mean, we will be putting out more material on this, but for any entrepreneurs listening out there going through the fundraising journey, I mean, just know that you do, you do now have a complete new tool set for fundraising. I mean, it really is a massive unlock. What we're starting to see that has never been available before, and this new extremely liquid savings technology, it's just unlocking a lot of different ways of thinking about fundraising and how you align incentives, how you perhaps retain more ownership of your company. So yeah, we'll leave that conversation for another time, but a great point. Lynne and I do get into a little bit of that with Scott. And the last episode of this series was an episode on real estate and Bitcoin with Joe consorti from horizon, and they're allowing people to basically tap into their home equity and essentially exchange it for Bitcoin without any initial, you know, cash outlay or new loan. It's not a debt instrument. So I mean exciting product, but I think the over arching theme here is you have a behemoth of an industry, which is real estate, that is now also starting to see some bridges, you know, being built between Bitcoin and real estate. And this is just one example, but what were some of your takeaways then,

Lynne Bairstow: 26:47

yeah, well, and Joe is another one of my favorite people in Bitcoin, too. But you know, just such a such a bright person in mind talking about just the over it, kind of the big picture and macroeconomic perspectives, of of of how Bitcoin changes, you know, daily finance. And so I think his associating himself with with horizon and Thea, which is a sister company to that for financial products. And it just shows how well we're at the early stages of seeing how, how individuals can recreate their financial world, you know, on a Bitcoin standard, without having to just buy and then sell off Bitcoin when it has a gain. You can use that and roll it into different products. And so I think they has been very creative horizon product with the real estate. I love the way they have it structured, where it's not really, you know, alone, but using home equity to in a creative way alongside of Bitcoin. So and then Joe, in this episode, you know, gets into kind of bigger pictures about, you know, there has been a real shift in home ownership in that younger generations or newer you know, are feeling hamstrung and not able to purchase homes. And so this just provides, you know, Bitcoin kind of unlocks opportunities for home ownership of this in this demographic that hasn't been available before. So I think it's really important. And his voice and his perspective, I thought, were super interesting to share with everybody,

Israel: 28:20

yeah, that's an important point. I mean, we, we do talk about just the general real estate and Bitcoin markets and how they're planning. I mean, horizons, product specifically is for existing homeowners tapping into the to their home equity. But to your point, Lynne, I mean, you are seeing signs of just the broader of the broader industry starting to integrate Bitcoin in different ways. I mean, we had an episode that that's further back, but with with Becca as well. On that recent news from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is kind of the other side of of the coin as well. That's the early signs of people being able to use their existing Bitcoin wealth to to be able to qualify for maybe a mortgage. And Joe, as you mentioned, he's in this younger generation. He understands the pain points, and he does a great job explaining what's broken with with the system as things are right, and how Bitcoin is such a powerful tool. So yeah, great episode there as well. He's a great macro analyst.

Lynne Bairstow: 29:20

So these are three touch points that are core to the financial system. And all of them, you know, just taking little, these little windows, you know, within these three episodes, you can see that Bitcoin is now a part of all these three systems. And so it does point to infrastructure in finance is definitely, you know, starting to inject Bitcoin at a foundational level. So that's, I think, a trend that is important to note,

Israel: 29:49

yeah, and to that point, maybe just closing things off. You know, I think what's clear from these different conversations. Questions is, Bitcoin is maturing. There's still lots of education and adoption to go. But you I mean, you're seeing early signs of a maturing market. That's crystal clear. So, yeah, great episodes, great content, and some exciting themes,

Lynne Bairstow: 30:16

yeah. And again, the reason we do these highlights are, you know, we hope that we bring to light the most important points of these so that you don't, you know, you can pick and choose and and time is even more scarce than Bitcoin. So we hope that this, this highlight episode, allows you to just kind of understand which are the episodes that are most appealing to you. So thank you for listening.

Israel: 30:37

Final comment, the content is for educational purposes, got to put out that disclaimer out there. And if you do enjoy all the content we're making here at Build with Bitcoin, we're putting a lot of effort into shedding a light into entrepreneurship and investors building in the space. We really hope you are enjoying it, and if so, please do subscribe on the YouTube channel or give us a follow on whatever podcast platform you use. Leave us comments, feedback. Our DMS are open, share the episodes that all really helps with the organic growth. So yeah, that said. Thanks for listening. You.