Experience Building at Airbnb

Alexander describes his Airbnb security role and the lessons on engineering and corporate culture he learned.

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Today, Nathan Halberstadt sits down with Alexander Leishman, founder of the Bitcoin-only brokerage River, to discuss Bitcoin's transformative impact on individuals and soceity.

Alexander Leishman is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Technology Officer of River Financial, a Bitcoin-centric financial institution offering brokerage services that enable users to buy, sell, and securely hold Bitcoin. Leishman is a prominent figure in the cryptocurrency landscape, particularly known for his contributions to making Bitcoin more accessible and understandable to investors. Prior to co-founding River Financial, he most recently served on the investment and engineering teams at Polychain Capital and Polychain Labs. Before that, he served as an Security Software Engineer at AirBnB and a Management Consultant for Deloitte.

Learn more about Alexander Leishman's work:

https://x.com/leishman

https://river.com/

Timestamps:

01:08 - Alexander Leishman Introduction

02:55 - From Deloitte to AirBnB to Bitcoin

06:01 - Money as Society’s Primary Coordination Mechanism

09:24 - Bitcoin is Digital Gold

13:00 - Bitcoin’s Transformative Impact on Individuals

32:03 - The Bitcoin community

41:47 - River's business model and services

44:57 - Protection from de-banking