TLS71: Ry Sterling on IBEX Mercado, New Lightning Use Cases, and Helping El Salvador Adopt Bitcoin

Ry Sterling is the VP of North America at IBEX Mercado. There are two parts to the IBEX business, it is a tool enabling merchants to accept Bitcoin payments, and an infrastructure platform for enabling entirely new Lightning use cases.

In our discussion, Ry explained the vision for IBEX Mercado, we explored a bunch of emerging Lightning use cases, and we discussed the adoption of Bitcoin in El Salvador.

→ IBEX Mercado: https://www.ibexmercado.com/

Sponsors

→ Voltage: https://voltage.cloud?utm_source=kevinrooke&utm_medium=Youtube&utm_campaign=1mo

→ Stakwork: https://stakwork.com/

This show is a Lightning podcast. That means instead of asking for likes or shares, I ask for sats.

The best way to show your support is to download Fountain from the App Store, load your wallet with some sats, and send them over the Lightning Network to kerooke@fountain.fm.

→ Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/

→ More Episodes: https://play.fountain.fm/show/P6XXuSPg6f2rj4ECB0fT

→ Lightning Address: ⚡kerooke@fountain.fm

Links

→ Stack Sats: https://www.stacksats.how/

→ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerooke

→ Books: https://www.kevinrooke.com/book-recommendations

→ Blog: https://www.kevinrooke.com/blog

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro

02:44 - Ry Sterling Intro

15:23 - Gamifying Money on the Lightning Network

20:30 - Remittances & IBEX Cash

26:48 - Where Will Lightning Adoption Come From?

30:23 - What Lessons IBEX Learned From Pitching Merchants

42:35 - When Will Square Introduce Lightning Payments?

43:28 - Why IBEX’s Business Is Accelerating

47:36 - IBEX & El Salvador

55:55 - What Impact Will Fiat Bridges on Lightning Have on the World?

1:03:54 - The Lightning Round