This episode's guest is Alex Leishman, founder & CEO of River Financial. River is a bitcoin-native financial services firm that offers bitcoin acquisition and management products for individuals, as well as a variety of institutions and high-net-worth investors, through their private client services division. They've also recently begun offering a bitcoin-mining product, which allows their clients to own their own mining hardware and establish regular bitcoin-denominated income, or what's become known as "sats flow," while River takes care of all the work to make it happen. In this show, Alex and John have a wide-ranging discussion about the growth of River, the details of their new mining offering, their approach to the lightning network and possible future applications, the notion of social progress, and how we should be thinking about it, becoming a Kardashev Type 2 civilization, and much more. River represents what is still a very small initial cohort of new financial services companies, which are focussing exclusively on bitcoin, and building out a suite of products and services that allow people to unlock more of its enormous potential. In my opinion, Alex and the team at River have built a brand imbued with the bitcoin ethos, which is likely why they are so well respected in the industry, and why it was such a pleasure and an honor for me to have a discussion with him today. --- Follow Alex: Twitter: @Leishman Website: River.com Follow John & Seetee: Twitter: @johnkvallis & @Seetee_io Website: seetee.io Use Podcasting 2.0: Breez.Technology Fountain.FM NewPodcastingApps.com Value4Value.io

In this engaging conversation, Alex Leishman, CEO of River, shares insights on a remarkable 30% growth in business Bitcoin adoption. He discusses how private companies are leading the charge, navigating the complexities of treasury management and volatility in crypto. Alex unveils River’s new service that offers interest on FDIC-insured cash deposits. He emphasizes the significance of proof of reserves for transparency and offers valuable advice for newcomers exploring the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency.

Join Alex Leishman, CEO of River Financial, as he dives into the exciting world of earning Bitcoin interest on cash deposits. Discover how this innovative service supports a dual-currency economy and challenges traditional banking. Alex explores the significance of Bitcoin in today's financial landscape and the growing need for individuals to adopt it as a payment method. He also discusses the intriguing role of private sector innovations in reflecting market needs and the future of Bitcoin in overcoming fiat vulnerabilities.

Explore Bitcoin's ecosystem with topics including Argentina's economy, Bitwise custody, Lightning Network scalability, Ordinals for decentralized identity, equity tokenization, BitVM efficiency, ETF challenges, custody improvements, and institutional dynamics. Dive into unconventional financial strategies in Argentina, fiat transactions on Lightning Network, Taproot assets, Tether's role, ETF influence on Bitcoin, custody changes, and challenges faced by Bitcoin core developers.

In this discussion, Alex Leishman, CEO and CTO of River, shares his expertise from the Bitcoin financial services world. He highlights why River focuses solely on Bitcoin and the advantages of a Bitcoin-only exchange. The conversation touches on navigating proof of reserves for transparency and introduces River's innovative savings product for Bitcoin. They also delve into Bitcoin's potential as a global reserve asset and the changing demographics of its user base. Leishman’s insights into self-custody and the future of Bitcoin make for an engaging listen.