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Starting a Bitcoin Startup During the COVID-19 Crisis, Feat. Yan Pritzker

With companies closing, unemployment rising and investors spooked in the age of the pandemic, NLW speaks with Swan BTC co-founder Yan Pritzker about the experience of launching a startup in the hyper-competitive world of Bitcoin.

By Nathaniel Whittemore
AccessTimeIconApr 24, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 8:33 a.m. UTC
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With companies closing, unemployment rising and investors spooked in the age of the pandemic, NLW speaks with Swan BTC co-founder Yan Pritzker about the experience of launching a startup in the hyper-competitive world of Bitcoin.

For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, IHeartRadio or RSS.

Yan Pritzker is the CTO and cofounder of Swan Bitcoin, an automated bitcoin-only investing app aiming to be the best on-ramp to bitcoin. He is also the author of "Inventing Bitcoin." 

On this episode, he and NLW discuss:

  • How emigrating from the Soviet Union taught Yan about capital controls 
  • Buying bitcoin at $30 in 2011 
  • Why the type of capital available shapes what type of startups entrepreneurs found
  • Why venture capitals focused investments away from bitcoin 
  • The emergence of a bitcoin-only startup scene 
  • Starting a startup during the COVID-19 crisis 
  • Why bitcoin’s scarcity is its most important property 

See also: Bram Cohen: 'Getting Rich Is a Terrible Metric of Success'

For more episodes and free early access before our regular 3 p.m. Eastern time releases, subscribe with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Stitcher, RadioPublica, IHeartRadio or RSS.

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