#1209 Dom Bei | Firefighters Are Buying Bitcoin!

— Santa Monica Firefighters Union became the first union in the US to purchase and self-custody Bitcoin on its balance sheet, rather than holding it with a third-party custodian.

— Dom Bei, a firefighter and former union president, led the initiative by proposing a small, exploratory allocation to educate union members about Bitcoin fundamentals.

— The union is establishing a committee with internal Bitcoin-educated members and external advisors to guide future decisions and provide membership-driven recommendations.

— Dom is developing a blueprint template for other unions and organizations to follow a similar low-risk entry strategy into Bitcoin.

— The concept applies to pension funds like CalPERS, which could use Bitcoin as an asymmetrical stabilizer asset in pre-funding trusts without disrupting their main portfolios.

— A rescue of a Swan analyst during a beach emergency rekindled Dom's deep interest in Bitcoin and catalyzed his exploration of the Bitcoin-labor intersection.

— Get off zero with any allocation size—even minimal amounts create engagement and accountability; the focus is education and learning, not immediate returns.

— Pair small initial allocations with committee-driven governance and external expertise to ensure responsible growth and membership buy-in before scaling.

— Underfunded pension systems facing regulatory headwinds (e.g., fossil fuel divestment mandates) may benefit from exploring Bitcoin as a non-correlated stabilizer asset in side funds.