There Is Up To £2m Of Bitcoin Still Hidden In Yorkshire | Nic Cary #228

— Nic Cary first learned about Bitcoin in 2011 on a fishing boat on Long Island Sound when a university friend explained hard money and "computer money" to him; he became convinced by the philosophy, economics, and technology together.

— Blockchain.com was founded as a block explorer (transaction search engine) in York, a quieter environment that enabled deep focus; it later expanded into wallet services with client-side encryption to give users self-custody control over their assets.

— Cary buried approximately £1–2 million worth of Bitcoin in geocaches across Yorkshire over 13 years ago as a guerrilla marketing stunt; the funds were worth only £12–15 each at the time and many remain unfound.

— The company evolved from a block explorer to offering wallets, and now partnerships like Polymarket and SnapMarkets for prediction markets and tokenized stocks, democratizing access to financial assets globally.

— Blockchain.com has achieved FCA regulation in the UK and a MiCA license for Europe; a confidential SEC filing indicates preparation for US IPO.

— Cary expects digital assets and Bitcoin will become the dominant medium for machine-to-machine transactions within 5–10 years as autonomous computer systems require digitally native payment systems.

— Self-custody of Bitcoin via wallet solutions removes counterparty risk and censorship, contrasting with institutional custody models that create security "honeypots" and incentive misalignments (lending and yield generation without transparency).

— Regulatory clarity and compliance (FCA, MiCA, state-by-state US frameworks) create long-term competitive advantage and customer trust; avoiding offshore venues and bad actors pays dividends even if slower to market.

— Bitcoin's killer use case may not be peer-to-peer cash or store of value alone, but settlement of machine-to-machine payments in an agentic economy—where autonomous systems transact without KYC/AML requirements, making digitally native assets essential.