The Bitcoin Collective
Why the UK Is Drifting on Bitcoin, And How to Fix It | Ben Cousens #221
- Antidote's founding and model: A Y Combinator-style accelerator for Bitcoin fintech businesses, offering $50,000 capital with 5% equity stake, curriculum on go-to-market strategy, and free office space on London's Hatton Garden.
- Gaming and Lightning integration: ZBD embeds Lightning Network into games to enable Bitcoin payouts. Counter-Strike mod that paid sats created engagement; mobile gaming focus reached billions of potential players; Series C raised $40 million in January 2024.
- Venture capital challenges in Bitcoin: Founders struggle balancing Bitcoin principles with investor demands for fiat revenue; gap between projects and investable companies; limited addressable market requires clear business models and execution discipline.
- UK Bitcoin ecosystem: Author observes UK "drifting" rather than falling behind; lacks strategic government vision; sees generational adoption emerging naturally; compares American Bitcoin hubs (Presidio, Wolf) with nascent UK community.
- Future mainstream adoption: Predicts 5–10 year timeline for high street banks offering Bitcoin savings accounts alongside traditional portfolios; younger demographics increasingly view Bitcoin as natural part of investment universe.
- Nostr and agentic commerce: Interest in commercial Nostr applications (data, communication, wallet connectivity) and AI agents for commerce; sees Bitcoin's role in autonomous transactions.