It's the week of the Bitcoin Conference and you freaks know what that means; big announcements will be hitting the tape all week. I'm in a bit of a rush to get to our Ten31 Tribe event at Bitcoin Park where we'll have portfolio company founders and LPs meet for a day of presentations, panel discussions and updates on Ten31.

Before I jump to that I want to highlight two announcements that were made this morning; the privacy focused company Proton has released Proton Wallet alongside its beachhead product Proton Mail and Fold announced that they will be going public via a SPAC. These are two exciting developments that push bitcoin forward from the perspective of usability, visibility and legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

First up, Proton Wallet is an open-source self custodial wallet with a focus on privacy and user experience. The wallet will be completely compatible with Proton Mail and will enable any Proton Mail user to send bitcoin easily via email to any Proton Wallet user (regardless of what email client they use). This is where user experience comes in. Instead of having to fetch an address and manually enter it in, users will simply be able to send to an email address and Proton Wallet will collect the necessary public address behind the scenes. On top of this, it looks like the Proton Wallet team intends on adding the ability for users to easily CoinJoin and also send bitcoin over the lightning network to Bolt 11 invoices, which provide significantly better privacy assurances compared to the status quo of how invoices are paid today.

This is awesome to see. What's even better is the ethos the Proton team brings to this product. In their release blog post they explain why they decided to build a bitcoin wallet for their users:

Early in our journey, we experienced first-hand what it’s like being cut off from the financial system and at the mercy of large banks and institutions — an ordeal that affects millions of people across the globe. In the summer of 2014, as the original Proton Mail crowdfunding campaign was in progress, Proton had a near-death experience when PayPal froze our funds(new window), questioned whether encryption was legal, and whether Proton had government approval to encrypt emails.

Fortunately, in that instance PayPal returned the blocked funds, and Proton was able to start the journey that we’ve been on for the past decade. However, that dangerous moment has always stayed in our minds, and we still keep a proportion of Proton’s financial reserves in Bitcoin. 

Having experienced firsthand the unreliability of the traditional financial sector, building Proton Wallet is an important strategic move to make Proton more resilient and independent in the future. By enabling us and the entire Proton community to more easily adopt means of payment that deliver on the promise of financial freedom for all, we better insulate Proton from the risks posed by traditional finance.

This is yet another validation that bitcoin brings resilience to business stacks. Whether that's in the form of a superior monetary asset that preserves wealth over time or enables companies to leverage a payments infrastructure that is immune from third party control.

Speaking of businesses using bitcoin as a superior monetary asset that preserves value over time, which can provide optionality in the long run, Fold announced this morning that they will be going public via SPAC while boasting a 1,000+ bitcoin treasury. Which, when listed, would make them a top-5 holder of bitcoin in public markets outside of bitcoin miners and exchanges.

We at Ten31 are extremely proud of the Fold team, what they have built and how they are helping the Common Man leverage tools that enable him or her to stack bitcoin every day using Fold products. This is massive for the Fold team, the bitcoin industry and the public at large. Having a pure play bitcoin financial services company hit the public markets is an incredible step toward the normalization of bitcoin as an asset that is to be taken seriously. Not only that, the roadmap that Fold has put forth is everything a bitcoiner who wants to either stack more bitcoin or unlock the power of their bitcoin via loan products is something to pay attention to in the years to come.

Fold has created a business flywheel that enables their customers to accumulate bitcoin and grow their wealth on a day-to-day basis. By expanding their product offering to include sats back when you pay your bills via ACH, a credit card, loan products, and business accounts Fold will be able to create a stickier product that gives their users more options and an alternative financial services app with bitcoin at the center.

The future is bright.

Final thought...

Hydration and moderation are key this week.