How Zaprite Made History with Trump's First Bitcoin Transaction - Will Cole

The first highlight on the Donald Trump's preferred way

You know, at Zapright in facilitate bitcoin Now, our key strategy is not like we don't want to be E Commerce. We had a product called

You know, that's not a but it could get someone started. Right, Our point of sale. Think of it that way. It's not necessarily a point of sale system at your but think of it as like a

Welcome to the Business The show dedicated to helping business with bitcoin, the

I'm your host, Josh Friedemann who is the head of product as for the first ever public president. Today on the interview, we're that Zapright can help they've recently released. We're going to get to our Will, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, Josh. Thanks for having me. I like to start off every that help us to get to know us some insight for our own lives. Are you ready for these? Sure. Question number one is this. When and how did you first Yeah. So it was early 2011.

The closest evidence I have of out in New York City with a worked on Ron Paul's We were in soho in a bombed That's where his call center was. I think they were working for was one of the people that spots and stuff like that. Had mentioned bitcoin. My brother got into it before later, half of 2011. But it was around that time going on. Financial crisis I'd gone through. I'd been a gold bug for six So I'd already primed myself in 2011. It was a fun time.

I'VE talked to a number of angle who learned about for it. As early on, you mentioned a little bit of time. It sounds like pretty much a good grasp of the value or Is that right? Sort of. In 2011, I would say my grasp I think the things that opened through the process of It'd been like six months. I just started reading Hayek and stuff like that. But I'm not an intellectual The types of things I was of embarrassing. Looking back, it solved the really into.

I remember what I used to brag the double spin problem. I didn't really get it. I'd say it wasn't until later But I would say that you're the process of going through I had a technical background, open to it. Where I didn't dismiss it, I key value propositions very wrong reasons. So question number two is this. What's an insight or fact understood?

I think simplifying it, the in 2011 in honestly, it would in 2011 to get this, is that supply, but it's credibly enforced.

And how that limited supply is into bitcoin, if you can get you know, fall for the be 21 million, but understand credible over a very long else sort of comes naturally And I would say that, like I I think correctly, I didn't Right. And every year that that Right. And with different types of of developer groups in and out around there, the fact that long means that I think that latch onto and that a lot of sometimes obfuscate that or that's true. But it's so incredibly weird.

It's such a weird property of and it cannot be inflated. I really feel like that that's That if everyone understood different adoption curve to date. Interesting question number three. What's the bitcoin resource This is the one I'm going to I like. But what I've always I used to to give to people when they're I like to give people Nick So it doesn't even mention bitcoin. It was written. Bitcoin was created. It's hosted up on the Satoshi Michael Goldstein and Pierre Richard.

That itself is a great resource. But this article in just a really. It's a blog post version of bitcoin, just explaining the And until I read that I, you it all just sort of snapped It's very short, very easy to read. It doesn't even mention bitcoin. And from there I would read Safe Edin's masterpiece again. It expands on what's shelling Then of course ends with a lot And then lastly is Parker is much newer. And it's unbelievable. I can't believe that I know It's so good.

And Parker's an exceptional it can get people in the dismissive of the fiat world wavy about like oh well, Or is realizing that there are implementing those policies they're doing. It's not a casual hand wave thing. It's very, very specific. And then getting into some I Don't think that way. And how that relates to Bitcoin. It's masterful. Got to read those three things. I don't know that I've ever just talking about. Also, I haven't read the gradually, then suddenly.

But for obviously I've read a while we were actually doing meetup where we were looking And it's really like there are have never thought of, if you're pretty new to but extremely helpful for sure. So question number four gets What is a resource, tool or helpful to you or your work recently? Sure, I mean, I work in world of product management, software, if you're working on But the principles that make to do with Bitcoin necessarily. There are advantages of protocols and things like that.

But just knowing how to build sort of thing is something I knew about Bitcoin. And so now that I'm building other people, the domain is Bitcoin. But the principles that I started writing about that of Ignorance XYZ is a blog development. Excuse me, but no. What I focus on more than of Bitcoin, but of how to And yeah, I would say I'll building good products. So now we have our final, what question. And is this as a general life or why not? This is the easiest one. This is such a layup.

I don't know how other people why not? There's. There's not a better answer to it. No, I mean as a general life Right? It has to be not paying licensure or whatever it is in that the World is made up of they do it without permission But why not is way more And I'm also attracted to mindset. It's very hard to be an business like I am. If you're always asking why. Well, we're here today to talk from the company. Listeners will be familiar recently joined the show.

There are a lot of business in their own businesses. We've had other people here out as well. You're doing great work. But one thing that really recently. John has shared on the show, I to learn more about the point It sounds like there's some as well. But maybe for those who just for the first time, if you what Zapright is and then also and what it makes possible for have as easily had such a Sure, Josh. You know, the first highlight it's Donald Trump's preferred Right? Yeah, that's.

I actually forgot about that. But that's huge. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but the point of sale is You know, it's apprite in general. You know, your audience is what we do. You know, we're just trying to for businesses. Now our key strategy is not We don't want to be building ultimately we want to out there. But like we did with E Payment Links, which is a very you can set up a simple E You know, that's not a but it could get someone started. Right. Our point of sale. Think of it that way.

It's not necessarily a point of sale system at your but think of it as like a to Be just dead simple, right? Dead simple, which is you can an iPad or phone to your card, they can pay with Really any of the ways that and typically the way we've use it as a primary interface and then they use it as a like a square point of sale or But those platforms don't But they'll use it as a oh, okay, well we rung you up here. Here's the total amount if you lightning or pay on chain.

It's supposed to be very entry and then yeah, just the you get on Zapright. I think that what it will help like, you know, farmers market like Pub Key in New York every single day as a dead simple way to accept Bitcoin. I guess one thing that people that have physical locations, sale. I know it's a major headache is really more additive than But I'm guessing it does hardware in order like maybe that do you need to use as system that they already have, Correct.

As of now, you know, we do larger point of sale systems time. You know, they're not a first class citizen of ring. Although that will change over time. Yeah, it's really. Yeah. Companion app is a way to You don't have to download an same way you have to be able So the way Zapright works is have a wallet. You bring your own wallet to So if you already have a place where it ends up, you can Zapright and that funds will So you go through the normal iPhone or an iPhone iPad as a know, square system.

And on the point of sale side, Like it's not doing itemized You probably rung them up, say, hey, I would like pay You grab the keypad, you type you turn it around to them and Right. So they're going to pay with a Phone, almost certainly. And they can use whatever they pay with.

And then the funds go directly backing up your Zapright You can include lightning and if you're doing mostly small So, yeah, it's not supposed to We're going to replace your It's in addition to now there farmer's market or doing A lot of times everything like that and you can just And for people who aren't as original iteration was a way but you have a bunch of integrations.

What are the most popular Well, maybe even including on but just for people who may physical location use case if invoices. What have you found based off What are the most popular for invoices as far as payment Sure, yeah, that's a great question. 2 Most popular by far are self So that if you have like a or cold card, you plug in your off of that X pub for your Right. So that would be the most popular. The second most popular would Strike's a very popular fabulous APIs.

They've been a great partner And so a Lot of people who least not right away. Sometimes it's just an ease of onboarding. We'll set up a business It also has the benefit of away. And then also, you know, on you know, direct L and D side. But in terms of most popular, an X pub and lightning the two most popular. And what are the USD payment options? Because every once in a while, customers to pay in bitcoin or possibility, sometimes a dollars. I know you have a stripe integration.

Are there others that are using Zapright? Yeah, certainly. And it's worth backing up a We're realist at Zapright. We realize that just because all of a sudden 100% of your right? You have a business to run. You have obligations in USD. You probably want some USD on Bitcoin. Sometimes that's a 5050 split, sometimes it's 5% Bitcoin. So we help you build these

You bring that wallet in, but in. And we'll create a unified between bitcoin and credit checkout with a lot of options credit card, right? And of those fiat options, popular. We also have Square and PayPal So the square one allows for And then all three of them Pay Google Pay options. So again you can have a credit card, Apple Pay or Or if it's an invoicing, it or something like that. So those fiat options are allow.

So just like you bring over account or something like Square account and then to be displayed in the checkout. So Credit card, cash app, know, the list is long and so you can add in there. And from what we can see, you the bitcoin side of things. But I think it's over 80% of And to be perfectly honest, I time that It'll be like 90 of the payments will be in fiat. For a business.

If you're just whether it's or something like that, look of those transactions are not If you're getting 20%, great You can stack that on your That's fantastic. But you still have to operate And so having the fiat and the competitive advantage for our customers. Well, I also love the fact we but if that's your situation, need to have XYZ plus Zap, right? You can just have Zap. Right. And therefore you don't have in dollars or bitcoin and Who cares if they laugh?

But still it's that extra step and they can just see there, huh? And then they'll probably But that little nudge has been I think that's a really neat Yeah. And just to add on to that a One is, you know, I'd companion app and our payment They're like a dumbed down We're not recreating like that. Although we do have like a can do E commerce on bitcoin payments. And there will be more on as well. So like yeah, there's that our invoicing in particular is It's featureful.

If you're used to something that, where you've been doing over to Zapright and realize with QuickBooks. This already does everything I Bitcoin side, reporting wise invoices, we have, you know, really need. On the invoice side, feature options. While something like a point Yeah, that was one thing and I Well, so as you were talking, which is if someone were to be hey, I want to get started in they theoretically have and if not, what are some of as not being as robust or point of sale?

Yeah, I think on the point of are going to be like, we don't Right. So if you're going to pay in app, that's really simple. You can do the QR interaction, trying to pay with a physical Right. So that's what I mean by There. There's some other small the gap a little bit and keep pos. But again, our actual goal is Our goal is to integrate with hardware, they have a great network there is just to get or a clover.

So yeah, there's some places I would also say that if your these apps, the Cash apps, that, in a farmer's market, you're not really missing out I would compare that Also I is, you know, there's always put Fiat and Bitcoin side by do you want more Bitcoin products? So we are Bitcoin sales is discounts and premiums based Not really method, but currency. Right. So if you're paying in or if you're paying in fiat, Right. Regardless of what, what the Credit card ach, app based or whatever.

That's really cool. So one other thing you was your API. So I'd love for you to talk a maybe some of the owners.

Yeah, the API is new, like the It's really great. We've had some people use it what it's used for is E commerce. So if you have created your using a platform like or something like that. If you have sort of a of any kind, you can use our API. It's very simple to create pay. You would set up the same way You'd connect your wallet, and then you send us the a fabulous checkout experience So this is, you know, I would, with a WooCommerce or an for those custom based apps.

We've had some creative uses doing some point of sale you know, teams. We had a company that actually Secure Lockers. So if you bring in stuff your or something like that, you And they did it in Nashville, experience. Like you would have to, you pay there and everything. So it can work also on the of customized in your business expertise. But on the expertise side it's I like building dead simple things. There's nothing complicated It's a standard rest API.

Any development team that's, past 10 years will have no Most of the stories we hear running with a new checkout experience. So yeah, For E. Commerce point of sale, check Very cool. Well, so the last thing I'd think it was probably, and you in the last 18 months or so is Zapright made, I would say, circles. I'd love to hear your it's been, as well as maybe opportunities like this as so had a lot of success and Yeah. So it's been around 18 months. That's about right.

And you know, when, when granted ourselves a while up. And that was our initial plan, him. And we were looking at mining operations to payments And we were really just sort market gaps and where we had value. And on the payment side, I on it before me because he was was a little bit less interested. But it was getting into the I already have a wallet, I have a place I'd like to It could be on a single Sig multisig, it could be on strike. You know, like whatever it is, Right.

Why can't the money just go When I, when I sell something. Right. Whatever it is. And that was like sort of the And we just couldn't find anything. There was nothing that was suitable. And that was really. That was what got me possible? We have this huge network of it in and just allowing you, see this in the Fiat world a If you're a stripe customer go to your bank account. They take custody over the sometimes you don't. Right.

If you're at a gun show or of reasons people don't get Well, that stinks. And bitcoin seems to have a final settlement faster than Why aren't we taking advantage of bitcoin, as small as it is now? So we were really prepared And then we remember John. And John, while he wasn't the use cases we were thinking for invoicing. And I remember looking at the if you go there and you see connect the various on chain options.

And I was like, oh, well, this It's like, yeah, it's an But if John has the same really be applied to any type be point of sale or e commerce done, then maybe we don't have Maybe we can team up with John. And John's just such a. He's an awesome guy in a lot And it just like it was a existed out there.

And we talked to John for sure that we aligned on vision And, you know, we were more We just had sort of the same So it just made a lot of sense Instead of, you know, having this like, e commerce product together. And yeah, so I think it was ourselves the time to really in the market or, you know, that. We just couldn't. And then finding John and We kind of shared a brain in going.

So in on the payment side, it John had already made a on the invoicing side, which side by side when you paid invoices. And for me, that was the view of this is that our goal Bitcoin day one, or have to We can be that aggregating and then that it's okay if you your sales are in Bitcoin and sales. That's how most of these John really nailed that from work with him. Will, I appreciate you sharing today. Do you have any final thoughts with or something that we just today?

Do you think is helpful for Oh, geez. For business owners, I think want bitcoin. That if you want, if you've on your personal balance it, you're saving with it, and your business should be doing as payments is probably the a Treasury management tool, to your customers that are It is the most cost effective There's no transaction fee or I would say when you convert forth and do all that treasury need to do some of that. But at the end of the day, we all those types of things.

It's like you can save Bitcoin on the primary basis, settle with and the cost of So if you've made that do it with your business, that It's a merchant led thing. There will be no Bitcoin be paid in Bitcoin. Well, will, thank you so much It's been a pleasure. Thanks, Josh. Well friends, it's a wrap.

Thanks so much for listening Show. If you'd like to reach out to links down in the show notes. And if you or someone you know as a business, check out Zapright. As always, keep building, keep living and leading. Well, I'd like to give a shout Who sent a 500 SAT boost on last week's episode with Anya Schuetz. He said as a bitcoiner and looking for a job in the industry. This came at a great time. Wish me luck.

Good luck Sean, and I hope If you're listening to this as well, consider listening on you listen or send a boost And if you leave a comment read it on the show.