Relai Bitcoin Session #19 with Anita Posch: The Bitcoin Educator

Anita Posch was this week’s guest on the Relai Bitcoin Session. Anita is a full-time bitcoiner who educates people across the globe on Bitcoin as an author, speaker, podcaster, and content creator. She is also a board member of the Austria Bitcoin Association.

We sat down with Anita to talk about her journey in Bitcoin and her work as one of the leading Bitcoin educators in the German-speaking world.

You can watch this episode of the Relai Bitcoin Session on YouTube here.

Alternatively, you can tune in to the audio-only version on AnchorFM.

The Takeaways

Before Anita started to work full-time in Bitcoin at the beginning of 2017, she worked in the internet business space since 1999, working on a range of projects and ventures. She changed her focus towards Bitcoin, however, when she realized that she could have more of an impact on the world by working in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s Potential in Emerging Markets

Anita’s main focus in Bitcoin is the digital currency’s impact in developing countries, where she sees Bitcoin’s biggest use case as opposed to the Western world, where we have a relatively stable banking system and currencies.

She, therefore, concentrated on stories from places like Zimbabwe, Argentina, and Eritrea to show how bitcoin can help in these regions.

“I think there is too much communication around the price. You just hear about the price in media. That’s not really interesting. What’s interesting is how the technology develops and what the real-life use cases are for the people.”

Going Full-Time in Bitcoin

Anita was always self-employed, working on a range of online projects but, before diving into Bitcoin, she became dissatisfied with her work situation. She knew she wanted to be a solopreneur and work her own hours, so she went to Berlin to dive into the tech startup scene.

In 2017, at a conference in Vienna, she found out about Bitcoin again (after coming across the digital currency for the first time in 2011) and found that she could really have an impact by working in Bitcoin. Also, it would be something she could do well on her own as a solopreneur. That’s why she took to leap and became a full-time bitcoiner.

Bitcoin in Austria

While Austria may not be known as a Bitcoin nation, the country actually has one of the highest densities of Bitcoin ATMs. Also, the country’s regulations are quite friendly towards fintech startups because of its sandbox approach, making it a suitable destination for Bitcoin startups.

In terms of bitcoin adoption, there are a handful of restaurants and hotels that accept bitcoin as a payment method.

(L)earn Bitcoin

Anita believes that most people in the world will eventually earn bitcoin (as opposed to buying it as an investment). The different ways people can earn bitcoin (even outside the Bitcoin community) are becoming more and more. As an example, she cites that when she visited Africa, she saw people earning bitcoin using the Lightning Network and then, changing their satoshis into mobile money.

In her upcoming book (L)earn Bitcoin, she covers the relation of Bitcoin to the existing financial system, how the fiat currency system functions, how the petrodollar works, how to invest in bitcoin, how to use and securely store bitcoin, and of course, how anyone can start earning the digital currency.

Follow Anita Posch on Twitter!