Introducing: Fedi

Today we announce the first investment by ego death capital, in Fedi Inc., a technology company developing the Fedi mobile app powered by Fedimint, a unique community custody protocol designed to rapidly bring #Bitcoin to billions. 

We couldn’t be more excited about what Fedi’s founders Obi Nwosu, Eric Sirion, Justin Moon and the team are building and what it could mean for Bitcoin adoption.   

The formation of the company and our investment have come together in no small part thanks to the Oslo Freedom Forum held in May of this year and organised by the Human Rights Foundation. Without this gathering and what it created – friendships, deep conversations, and hearing a wide range of diverse opinions – we may not have realized the problem and seen the opportunity to solve it. A huge thank you goes to everyone who played a part including Alex Gladstein, Seetee, Matt Odell, Gigi, John Valis, Ola Snove, Darin Feinstein, Lyn Alden,  and of course all of the inspiring speakers. 

It is hard to go to a conference like the Oslo Freedom Forum, to hear about the horrific challenges and human struggles that still exist in the world today, and not be moved. Activists, humanitarians, journalists and politicians came from all around the world to share and to learn. Two speakers who particularly stood out to me are Filmon Debru, a victim of human trafficking who no longer has most of his fingers because of his own experience trying to escape, and Carine Kanimba, the eloquent and articulate daughter of Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina, who spoke of how the state operates to ambush and punish activists wherever they are.

Since writing my book The Price of Tomorrow – Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future, global events are unfortunately unfolding as predicted because most of the population is stuck in a monetary system that is dying, unable to see a way out. 

Concurrently, a new monetary system based on truth, hope and abundance is emerging and growing quickly around Bitcoin. Unfortunately, not at a rate fast enough to avoid the chaos as our existing monetary system fails for the billions of people stuck within it. The question of how to get “next billion people” onto the Bitcoin network as quickly and safely as possible was on my mind from the start of the conference. 

It’s clear that the plight of so many attendees originates in a struggle for a better life against economic devastation and/or an oppressive regime. Most often, the economic consequences of broken money is what led to the oppressive regime in the first place. This is not widely recognized and yet is crucial to understand. It means there is no way to solve the problem from within the system which created it in the first place. 

And yet, many of the people most in need of Bitcoin – like those I was meeting in Oslo – still hadn’t connected the dots as to why it was so important for them. To be honest, this worried me. But by the end of the week, everything had changed. 

After the main conference, along with 30 Bitcoiners and activists, I travelled to Lofoton in Northern Norway for three days together to delve deeper into the themes and ideas that had emerged in Oslo. Up there, in the clear air north of the Arctic Circle, it all started to come together..

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez summarized the three days succinctly when he said:   For years, I had been fighting on the front lines of freedom for my country, hearing about activists on the front lines of freedom in their own countries, but not able to see that it was always about money and control. Meanwhile, those in Bitcoin were fighting their own front lines.  Those front lines are now merging which will give the citizens of their countries back their rights. Eventually making governments accountable to the people versus the other way around.” 

On the plane back to Oslo with the group, and still buzzing from the three days together, I was  discussing Bitcoin adoption with Leopoldo and a few others when Obi joined us at the front of the plane. Together, we bounced around different ideas for onboarding billions of people from developing nations and what we could do to accelerate the process. 

That conversation led us to see how Fedimint could be an important pillar for adoption. Fedimint is a form of #Bitcoin custody that is both simpler and more private than today’s alternatives, and designed from the outset to work at a global scale. 

Obi and team would create Fedi – the world’s simplest, most secure and private Bitcoin wallet –  using the Fedimint open source technology. Imagine a wallet app holding your Bitcoin where a family could act as their own guardians and trusted network for each other. Lose your key – no problem as the members of your family can easily vouch for you and get your Bitcoin back. 

Now imagine that the definition of “family” could be extended to any size of network of trusted “guardians”. With Lightning and Fedi, since transactions are not on chain and instead use blind signatures, privacy is greatly enhanced and scale becomes unlimited and cheap. At a time where certain nation states may try to inhibit Bitcoin’s adoption, Fedi therefore becomes much more valuable. Moreover, as nation states come to realize that it is impossible to stop Bitcoin – thanks to innovations like Fedi bringing more users and value to the network – broad scale acceptance and adoption becomes more and more likely. 

For more details on how Fedimint works see here.  A great overview of Federated blind mints and why they’re complimentary to Bitcoin and the Lightning Network is available here.

Building a company from scratch is rarely a straight line to success. A billion users of Bitcoin within 18 months is an immense but worthwhile goal. Anything that simplifies holding, using, and securing Bitcoin is bound to bring more users to the network. There will be challenges to overcome as the team builds towards such an ambitious goal, but we couldn’t be more excited about the adventure and to help wherever we can. 

One final thought: building great companies is only possible with great people and we consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to be able to work with such world class individuals as Obi, Eric and Justin who deeply care about creating a brighter future for billions of people. 

What a time to be alive!

Jeff