Episode Details

Brandon Quittem helped build Swan from a Bitcoin gifting app into a full service firm, and he thinks custody is the piece Bitcoin still needs before it grows 10x. Cam Stromme sits down with him on meetups, DCA, multisig and protecting your Bitcoin as if it were already worth ten times more.

Guest: Brandon Quittem, VP of Client Experience at Swan Bitcoin and founder of the Minneapolis Bitcoin meetup. https://x.com/Bquittem

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE

Brandon Quittem joined Swan as an advisor in 2019, came up through marketing and now runs client experience, so he has watched Bitcoin adoption from the first sales call to the recovery call. He tells Cam how Swan began as a gifting platform until users hacked it into a weekly DCA, why the company hired for content first, and why a steady buy is still the best guardrail against our own psychology. The second half turns to custody. Brandon makes the honest case against collaborative multisig before he makes the case for it, and explains why he sees it as the middle ground most holders will actually use. They cover the physical threat to holders, why withdrawal delays add real friction for criminals, Swan's RBX path out of GBTC, and why an inheritance plan needs legal title as well as access to the keys.

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Building Swan with Brandon Quittem

02:18 - From altcoins to Bitcoin only

07:53 - Starting a Bitcoin meetup people come back to

17:34 - Swan started as a Bitcoin gifting app

20:56 - Why Swan led with education

31:09 - Why DCA became the core product

41:05 - Seven years across every team at Swan

51:40 - Should you work at a Bitcoin company?

57:42 - Swan's custody journey

1:01:58 - The honest case for and against multisig

1:07:16 - What custody has to look like to scale

1:09:25 - Protect your Bitcoin like it's already 10x

1:13:25 - The physical threat to Bitcoin holders

1:22:42 - The third way: no single point of failure

1:24:17 - Why withdrawal delays stop criminals

1:27:34 - RBX and why to hold real Bitcoin

1:33:36 - Advice for young people: get off zero

1:37:25 - Inheritance: access is not the same as title

ABOUT THE SHOW

First Principles is Onramp Media's show on building and protecting Bitcoin wealth for the long term, hosted by Cam Stromme, Head of Private Wealth at Onramp. Join Cam's conversations with the people building Bitcoin's financial services on how they manage their own Bitcoin, how they weigh risk and tradeoffs, and what they see coming next.

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Onramp does not provide financial, tax, or legal advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. This episode is for entertainment purposes only.