Right place at the right time - Bitcoin

Have you ever found yourself in the right place at the right time? If you have, then you know how amazing it feels to be in that position and my experience from 2013 will resonate with you.

Here’s my story:

In 2013 I found myself right in the middle of the bitcoin revolution. It was a place I initially felt I wasn’t qualified for because I wasn’t a technologist, but I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. You see, in November of 2011 I joined a company called Alpha Surety where I worked as a surety bond broker. It wasn’t the sexiest job in the world, but I was good at sales and relationships so it was a place I could thrive. And for those of you who don’t know what a surety bond is, I won’t go into the details, but surety bonds are an insurance type product that many industries require as part of their state licensing requirements. Okay, moving on.

Early in my training I was told that I should focus on industries where the size of bonds were smaller so I could learn the ropes before I went after the BIG opportunities. That was all fine and well, but as soon as I heard that Money Service Businesses were where the real money was, I couldn’t stop myself from diving in. I quickly began targeting money transmitters that required millions of dollars in bonds and that would generate great commissions. Lucky for me, I found success and began working with some of the top FinTech businesses in the country.

Now let’s rewind to early 2011 when I worked for a guy named Mike Caldwell. Mike was an entrepreneur and real technical genius. He was always ahead of the curve exploring emerging technologies and when he found something he was excited about, he’d share it with his employees. Well, in 2011 bitcoin was what fueled him so he spread his new found excitement around the office. At that time I had no idea what he was talking about and wasn’t thrilled with having to use some Japanese company called Mt. Gox to buy and sell bitcoins so I just sat on my hands. It wasn’t until 2013 while working for Alpha Surety that I recognized the impact bitcoin would have on my life.

You see, in 2013, FinCEN, the financial crimes agency in the US, released new guidance stating that bitcoin administrators and exchangers were money transmitters. It was at that moment that I realized I was in the right place at the right time. I knew there were hundreds, if not thousands, of bitcoiners that were going to need my surety bond expertise and experience. Shortly after the new guidance was released, I found myself at the very first bitcoin conference, Bitcoin 2013 San Jose, meeting with bitcoiners from around the world. I quickly found my voice at that conference and decided I would shift all my focus to working with bitcoin exchanges.

The next conference, Inside Bitcoins, was being held in Las Vegas a couple months later so I called the event organizer and told him that he needed to add me as a speaker. He agreed to give me a 45 minute speaking slot where I shared my presentation “Bitcoin’s Silent Killer: Surety Bonds”. Attendees didn’t know what to think about me at first, but after a few months of speaking at conferences around the country, I became a linchpin in the industry and played a vital role in the massive rise of bitcoin in the US. As the only person providing the surety bonds necessary for bitcoin exchanges to acquire the necessary state money transmitter licenses, I worked with every major exchange in the early days of bitcoin.

I left Alpha Surety years ago to pursue other opportunities in the blockchain space, but to this day, Alpha Surety is the main surety bond brokerage for cryptocurrency companies working with over 90% of US licensed crypto exchanges. (If you need bonds, contact Jason Jenkins jlj@alphasurety.com)

Exponential technologies like bitcoin and the blockchain are causing massive economic changes, which means there are opportunities like the one I had in 2013 for you to win big. What are you doing to recognize and capitalize on these new opportunities?