Shehzan Maredia is the Founder & CEO of Lava, a bitcoin-backed lending platform that allows users to borrow against their bitcoin without selling it. This conversation was recorded live at Bitcoin Investor Week in New York. n this discussion, we cover why many bitcoin holders are borrowing against their BTC instead of selling it, how everyday workers have quietly built wealth by consistently saving in bitcoin, and why bitcoin-backed loans are increasingly being used to fund major purchases like homes. We also discuss stablecoins, global access to dollars, and the future of bitcoin-native financial services.

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• 0:00 - Intro
• 0:14 - Why people borrow against bitcoin instead of selling
• 3:55 - The risks of borrowing against bitcoin
• 6:10 - How Lava is different from their competitors
• 8:49 - Stablecoins & global dollar banking
• 12:22 - Challenges building a bitcoin company
• 13:16 - Why Lava is skeptical of AI coding tools
• 16:44 - Technologies Lava is bullish on
• 17:25 - Why most crypto projects are useless
• 20:04 - The gambling problem in modern finance
• 23:30 - Why bitcoin is built for savers