The First Bitcoin Circular Economy - Arnhem City Netherlands with Patrick van der Meijde SLP556

Patrick van der Meijde, founder of BitKassa and co founder Arnhem Bitcoin City joins me to talk about his experience with co-founding one of the earliest Bitcoin ‘circular economy’ communities in 2014. 

How he got started

Taking payments pre-lightning

Are there enough people spending?

Resurgence in circular economies

Adopting Bitcoin Arnhem City

Links:

 X: @PatrickvdMeijde

Site: adoptingbitcoinarnhem.com

Site: arnhembitcoinstad.nl 

Cofounder @BitKassaNL

Cofounder Arnhem Bitcoin City @Bitcoinstad

Youtube: 10 years of merchants accepting bitcoin in Arnhem  

Sponsors:

Swan.com (code LIVERA)

CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)

Mempool.space

Stephan Livera Links:

Follow me on X: @stephanlivera

Subscribe to the podcast

Subscribe to Substack

Chapters/Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction and Background

01:55 - Bitcoin Narratives in 2014

04:45 - Transaction Fees and Challenges

08:46 - Arnhem Bitcoin City and its Evolution

09:55 - Context of Arnhem City in the Netherlands

11:45 - Capital Gains Tax in the Netherlands

12:33 - Impact of AML Regulations

14:13 - Merchants Keeping Bitcoin

15:00 - Swan.com

16:14 - Mempool.space

17:11 - Coinkite.com

18:40 - Merchant Churn and Turnover

23:35 - Importance of Local Community

28:55 - Adopting Bitcoin Conference in Arnhem

31:32 - Transition to Lightning Network

35:45 - Success Rates of Lightning Network Payments

36:30 - Improvement of Lightning Network

37:53 - Conclusion and Event Details