Bitcoin promised decentralization and global reach. With 17+ years of history and its long-term survival no longer in doubt, what does on the ground adoption look like and can anyone truly offer a global Bitcoin product?
For self-custody wallet builders the answer is probably yes, but most Bitcoiners are looking for broader utility – and that depends a lot more on where the end user is located.
In short, the ideal customer profile looks very different for someone living in New York City compared to Buenos Aires.
Consider the use case of someone in both those locations looking to borrow against their bitcoin (a use case I think about a lot given my background). The New York borrower is more likely to draw against their stack to buy more bitcoin or fund a venture; the Buenos Aires borrower draws to pay rent in a collapsing currency.
The same product (ie. a Bitcoin loan) will land very differently in those two locations. I would argue that you get to a similar outcome for payments and ‘yield’ use cases.
Layer on top local regulation (hello KYC and AML compliance for US/EU lenders) and switching costs (how difficult is it to send money using tradfi rails or earn a few percent on your balance today) in those jurisdictions, and the question of where funds are flowing inevitably leads to where the end user is located.
Returning to Bitcoin lending specifically (I will explore the payments and yield use cases in another article) it is therefore prudent to address TAM, SAM and SOM on a continental and country level.
This is especially important for a startup with early signs of product-market fit looking to raise funds with a cohesive expansion plan, but even the big established operators have had to consider this carefully.
Ledn is currently migrating its US customers to a new US-compliant entity1. Strike’s lending product – on the other hand – was built for US borrowers and is ahead of Ledn in that market, but arguably the roles are reversed in Europe. (And both companies release features at the state level in the US – geography shapes the product even within one country.)
I recognize that getting your product into the hands of as many people as quickly as possible is a must-win race. Winning it always hangs on a solid GTM strategy that is location-specific.
I speak with companies and founders about exactly this, and the first question is always where the customers are. Because a great product with poor GTM will always underperform a worse product with a better localized strategy.
Bitcoin gave us the opportunity to build products with truly global reach. But to beat the tradfi incumbents, remember: while capital may be borderless, the product strategy never is.
1. https://help.ledn.io/hc/en-us/articles/42963758834711-Ledn-US-What-Clients-Need-to-Know
