Building LatAm's Largest Bitcoin Treasury Company with Sam Callahan
In this episode, Mauricio sits down with Sam Callahan, Director of Bitcoin Strategy & Research at Oranje BTC, to discuss his upbringing in a middle-class American family where his father — a self-described gold bug — instilled in him a deep distrust of central banks, a respect for Austrian economics, and the importance of managing your own money, laying the ideological groundwork for what would become a full-time career in Bitcoin. Sam explains what drew him to the space: the rare alignment between asymmetric financial upside and genuine humanitarian impact, drawing on the work of Alex Gladstein and the reality that billions of people suffer from the second-order effects of fiat currency debasement. He then breaks down the current Bitcoin treasury company landscape, cautioning against treating all treasury companies as interchangeable. He argues that the bear market is separating the wheat from the chaff — with well-capitalized, low-leverage companies like Oranje BTC continuing to trade above NAV while overleveraged competitors face existential pressure. Sam walks through the key differences between treasury company archetypes: pure Bitcoin credit distilleries like Strategy and Strive, operator-hybrid models, and companies simply adopting Bitcoin as a debasement hedge — arguing that every corporation will eventually fall into one of these buckets. He then traces the evolution of treasury financing models, from zero-coupon convertible debt — which attracted volatility-harvesting hedge funds misaligned with the long-term thesis — to perpetual preferred equity like STRC, which Saylor has structured to eliminate maturity risk, refinancing risk, and restrictive covenants while creating permanent capital that matches Bitcoin's long-duration nature and is accessible to retail investors. Finally, Sam makes the case for Oranje BTC as a compelling opportunity for international investors. He points to Brazil's outsized crypto adoption, its abundance of natural resources, the ongoing macro rotation toward emerging markets under a weaker dollar regime, the relative lack of competition in the region's public Bitcoin vehicle market, and Oranje BTC's early traction with the largest financial institutions in Latin America.
27 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT
The world's first investment-grade Bitcoin ABS bond, with Adam Reeds
In this episode, Mauricio sits down with Adam Reeds, co-founder and CEO of Ledn, to discuss his upbringing in Canada in a family shaped by his father's work in agricultural banking and his mother's career in education — a stable, functional financial backdrop that would later contrast sharply with Mauricio's Venezuelan experience and ultimately inspire the founding of Ledn. Adam breaks down Ledn's landmark $188 million Bitcoin-backed loan ABS (Asset-Backed Securities) bond — the first of its kind in history. He explains how the structure mirrors traditional finance vehicles used for auto loans, mortgages, and credit card debt, and why fitting Bitcoin-backed loans into that framework unlocks access to the $3 trillion US ABS market. He details why Ledn was uniquely positioned to pull this off after eight years of operating with zero client or loan losses. He also explains how that track record was essential for S&P Global to issue the first-ever investment grade rating on a Bitcoin product. Adam walks through the rigorous year-long process with S&P, including stress tests around Bitcoin volatility, liquidation thresholds, and systemic risk scenarios — many of which played out live as Bitcoin's price dropped from the 80s to the 60s during the deal's marketing period, ultimately validating Ledn's automated and non-discretionary processes in real time. Led by Jefferies as structuring agent, the deal attracted 15 institutional participants across 50 meetings, including a major reinsurance company, traditional credit funds, and hedge funds. It closed more than two times oversubscribed on the senior tranche and three times on the mezzanine. Adam explains how the bond's structure — with Fidelity as custodian and a blended rate of 7.2% — brings unprecedented transparency to Ledn's operations, allowing clients to see exactly where their Bitcoin sits and how the funding side of the business works. He also discusses how this model removes the arbitrary jurisdictional barriers of traditional lending by treating Bitcoin collateral from borrowers around the world as equal, regardless of geography. Looking ahead, Adam previews lower rates for borrowers, expansion into more US states, better functionality for business accounts at Ledn, and the rollout of Ledn's mobile app.
13 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT
War, AI, Midterms & Bitcoin with Andreas Steno Larsen
In this episode, Mauricio sits down with Andreas Steno Larsen to discuss his upbringing in a family influenced by macroeconomics and markets, shaped by his father's role as a chief economist. Andreas explains his liquidity-centric global macro framework, emphasizing how global liquidity—driven by central banks, treasuries, and commercial banks—serves as the primary force behind asset prices, operating in extended cycles likely peaking around Q3 or Q4 of 2026 amid midterm elections. He explores the interplay of politics, low interest rates, and abundant liquidity leading to potential inflation in 2027, while addressing Bitcoin's resilient yet dislocated price action amid geopolitical tensions and AI disruptions, viewing it as infrastructure rather than mere software. Andreas rebuts doomsday AI theses by invoking the Jevons paradox, predicting productivity gains and increased demand rather than mass unemployment, and highlights catalysts like stablecoin adoption for an agentic economy. The conversation also covers geopolitical hedges, with oil, natural gas, and gold outperforming silver, and touches on central banks' potential Bitcoin adoption.
Inside a recent episode
Building LatAm's Largest Bitcoin Treasury Company with Sam Callahan
Published 24 Apr 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] Some are selling Bitcoin, some are acquiring Bitcoin during these bear markets. I think you're seeing the business model when you look at strategy and some of these others, they're actually buying a lot of Bitcoin during a price correction. And I think a lot of the critics were pointing at Bitcoin treasuries as some existential risk during a Bitcoin drawdown. But we're actually seeing strategy and others be almost a buyer of last resort. And showing the resiliency of their model, they're not selling Bitcoin. They're accumulating more Bitcoin. And their equity continues to trade at a premium to nav during this correction. […]
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