With the semi-recent news of Mutiny Wallet shutting down, I felt compelled to share some reflections on my journey within the Bitcoin space. For context, I’m currently working on BitEscrow.app alongside my co-founder and CTO, Topher Scott. Since 2021, I’ve been deeply embedded in the Bitcoin community, particularly in Austin, Texas, at Pleb Lab. The road to bringing BitEscrow to life has been anything but smooth—I've had to part ways with my former co-founder, Super Testnet, grapple with intense burnout, and face moments when quitting seemed like the only option. Even now, the challenges remain daunting. (The story behind building LightningEscrow is a saga in itself.)

I know this may sound like a bit of a rant, but I wanted to pour my heart out because I understand just how hard this is. I’ve slept in my office, pulled countless all-nighters, and torn my hair out trying to simplify the complex—only to realize that simplifying the complex is incredibly difficult and requires immense time, effort, and passion.

The news of Mutiny’s closure has been weighing heavily on my mind, making me question how such a talented team could walk away from an incredible project. But, honestly, I can’t blame them. Building a startup is incredibly tough, and succeeding in this industry is even tougher. The sacrifices required to build a Bitcoin company are unmatched by any other industry, in my opinion. Not only are you building a company—already a monumental task—but you’re also navigating the technical, legal, and business complexities unique to the Bitcoin space. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

But why is it so hard? Why is it that we’re working with one of the greatest technologies ever invented, with limitless potential to change or even save the world, yet Bitcoin builders face such relentless challenges? It would be so much easier to just use developer tools like Stacks, launch my own token, build a poorly documented Layer 2 that no one in the Bitcoin community uses, and raise millions for a project that might not even exist in a decade.

It’s hard because Bitcoin companies struggle to get bank accounts without facing rejection. It’s hard to explain to a non-technical VC with an MBA the significance of what we’re building, with no third-party dependencies. The laws for FinTech are designed to stifle Bitcoin's progress, just to ensure banks can continue profiting a little longer before Bitcoin reaches mass adoption. The developer libraries we need often don’t exist, so we have to build them ourselves. Lawyers don’t know how to approach or even secure licenses for companies that don’t fit traditional molds. Regulators, regardless of party, are lost in a sea of altcoin marketing, struggling to understand what Bitcoin developers actually need. And even if we have a solution for something that Lightning isn’t ready for, the average person still doesn’t care about Bitcoin. The community, despite being aligned on core values, often debates trivial issues when we should be tackling bigger challenges. We’re in the midst of financial warfare against a system that’s bigger and richer than our band of plebs.

Keep building. Never give up. Bitcoin is hard; everything else is easier by comparison. If you can succeed in Bitcoin, you can succeed at anything.

We must succeed. We have no other option.