About Me

Hi there! My name is Joël Kai Lenz, and I want to welcome you to my website. As you might have guessed from the title, I like to talk about Bitcoin, fintech, and decentralized protocols.

I work as a content writer throughout the day and help companies create content to educate people about Finance, Technology, and the possibilities they bring with them.

How did I get here?

I was always interested in technology and finance. Some of my family members have already worked in finance. Although they were successful, the traditional finance path seemed dull. Technology just seemed more interesting. 

Granted, this was in 2012, arguably the height of the smartphone revolution and the beginning of many web applications. Besides school, I was curious and taught myself the basics of web development. 

The first big fintech and exciting project was Klarna. I read about it in late 2012 while researching for a school paper. I was looking for different payment solutions and how to integrate them into modern websites. 

PayPal was there, and some credit card solutions. But these were not 100% native to the internet. But I had a deadline and needed to hand in my paper. If I had looked longer, I would have discovered Bitcoin. 

Which is precisely what happened in 2013. When I stumbled across this article in the Guardian. The now infamous Silk Road was described, and people were outraged about it. Bitcoin, by now a household name, was relatively new. People would only compare it to gold tokens within World of Warcraft or any online game currency. 

This was interesting, as I saw an opportunity for another payment solution. I looked into it and found the Bitcoin whitepaper a few minutes later. My technical understanding was good enough that I understood its main message. 

I was immediately hooked and spent the next three years trying to learn more about it and the upcoming fintechs in the world. To me, having a wallet on my iPhone and, later on, my bank account was magical! 

Freelance life started to become a reality!

2016 came along, and I was gearing up to finish school as well as getting more into freelance work. Besides school, I ran some social media channels and started to like it just as much. This would later lead to content writing and helping think tanks, agencies, and consultancies with their clients. 

Fast forward two more years, and we’re in the crypto winter of 2018. Bitcoin dropped hard, Ethereum was the new kid on the block but still had issues, and every ICO which took place wouldn’t survive in the long run. At the same time, we also saw the rise of many fintechs. Whether that be in Europe or the US, it seemed like I had found my calling. 

I set out to invest some of my savings into crypto and understand what the technology is all about. At first, I was enthusiastic about Bitcoin only because it was the first currency. But I saw the use cases for some of the other altcoins. 

Granted, some of them simulate the current financial systems just as much. However, diving into things like stablecoins, smart contracts, and the possibilities of decentralized protocols was still interesting. However, looking at all of these projects, I came to the realization that most of these projects were still run by foundations or companies, which would go against the vision Satoshi Nakamoto had. 

Now, this doesn’t mean that every one of them is evil. I genuinely believe that some of these companies want to solve real-world problems. But it’s weird that we want to build decentralized infrastructures while keeping safeguards in place with companies or investors. During this time, I also managed to work with some of these crypto or web3 projects and realized how many of them were in it to make money, which is a shame. I decided to focus on just one ecosystem. 

What to expect in the near future

Even though I’m a Bitcoin enthusiast, I realize we’re a long way away from mass adoption. Even though I used to be one of the obnoxious maxis, I realized this doesn’t help anyone. Don’t get me wrong. I love Bitcoin and do everything in my power to help push adoption forward.

But instead of seeing Bitcoin as the solution to everything, I started questioning more of the narratives and finding different solutions. One of them is fintech. Bitcoin can be integrated into our daily lives and bring all its advantages if we’re open to collaborating. Instead of looking at it as an investment, we need to focus on the network effects and how it can be used in everyday life. 

Which is what I’m doing now. I still write content about Bitcoin and support exciting projects, but I also work closely with fintechs or protocols to find ways of offering Bitcoin technology to everyone without issues.

With that in mind, I hope you’ll enjoy my articles and pick up something new every time you come back. If you wish to get in contact with me, don’t hesitate and reach out via Email, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

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Information about motivation, disclaimers, and contact details can be found in the imprint