Bootstrapping Bitcoin Travel: The Story of Airbtc

In this episode of the Bitcoin Business Podcast, Brandon Karpeles sits down with Jake, co-founder of Airbtc, the short-term rental platform built natively for Bitcoiners.

Jake shares how he and his partner bootstrapped Airbtc from a barebones WordPress site to a global booking platform with 400+ listings, all while staying Bitcoin-only and true to low-time-preference values.

They dig into:

- Why most Bitcoiners still don’t spend Bitcoin—and how to change that
- How Airbtc avoids the 18–24% booking fees of legacy platforms
- Why building for the circular economy matters more than ever
- Why Lightning payments are the future of travel
- The future of censorship-resistant commerce

Jake also shares lessons learned from building a global travel startup without outside capital, why education and usability are everything in Bitcoin adoption, and what’s coming next for Airbtc.

- Airbtc: https://airbtc.online/
- Follow Airbtc on X: https://x.com/airbtconline