Young Bitcoin Entrepreneurs Are TrailBlazing For Crypto-Currency

In a recent study by Accenture, 26% of “Millennials”, people aged 18 to 34, expect to use digital currencies “daily or weekly by 2020”. The Massachusetts Division of Banks 2014 consumer survey, found that 43% of people in the 18–24 age range were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to purchase Bitcoins, compared with only 8 percent of those older than 55.

Ever since bitcoin’s earliest days, young people have been buying and using the crypto currency. But more importantly, they’re starting businesses around it. We take a look at six companies, run by entrepreneurs under 20 years of age, to get an insight into how they’re using Bitcoin and why this generation is adopting fast than the rest.

The Bee Bros

The Bee Bros have been accepting Bitcoin since 2011. The business, established by three brothers, supplies over 20 honey based products. Their range includes honey caramels, honey roasted almonds, beeswax lotion bars, beeswax lip balm and of course, a plastic bear filled with raw honey.

The brothers’ father discovered Bitcoin through a friend who was mining. While he didn’t understand the technical details, the principles of decentralization and trustless trade enticed him. The brothers quickly jumped on the idea and seized the opportunity. They were some of the first merchants to accept bitcoin and bitcoin users flocked to them.

The brothers started mining Bitcoin last year. They started mining because they “didn’t feel like real bitcoin people” if they weren’t mining. They have also expanded their payment options by adding crypto-currency’s #2, Litecoin.

Their business has been very successful. Their products have been a big hit among the bitcoin community and they have developed a strong following. Fifteen of their products were included in the Sunset Magazine’s december 2013 gift guide.

College Entrepreneurs Create A Network That Boosts Bitcoin Adoption.

College students have always been interested in pursuing and adopting new technologies and it isn’t any different for Bitcoin. Crypto currency clubs have been popping up on campuses all over the United States. MIT is one of the shining examples. The Ivy League university has been very active with crypto-currency projects, including giving $500,000 worth of bitcoin to its 4,528 undergraduates.

Jeremy Gardner and Daniel Bloch decided to continue this trend by founding the College Crypto Network (CCN). CCN helps promote and educate students about crypto-currency. It connects them with jobs and internships within the growing industry. It is also focused on supporting more research in to the new technology, by various campus academics. The network provides a place for faculty members to learn more about bitcoin.

The group started earlier this year, as reported by BNC, and has grown significantly in a short period of time. The non-profit already boasts they have spread, “to every habitable continent.” With over 100 chapters in countries including Kenya, China, and the Philippines. It has grown past college campuses, adding middle school and high school chapters as well.

The two founders have enticed leaders of the bitcoin community to join the organization. Will Pangman, bitcoin entrepreneur and board member of the Bitcoin Foundation’s education committee, has joined CCN as one of the many mentors the organization offers to its members. It is also in talks with Coinbase, Circle, and Bitpay to provide merchant processing to every college that has a CCN chapter on it. Circle has already showed its support for CCN by becoming the first corporate sponsor for the group.

"The younger generation is always more open to adopting new technologies and new paradigms,"
— – CCN’s New England Director, Dan Elitzer

9 Year Old Bitcoin Investor And Entrepreneur

When Andrew was asked what he wanted for his 8th birthday party, he replied with shares of the famous tech company, Apple. At the time shares of the tech giant were doing well, but a short time after he got the shares, the price declined. He then thought he could invest in the online cube construction video game, Minecraft. The game was coming out with a new update which he thought, would cause the price to explode. His father explained to him that it wasn’t possible to invest in Minecraft because they aren’t a publicly listed company. His father added that he could invest in bitcoin. Andrews father then spent the next few hours explaining what bitcoin was. By the time he was done, the 9 year old was so excited about the digital currency he insisted he turn his Apple shares into Bitcoin.

The young investor had already developed the habit of checking the price of his holdings daily. That trend continued when he cashed out and acquired his first bitcoins. One day, during a parent teacher conference, he was sitting in the hall using his parent’s iPhone. The assistant principal saw him on the phone, and approaching, asked about the game he was playing. He took her by surprise, explaining that he was not playing games but instead, checking the price of the stock he owns. While he mistakenly called bitcoin a stock, he explained he was up $50 on his investment and was thinking about cashing out 25%. He then went on to explain what bitcoins were, to the audience of adults that had gathered around him.

The staff at the school were so amazed that they asked him to give a presentation about Bitcoin in his math class. He accepted and started planning out his presentation as soon as he got home. He even included bitcoin videos and presentations that he had watched on his own, like the “mining bitcoin with pencil and paper” video.

The 9 year old soon saw that Bitcoin was more than a mere investment, and saw the entrepreneurial potential of the currency. He decided to start Wonder Bracelets, a handmade bracelet company selling bracelets exclusively for bitcoin. He offers three different kinds of bracelets and has an online storefront that he sells them through.

Cookies For Bitcoin

Selling girl scout cookies is as American as apple pie. The business has roots that date back to 1917. The basic idea has been done, more or less, the same since its beginnings. You make a stand, find a street corner with a lot of traffic, put on your best smile and set up shop. Thats it.

Not this time around. These girls decided to take it to the next level and accept the future of payments, bitcoin. The girls made a QR code of their bitcoin address and taped it to their stand. Their Girl Scout stand, located on a corner in San Francisco, went viral when a lady bought a snickerdoodle from them for bitcoins and posted a picture of the two girls on Reddit. When the bitcoin community found out they were accepting bitcoin, they scanned the QR code, visible in the picture, and donated a further 0.083 BTC to the girls.

There isn’t a girl scout badge for viral marketing or accepting bitcoin, but if there was, these girls would of have been the first to get one.

A Family Of Bitcoin Authors

Since 2010, the Sabra sisters have been making websites and books to educate kids on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). It only seemed natural, for the homeschooled trio, to do the same when they found out about bitcoin. The Sabra sisters are co-founders of bitkidz.com, "The one and only Bitcoin forum for kids". They co- Authored a trilogy of books called Bitcoin For Kids.

“People stay away from Bitcoin because they either believe it’s too volatile, attracts criminals, or, they think Bitcoin is so high-tech that the average person won’t be able to understand it. While there’s some truth to those extreme statements, by writing a book series by kids for kids we’re demonstrating that if kids understand Bitcoin, so can others!” – Julu Sabra

The sisters were first introduced to bitcoin by their Uncle and became fascinated by the digital currency. After spending numerous hours learning more, they noticed a stigma against the crypto-currency. The sisters wanted to remove the stigma and open bitcoin to a brand new demographic, children.

The first book in their educational series about bitcoin explains the value of teaching kids about money, and how that can make for a better future. The next installment of the series explains how to obtain, and use the crypto-currency. The last book covers the biggest names in bitcoin and why bitcoin is important.

The three sisters are avid learners. Julu, the oldest out of the three, wants to be a neuroscientist and explore the wonders of the brain. The middle sister, GiGi, wants to be a pediatrician, in order to express her interest in a healthy lifestyle. The youngest, JoJo, wants to live a life closer to nature and pursue her passion for gardening.

The girls have donated portions of their revenue from book sales to various charitable organisations including SeansOutpost.com, TheBitcoinAcademy.com, and the victims of the Philippines Typhoon via the World Food Programme.

15 Year Old Bitcoin Investor Uses Bitcoin Profits To Fund His Startup

When Erik Finman was given $1,000 USD as an Easter present by his grandmother, he decided to invest it all in Bitcoin. His older brother had already purchased some and had been telling Erik to get into the currency for some time. Erik saw the Easter gift as the perfect opportunity. The slick investor didn’t just know the perfect time to get in but he also knew when to get out. He cashed out his $1,000 investment at Bitcoin’s peak – turning his original $1,000 into $100,000.

The teen used his newfound wealth to start an educational startup called, Botangle. The online tutoring service connects teachers with users through video chat. Botangle employs more than 20 people and has more than 3000 users signed up.

The site goes beyond the traditional scope of education. Users sign up and pick one of the many teachers on the site. Users get a one on one session via video conference on topics they want to learn about. It isn’t just math, english, or history either. The site provides courses on topics you couldn’t find in a normal school.  Robotics, linux server administration, yoga, Vietnamese, and Bitcoin are a few of the more unusual courses.

The teen started the business out of frustration with the traditional education system. The lack of freedom and ability to pursue what he wanted to learn, troubled him. He has been taking learning and teaching into his own hands since a young age. He taught neighborhood kids robotics, when he was only 9 years old.

He has continued this individual learning path by switching to home schooling and has enrolled with a local community college. The teen hopes that he won’t have to go to university stating, “if I make a million dollars before I turn 18, I don’t have to go to college…. I’m going to do it or die trying.”

He has implemented a strong focus on incorporating entrepreneurship into the site’s educational philosophy. Botangle has launched a new program called, “Intern For a Day”. The program connects aspiring entrepreneurs with founders of companies all over the world. The candidates that get chosen will spend a day with a founder of a successful start up, learning what running a startup is really like.

The Botangle founder hasn’t lost his passion for crypto-currency. He has remained very bullish on bitcoin and even prefers to pay his employees in the virtual currency. In an interview with Mashable he said, "I’m sharing the wealth of bitcoin because I have no doubt it will be huger [sic] than anyone can imagine right now," He went on to say, "Bitcoin is like the Internet in the ’90s."

Sophie is an artist whose secret passion is finance, economics, and technology. Shh! Don’t tell the artists she works with, they hate that kind of stuff. She loves keeping up with the ever expanding and evolving world of crypto-currency. When she isn’t painting, she can be found trying to understand the complex inner workings of markets. Another complex system she is fascinated by, are ecosystems. She often observes them on her daily hikes through nature.