Founder · Operator · Writer
Essays on Bitcoin, access, and ownership.
Firsthand accounts of building Crypto Dispensers, fighting for financial access, and the lessons learned along the way. Founder letters, personal accounts, and essays, collected in one place.
Latest writing · Work and celebration
The photographs show the celebration. They cannot show everything it took to have something to celebrate.
Start here
The principle behind the work, the first Bitcoin purchase that exposed the access problem, the founding of Crypto Dispensers, and the economic case for bringing more people into the system.
01 · First principle
The principle that guided the company before there was a company.
Read the writing →
02 · First principles
A failed purchase, a cash transaction, and the decisions that followed.
Read the writing →
03 · Origins
The people existing platforms overlooked and the problem worth building around.
Read the writing →
04 · The argument
Technology cannot deliver on its promise if ordinary people cannot use it.
Read the writing →The collection
All 29 essays, from the first encounter with Bitcoin to building Crypto Dispensers and examining the institutions that shape our lives. Read the latest pieces first, or follow the story through the archive.
01 · Work & celebration
The photographs show the celebration. They cannot show everything it took to have something to celebrate.
Read the writing →
02 · Building & beginnings
The first installation at Woodfield Mall, the financing that helped the business grow, and the years of work behind sixty locations.
Read the writing →
03 · Family & purpose
The education, savings, and years of work behind my hope to build a company my family could be proud of.
Read the writing →
04 · Work & persistence
What it feels like to lose access to the savings and business I worked for, and why I still believe in building a future for my family.
Read the writing →
05 · Policy & prosecution
Why I believe the Trump administration’s change in crypto enforcement should matter when prosecutors examine the company I built.
Read the writing →
06 · Family & ambition
From Loyola University and John Marshall Law School to founding my own companies: the effort to build a different future and be judged for my own choices.
Read the writing →
07 · Cash & the law
Can you deposit $300,000 in cash without going to jail? Why reporting, suspicion, and criminal conduct are different questions.
Read the writing →
08 · Bitcoin & banking
Closed accounts, cash deposits, and the determination to keep building a Bitcoin business when banks kept saying no.
Read the writing →
09 · Rights & power
When the price of asking for a trial becomes unbearable, what happens to the right itself?
Read the writing →
10 · Government & trust
Why public trust has collapsed, what institutional power owes the people it serves, and why accountability must apply to government too.
Read the writing →11 · Founder letter
Why financial freedom matters and the principles that were intended to guide Crypto Dispensers.
Read the writing →12 · Origin story
A failed Coinbase purchase, a later cash purchase, and the sequence of decisions that became Crypto Dispensers.
Read the writing →13 · Founder story
The people existing platforms overlooked and the reasoning behind building a more practical route into Bitcoin.
Read the writing →14 · Access
Why a technology cannot deliver its promise unless ordinary people have a practical and understandable way to use it.
Read the writing →15 · Access
Why cash dependent, unbanked, and underbanked people deserve a fair path into digital money and ownership.
Read the writing →
16 · Building
How cash collection routes, banking exclusion, and one retail receipt became a new way to reach Bitcoin.
Read the writing →
17 · Lessons
A reflection on uncertainty, conviction, entrepreneurship, money, and the lessons visible only after years of building.
Read the writing →
18 · Money
A perspective on debt culture, ownership, inflation, time preference, and a system organized around obligations.
Read the writing →
19 · Fraud
An examination of the emotional vulnerability beneath financial fraud and why many scams begin with isolation.
Read the writing →
20 · Accountability
A banking crisis, inaccessible company funds, a federal report, and the questions that still have no answer.
Read the writing →
21 · Civil liberties
Why financial crime enforcement must preserve privacy, due process, complete context, and the presumption of innocence.
Read the writing →
22 · Compliance
Why startups should face serious obligations without being judged as though they possess the machinery of a global bank.
Read the writing →
23 · Intent and evidence
A founder's account of building financial technology compliance step by step, and why operational imperfection is not proof of criminal intent.
Read the writing →
24 · Injustice
How confirmation bias and institutional ego can turn a search for truth into a defense of the government's original theory.
Read the writing →
25 · Government and justice
How government invokes intent and context to justify its own conduct, then discards both when building a criminal narrative against someone it wants to indict.
Read the writing →
26 · Due process
After ten years of investigation, prosecutors are keeping the money-laundering charge and adding more. To me, that looks like hedging a weak case in the hope that something sticks.
Read the writing →
27 · Purpose and leadership
The choice between recognition and meaningful work, and why integrity, loyalty, and contribution matter more than titles or institutional approval.
Read the writing →
28 · Saving and building
How Five Star Vacation Rentals taught me to save for the ideas I wanted to pursue.
Read the writing →
29 · Ownership and independence
Bitcoin, holding your own keys, and the freedom and responsibility of controlling the money you earned.
Read the writing →
About the author
Firas Isa founded Crypto Dispensers in Chicago in 2017. He writes about the decisions, failures, institutions, and people he has encountered while building the company.
Privacy controls
Necessary cookies are always on so the site works. You can also allow analytics to help us improve the experience, and advertising cookies to measure campaigns and show more relevant ads. You can change this anytime.
Read our privacy policy