{"id":2788,"date":"2025-03-26T12:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T12:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/how-pleblab-is-shaping-the-future-of-bitcoin-startups-in-austin\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T12:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T12:19:10","slug":"how-pleblab-is-shaping-the-future-of-bitcoin-startups-in-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/26\/how-pleblab-is-shaping-the-future-of-bitcoin-startups-in-austin\/","title":{"rendered":"How PlebLab is Shaping the Future of Bitcoin Startups in Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

How PlebLab is Shaping the Future of Bitcoin Startups in Austin<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Born in the heart of Texas, PlebLab.dev<\/a> is a well-known name within the Bitcoin start-up world. And yet, most people who have heard about this niche Bitcoin community in Austin are probably unaware of their wins and influence.<\/p>\n

Started as a coworking space out of Capital Factory in 2021 by a couple of Bitcoin enthusiasts, PlebLab has grown into a Mecca of the Bitcoin start-up ecosystem in the United States. They host various events and meetups throughout the year and have become a reliable work environment for Bitcoiners, whether living in Austin or just passing through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn art school, I had this professor who\u2019d make us stop after an hour of creating, walk around, and give honest feedback on each other\u2019s work\u2014it built a collaborative vibe where we can grow together. That stuck with me,\u201d <\/em>Car Gonz\u00e1lez, CEO of PlebLab, recalls. So when I took over PlebLab, I asked: \u2018How do I make it more collaborative? How do I make it more about that, not just coworking?\u2019 When you say coworking, it\u2019s literally just working. How boring is that\u2014working among other people who are also working? That\u2019s not fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Yet more than just a \u201ccoworking\u201d space, PlebLab has become a \u201ccommunity accelerator for the Bitcoin era\u201d with multiple successful Bitcoin companies and developer celebrities going through it since its inception.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Genesis<\/h2>\n

Car Gonz\u00e1lez, Keyan Kousha, and Kyle Murphy \u2013 foudners of PlebLab<\/p>\n

Founded out of the dream to build on Bitcoin and grow a local community, PlebLab got its first office in Capital Factory, a renown tech coworking hub in Austin in 2021. The three cofounders, Car Gonz\u00e1lez, Keyan Kousha, and Kyle Murphy started doing Bitcoin meetups that grew to crowds of over 200 people. Among them, various entrepreneurs and Bitcoin developers started to stick around, asking to co-work with them out of Capital Factory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over time PlebLab grew into different office locations, currently installed next to the Unchained Capital offices and the Bitcoin Park (Formerly Bitcoin Commons) in downtown Austin (at 6th St. and Congress Ave.). With more space, talent, and experience, PlebLab transformed from a coworking space into a mix between a hacker garage and a start-up incubator.<\/p>\n

Today they offer various membership packages, mentorship, and a wealth of resources to start-ups that join them, but this is not a pay-to-play \u201cBitcoin We-work\u201d: Memberships can be denied depending on the goals and purpose of the project. It\u2019s more akin to a private Bitcoin club for builders and technologists than anything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think we\u2019re an accelerator for the Bitcoin era. How you do that in an open source, cypherpunk way is you don\u2019t give somebody 500k on day one and say, \u2018You got three months to make it or see you later.\u2019 To me, that sounds like a fiat-era thing,\u201d said Car.<\/p>\n

Main Events<\/h2>\n

The main events held by PlebLab are Top Builder<\/a> and Startup Day<\/a>. Often taking place within six months of each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cTop Builder is the Top Chef of Bitcoin. We try to find the latest, greatest builders, pile them in, and get them to build an MVP or something pitchable,\u201d said Car, describing the event which functions like a three-month hackathon, exposing finalists to VCs and angel investors.<\/p>\n

Startup Day on the other hand is a short conference that provides a platform for Bitcoin start-ups to present their work, meet talent, and get exposure in the Bitcoin world. In Car\u2019s words it is meant to \u201cinspire people to go from the sidelines to building their own company. They\u2019ll see themselves in those people talking on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judge it by its Fruit<\/h2>\n

A variety of big names within the Bitcoin start-up world have spent time in PlebLab, Car was very hesitant to take credit for the work of others, and stressed his admiration for the founders and leaders whose journey he has witnessed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing their journey go from a person you meet, shake hands with initially, to where they are\u2014seeing the numbers they have, and when they get to a point like base camp, a raise, a pre-seed or seed\u201d, Car said. \u201cThat base camp for me is just, \u2018Cool, they did it.\u2019 Now, let\u2019s go help somebody else. That\u2019s the thing I love\u2014the shipment of the code, so to speak\u2014We just try to be good stewards of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the track record is impressive. Here\u2019s a quick overview of Bitcoin projects, companies, and developer celebrities closely associated with PlebLab:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jippi \u2013 Winner of Top Builder 2025<\/h3>\n

Lead by Oliver<\/a>, Jippi.app<\/a> is a beautiful and fun Bitcoin app designed with Gen Z in mind. Echoing the success of Pokemon Go, Jippi invites young people to explore their cities in search of Bitcoin Beasts, charming little 3D creatures that hide in augmented reality, waiting for future owners with sats rewards.<\/p>\n

The app has been in development for over a year and just last week won the first prize in PlebLab\u2019s Top Builder competition among fierce competition. Mind-blowing to the judges and audience alike, Jippi has a live, functioning app, man-on-the-street surveys, and app tests in a local university. As well as a masterful presentation of the rationale and vision for Jippi, the app may have the potential to go viral in the United States \u2014 and with it bring a new generation into Bitcoin.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Quick shout out to @JippiApp<\/a> for winning the Top Builder contest from @PlebLab<\/a>, $15,000 is nothing to sneeze at. <\/p>\n

Here’s a quick demo and interview with the founder. pic.twitter.com\/Eu0Iy0RYp9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 JuanGalt.com (@JuanSGalt) March 25, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Stacker.news<\/h3>\n

Started in 2021 by one of PlebLab\u2019s cofounders Keyan Kousha, Stacker.news<\/a> has quickly become a hub of news for many tech-savvy Bitcoiners. Boasting an open source Lightning-powered Reddit, the platform has gathered an active and loyal fan base that reward each other with sats for every upvote, often being early to integrate the latest technologies in the Bitcoin-social media tech scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zaprite\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Started at the end of 2021 by John Magill, Zaprite<\/a> has quickly grown into a full payment processing suite for businesses, supporting both Bitcoin and Lightning payment rails, settling to fiat as desired by merchants, supporting event ticketing and all the accounting and invoicing tools necessary for a modern merchant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zaprite made recent history by being the interface Donald J. Trump used to pay for a burger with bitcoin at the Bitcoin Pub Pub Key in New York<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

(TRUMP BUYS BURGER WITH BITCOIN FROM ZAPRITE \u2013 EMBED)<\/p>\n

\n

WATCH: DONALD TRUMP MAKES FIRST #BITCOIN<\/a> TRANSACTION AT NYC BAR pic.twitter.com\/rAjae6agH1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) September 18, 2024<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Mutiny Wallet<\/h3>\n

Launched in early 2023 and led by celebrity Bitcoin developers Ben Carman<\/a> and Tony Giorgio, Mutiny Wallet<\/a> quickly gained popularity among Lightning power users as a fully featured and innovative Bitcoin app. It consistently integrated cutting-edge payments technology like e-cash-denominated payments and Nostr integration, while rocking its signature red-and-black color scheme.<\/p>\n

Following the arrest of Samourai Wallet developers and the consequent chilling effect on Bitcoin self-custody wallet development, Mutiny Wallet announced it would be sunsetting the project, nevertheless demonstrating incredible technical ability and leaving behind a sophisticated set of open source software tools for the Lighting, Nostr, and e-cash ecosystem.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nifty (Bitcoin++)<\/h3>\n

As a Bitcoin and Lightning developer, Nifty<\/a> became famous for her developer education efforts via Base 58<\/a>, her world-renowned developer events called Bitcoin++<\/a>, her relentless work ethic, impressive travel schedule, and of course her charm, bringing together Bitcoin developer communities all over the world, multiple times a year.<\/p>\n

Nifty has quickly become a recognized and influential figure in the Bitcoin start-up ecosystem, including a seat on the board of directors of Opensats<\/a>, a public charity focused on funding open source Bitcoin projects of all types, with a special focus on Nostr \u2013 the Bitcoin native social media protocol. In her journey to stardom, she spent significant time at PlebLab, and is still often seen at Austin Bitcoin events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, Nifty\u2019s next Bitcoin++ event will be in Austin, TX on May 7-9, diving deep into the Bitcoin Mempool<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Supertestnet<\/h3>\n

An early member of the Plelab and Bitcoin Austin scene, Supertestnet<\/a> appeared out of nowhere in 2021, quickly mastering the art of creating Bitcoin prototypes in JavaScript. He has since implemented cutting-edge Bitcoin technologies like BitVM, even participating in the first Ark mainnet pool, the only other noncustodial Bitcoin layer-2 scaling solution, and is an avid user of X and Nostr.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supertestnet\u2019s many open source projects<\/a>, passion for Bitcoin, and unshakable integrity have granted him quick recognition in the Bitcoin start-up ecosystem and likely a fair mention in the annals of Bitcoin history.<\/p>\n

Cascdr<\/h3>\n

Led by Jim, AI engineer and ruthless Bitcoin maxi, Cascdr\u2019s mission is to bring the power of AI and Bitcoin together with strong privacy foundations and a full suite of cool AI apps and workflows<\/a>. His most recent hit is PullThatUpJamie.ai<\/a> a podcast search engine that transcribes voice content making it searchable, and facilitating the creation of sharable podcast clips.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BRANTA<\/h3>\n

Led by Keith, Branta<\/a> is a cyber security company focused on limiting man-in-the-middle attacks for Bitcoin payments work flows, such as the injection of malicious addresses or invoices in a merchant interface. Grown from the PlebLab accelerator, Branta has already had successful pre-seed raises and was a top-five finalist at the Top Builder contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Topher<\/h3>\n

A renowned Bitcoin developer in his own right and a regular at PlebLab, Topher has shipped a variety of open source Bitcoin tools such as Tapscript<\/a>, a library for managing Taproot, Schnorr Signatures, and Bitcoin transactions.<\/p>\n

Among other things, Topher<\/a> and Austin<\/a> (app developer) are currently working on Frostr<\/a>, a key management solution for private digital identities. Specifically, Frostr is built to solve issues of the sort in Nostr, the Bitcoin-adjacent social network protocol that\u2019s become very popular with Bitcoin users. It reimagines \u201cFrost<\/a>,\u201d the new and rising multisignature standard in Bitcoin wallets, and uses it to solve key rotation problems in Nostr<\/a>. A bit of a technical project, but one which I believe is profoundly useful and I\u2019ll be covering in more detail very soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christopher David, Open Agents\u00a0<\/h3>\n

Christopher, a seasoned Bitcoin developer and entrepreneur, is currently working on Open Agents<\/a>, an AI platform with deep integration with Git processes rocking a dark-cypherpunk aesthetic and a strong focus on the privacy of its users.<\/p>\n

There are many more projects that are either in development or have gone through PlebLab through the years, if you are interested you can find them at PlebLab.dev.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a bonus, I\u2019ll leave you with this cool Bitcoin Magazine<\/em> yoyo I happened to find at PlebLab.<\/p>\n

\n

Heey, check out this cool @BitcoinMagazine<\/a> yoyo I found at @PlebLab<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/8FcX0SVuny<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 JuanGalt.com (@JuanSGalt) March 21, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

This post How PlebLab is Shaping the Future of Bitcoin Startups in Austin<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Juan Galt<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine How PlebLab is Shaping the Future of Bitcoin Startups in Austin Born in the heart of Texas, PlebLab.dev is a well-known name within the Bitcoin start-up world. And yet, most people who have heard about this niche Bitcoin community in Austin are probably unaware of their wins and influence. Started as a coworking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}