Paco is an India based Bitcoiner who spent roughly six years as a long distance runner and global nomad, logging miles in more than 250 cities across 24 countries and couch surfing with over 400 families before he ever touched a hardware wallet. That nomadic, trust based life became the foundation for his current work with BitAsha, an Indian company building affordable Bitcoin security and mining hardware, including the steel seed phrase plate called Kosh and low cost home miners. Speaking from the Himalayan mountains, Paco reflects on how running started as therapy in Oman, how couch surfing taught him about human kindness and fear, and how a breaking point in Suriname reshaped his relationship with constant travel. He also shares hard won, sober observations from using Bitcoin in 41 countries, including why Africa desperately needs sound money amid Chinese influence and Tether's rise, and why El Salvador's Bitcoin experiment revealed a gap between hype and everyday adoption. The conversation blends personal transformation with grounded Bitcoin adoption realities.
A world traveling runner turned Bitcoin builder shares raw truths about adoption, Africa, El Salvador, and what 41 countries taught him.
What is BitAsha and what's the mission behind it?
When I came back from my Bitcoin journey around the world, I realized India had no company building hardware security solutions, just one reseller. So we started building Kosh, steel plates to safeguard your 12 or 24 words, plus affordable home miners called BitX. We're now working on dog tags and LoRa radio to send Bitcoin. Everything is open source, so we build it here in India instead of just reselling foreign products.
Why is building hardware wallets in India so important to you?
In India, huge taxes and customs delays mean wallets are often sold out or take weeks to arrive after paying import duties. Outside solutions cost 100 to 300 euros, but India's market is price sensitive, so we wanted something for as low as 30 dollars. Not your keys, not your coins means nothing if people can't actually get or afford secure storage.
Where did your running journey start, and what were you chasing?
I was working in Muscat, Oman, and saw runners smiling in 40 degree heat. I joined them for what became Monday Madness runs, then Tuesday Trauma runs, and I got hooked on that runner's high. After two years I quit my job in 2015 and started Run Every City, meant to last a year but it stretched into almost four years of travel, hitchhiking, and learning that the universe gives when you simply say yes.
What did living with over 400 host families teach you about people?
All humans are angels, it's just circumstances that aren't always kind. I stayed with engineers, firefighters, even a nudist family, and got to glimpse how differently people live. Opening their home is like opening their heart. I learned to trust my gut too, I left ten or twenty houses where something felt off, and over time I started listening to myself more than to outside voices.
Were you ever scared during all that couch surfing?
Oh yeah, definitely. There was one couch surfer who actually ran behind me with a knife. I laugh about it now, but people carry a lot of hidden stress and pain you don't see on the surface. Traveling like that taught me to become an icebreaker, someone who could warm up any room and connect people, a skill I still use today.
What part of your life before Bitcoin prepared you most for what you're building now?
I'd give credit to my dad. He ran a clothing shop and made me work weekends for pocket money, and I hated watching him sell, sell, sell. But it taught me how to genuinely talk to people. On the road I sharpened that into real connection, and it took years to understand how to monetize those skills into products and a book.
What did you actually see in Africa that convinced you it needs Bitcoin?
Africa has incredible resources, but everything gets sold for dollars, soon it'll be yuan as China builds roads, ports, and dams through the Belt and Road Initiative in exchange for the One China policy. The median age is 18 to 19, so the youth and technology are there, but Tether is quietly taking over as the on ramp. If resources were priced in Bitcoin instead, they wouldn't keep devaluing, and people could dream again.
Was there a moment where the Bitcoin dream and reality on the ground clearly didn't match?
El Salvador. In Bitcoin Beach it felt real, though even there a restaurant charged us 20 percent extra to pay in Bitcoin. Then I went to San Salvador, the capital, and nobody was using it. Fast forward to last year, they had to revoke Bitcoin as legal tender and take an IMF loan. You can't shove Bitcoin down people's throats, they only adopt it when pain forces them to.
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