Eddy Travia joins Sunny Ray to tell the story behind Coinsilium, the company he co-founded in London in 2014 that became the world's first blockchain focused IPO in 2015 under the ticker COIN. Travia traces his path from eight years in private equity in Shanghai during the rise of Baidu and Alibaba, to hearing about Bitcoin from a fellow French expat in late 2012, to co-founding Seedcoin, an early Bitcoin startup incubator, and organizing Bitcoin Singapore 2013. He recalls the skepticism and pushback of those early years, signing Bitcoin denominated term sheets before the Mt. Gox crash, and being named one of the most influential Bitcoin investors in 2014 alongside Roger Ver and Marc Andreessen. The conversation covers how the industry has matured, the shift from Bitcoin as a payment tool to a store of value, why cross border payments ended up solved by stablecoins rather than Bitcoin itself, and Coinsilium's 2025 move into holding Bitcoin on its balance sheet through a Gibraltar subsidiary. Travia reflects on what bear markets reveal about founders and why he still believes frontier technologies like agent AI and decentralized finance are the next chapter.
Eddy Travia recounts building Coinsilium, the world's first blockchain IPO, from early Bitcoin skepticism to a 2025 corporate Bitcoin treasury.
What is Coinsilium and why should people care about it?
I co-founded Coinsilium Group Limited in 2014, and in 2015 we became the first company to IPO with a clear blockchain focus. It started as investment, then grew into advisory and strategic backing for entrepreneurs. Today we focus on frontier technologies like agent AI, prediction markets, and decentralized finance, building on our experience helping founders in blockchain.
What did your years in private equity in Shanghai teach you that still shapes how you evaluate founders today?
It was a steep learning curve. I arrived in China around 2004 to 2006, right as companies like Baidu and Alibaba were taking shape. I was in the digital company scene, exciting but very competitive. It was my first time living abroad in Asia, challenging and rewarding. I met my wife in Shanghai and have lived in Asia, mostly Hong Kong and now Singapore, for 22 years since.
How did you first hear about Bitcoin, and what convinced a private equity guy to look twice?
A software engineer friend told me about Bitcoin in late 2012 while we were both French expats in China. I was skeptical at first, but as a former internet entrepreneur interested in crowdfunding and financing for entrepreneurs, I asked whether this new currency could help fund builders around the world. Once I felt it could, I co-founded Seedcoin, probably the first Bitcoin startup incubator, in 2013.
What do you remember about organizing Bitcoin Singapore 2013 when almost nobody took it seriously?
We got a lot of doors shut in our face. Many people didn't want to hear about Bitcoin, or thought it wasn't serious. It reminded me of the early internet, controversial and associated with illicit activity. We faced a lot of pushback, but the small community at the time was very supportive, and I think those setbacks actually made us stronger as a community in the early days.
In 2014 you signed startup term sheets denominated in Bitcoin. Would you structure a deal that way again today?
Probably not. Our lawyer was an early UK Bitcoin association member, so we avoided legal problems, but we learned a hard lesson. We signed those term sheets in late 2013 and early 2014, right as Mt. Gox hit and Bitcoin fell from its 1,000 dollar peak for two and a half years. Since Bitcoin has shifted from a payment mechanism to a store of value, we would not impose that exchange risk today.
What finally convinced you the company balance sheet itself should hold Bitcoin?
2025 was the year it could finally happen. We had been listed for ten years with deep knowledge of Bitcoin, and after conversations with our brokers we felt the timing had converged with renewed interest in Bitcoin treasury companies. We raised about 20 million dollars between May and August and bought Bitcoin, which we hold in a Gibraltar subsidiary, though I did not want our future to rely on one asset alone.
What does a bear market reveal about a founder that a bull market hides?
Unfortunately a bull market hides everything, it is probably the worst time to invest in anything. Bear markets and crypto winters wash out opportunistic people chasing purely financial outcomes and reveal who is really building for the long term. I think those cycles have been healthy for the industry, and as Elon Musk said when asked what makes a good entrepreneur, you need to suffer.
What is the biggest thing you believed about Bitcoin in 2013 that turned out to be wrong?
One of the earliest use cases we chased was cross border payments, but the solution was never as clean as we thought because of hidden costs converting in and out of Bitcoin at each end. Today cross border payment problems are largely fixed by stablecoins like Tether more than by Bitcoin itself, so the problem we identified early got solved, just not the way we originally expected.
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