I'm a silver lining kind of guy. This might be the downfall of the American empire but at least people are making some 🔥 memes and videos about it.

One of my great hopes for bitcoin is that it enables a different kind of decentralization: The revitalization of small towns.

📣 Announcement time! 📣

As you might have guessed (from the photos I keep posting, mostly), I really love the place where I'm fortunate enough to live. It's a small town in northern Italy. We're surrounded by 3000m peaks, Lake Como is a short drive away, and the people are warm, welcoming, and hard-working.

My wife and I moved here 14 years ago with no more expectation than trying to figure out how we could live in the alps to climb and ski right outside our backdoor. Over those 14 years, Valchiavenna has become our home.

For a long time, I've been plotting and scheming about how I could give more back to this community that has given me so much and over the last few months, with the help of many local friends, all the pieces have started to come together.

Bitcoin Chiavenna is aimed at building a stronger Chiavenna using Bitcoin but; more broadly, it's a project focused on exploring how small, often marginalized, rural communities can benefit from adopting Bitcoin.

Chiavenna is the perfect petri dish for experimentation. We have local hydro power generation (run by a local coop). We are a stone's throw from Switzerland, which brings both tourism and shows local government how sane (and very minimal) regulation of digital assets can be beneficial. And, unlike many small towns in Italy, we have a large population of young entrepreneurs who haven't bailed for the big city and have started dozens of local businesses.

My hope is that our education and our learnings will be beneficial for other towns across Europe and North America. Many of whom, facing the death of their traditional industries, are having to find new ways to thrive, and do so without becoming wholly dependent on the central government for handouts.

I grew up in a small town. I live in a small town. I want to see tens of thousands of vibrant, wealthy, interesting, weird small towns across the planet. And I want them all to run on Bitcoin.

If you're with me, I'd love your support. We've just launched a Geyser project to raise funds for the first phase of several projects. We've got some cool rewards listed there, with more coming in the future.

And if anyone is coming through the area, let me know. I'd be happy to show you around and help you leave a few sats behind at local businesses!

Onwards and upwards! 🏔️🚀