The Calgary Sat Market

Bitcoin is hope. Bitcoiners bring hope. The following is a collection of my thoughts following The Calgary Sat Market of December 2024. It is also a call to action for Bitcoiners near and far to join us - either in person by visiting - or spiritually by replicating what we are doing.

I'm sitting here, smiling ear to ear, absolutely brimming with hope for the future after hosting today's Sat Market in Calgary, Alberta.

Context For Anyone Unfamiliar

One year ago we put together an initiative to build our own Bitcoin circular economy here in the city. We went to the local meetup and made the case to everyone:

“You all understand Bitcoin is better money, you all have skills and businesses, you all currently earn dollars and convert them to Bitcoin. Let's cut out that middle step and build something together!”

The Sat Market was born.

The response over the past calendar year has been wonderful. Today's event boasted 40 vendors, consisting of farmers, tradesmen, artists, precious metals dealers, massage therapists, personal trainers, wellness coaches, authors, jewellers, homesteaders, lawyers, dentists, plumbers and much much more.

People came to Calgary for the market from Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and many other places. We've had people from other countries begin to recognize what is happening here, wanting to visit.

I’ve been living on Bitcoin myself since 2020. While technically possible, I often require some much appreciated services that allow me to pay bills, buy gift cards, and otherwise use some type of middle-man in order to make it work. The Sat Market is beginning to change that dynamic.

Just at this most recent event I was able to purchase:

Knitted winter gear
Apparel (hats and shirts)
Custom art
Candles and home decor
Full chickens, eggs, hot sauce, mustard, bacon, ground pork, jerky, baked goods and many other delicious items
PLUS an on-site massage!

This event wasn’t just about buying and selling, though. It was also about GIVING! We hosted some fun quiz games with prizes and had the most BALLER raffle I’ve personally witnessed. Giveaways included:

Custom art pieces
Apparel Artisan tea
Hypnosis sessions
A free hour with Bitcoin Mentor
Jewelry pieces
20 Tapsigners
30 packs of BTC Trading Cards (Genesis packs)
14 Coldcard Q’s
A 10 OZ bar of Silver

I estimate that we gave away over $6000 worth of stuff. People were over the moon!

I believe that in order to become truly resilient, the time has come to put our money quite literally where our mouths are. Any movement can be stopped when it requires you to rely on permissioned on/off ramps....

...but when you have a community of like minded individuals, creating real and meaningful relationships on a local level, providing value to one another and using a money that is external to the existing system - YOU BECOME UNSHAKEABLE.

I encourage each and every one of you to make a Sat Market pilgrimage to our next event in Calgary near the end of June. It will be flanked by a group excursion to the Canadian Rockies (1 hr drive away), The Bitcoin Rodeo (a pretty based local conference), a workshop day by Bitcoin Mentor (likely also in Banff), and plenty of other community led events.

Come, participate, contribute, and replicate.

This project has been entirely funded out of my own pocket and the voluntary contributions of merchant participants. If you feel inclined to zap this post, any sats will go towards making our next market the absolute best it can be.