Till Musshoff is the creator and Founder of Bitcoiner Bio - the only link-in-bio website, exclusively for Bitcoiners. (If you haven't signed up yet and made your own Bitcoiner Bio profile - what are you doing?! Go make one ASAP)

Till also runs a YouTube channel where he regularly posts high-quality videos on Bitcoin, Tech, and AI. The amount of time and effort Till puts into each video, and his depth of knowledge in each is very clear - his YouTube account is a MUST follow!

I got the opportunity to chat with Till and ask him about his background, his projects, and what is on the horizon for future works.

Let's jump into it!

Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself and your background in programming and Bitcoin?

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I’ve always been interested in two things: videos and code. I seem to eternally swing from one end to the other. So why most people know me from my YouTube channel, I am also a developer and studied Computer Science in Germany. I finished my Bachelors Thesis, but dropped out of the Masters program, because I was already working full time for years in a small esports startup (that I still work in almost 10 years later). I really started to get into coding and specifically web development after I was done with college and I think it was a great choice. Building things on the internet is a lot of fun.

What was your Orange Pill moment?

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With my first startup we opened an office in Berlin. This office was shared with two other startups. One guy from one of the other companies was talking about crypto a lot and was a day trader on the side. The year was 2017 and we were amidst a massive bullrun. I got interested and started watching videos on YouTube. A speech Andreas Antonopoulos made it click for me. From then on I fell deeply into the rabbit whole reading all kind of blog posts, The Bitcoin Standard and now more than 10+ other Bitcoin books as well as some foundational ones by the Austrian economists. At the same time I was buying Bitcoin and loads of shitcoins. I was obviously getting mega rekt over the next year, but my conviction in Bitcoin was only getting stronger ever since.

What inspired you to start a YouTube channel focused on Bitcoin?

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I was originally planning to do just one single Bitcoin video and then move on to other subjects. My motivation was that I didn’t see any information dense, yet complete video on Bitcoin anywhere. I also wanted to see where my gaps of knowledge are. When you need to write down what you know and explain it to others you often realise you don’t fully understand parts of it yourself. So while writing the script to my first video I learned a ton. It was performing well so I kept doing Bitcoin videos for a while. Nowadays the subject is still a driving force on my channel, but I am certainly not a Bitcoin only YouTuber. I don’t do any other cryptos, but I cover things about AI, generalism, the future of work and other things that I am curious about.
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My YouTube channel, then writing a little bit for Bitrawr and Bitcoin Magazine as well as video production for Blockchainwelt an now bitcoiner.bio. The first part is video/writing, the second part is coding.

Can you explain the concept behind BitcoinerBio and what led you to create it?

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BitcoinerBio is the “link in bio” for Bitcoiners. It allows you to link to all your pages, automatically display your recent social media content, easily accept bitcoin donations, embed your Nostr key, answer FAQs from your audience, feature your sponsors and more. It’s like Linktree, but cool. That was the motivation as well. I saw a lot of Linktree profiles from Bitcoiners and I think they don’t look nice and they lack features like instant lightning donations and recent content.

What challenges did you face while developing BitcoinerBio and how did you overcome them?

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As often 95% of the development went pretty smoothly, but some small details were a pain in the ass. I was often struggling with the headless CMS (Strapi) that I am using and some of the payment web hooks still cause issues now and then. I am using an external API to led you add all your social media accounts. This is much easier than implementing all of them yourself, but also quite costly. So that is more of a business challenge to observe how it plays out economically and make decisions based on that.

What features are you planning to add to BitcoinerBio in the near future?

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I would like to have custom domain support, expand the available metrics of the analytics dashboard for premium users, add an affiliate program, let you create polls (that you can optionally paywall behind a small lightning payment), add more customisation options and color schemes, better integrations for podcasters and maybe a form or newsletter component. Ultimately I listen to what my customers tell me they want. So far I’ve often been able to add their requests within 24 hours. While I work through the list there will be 10+ more new ideas. There are always things to do and prioritisation is key, especially as a solo developer. What you currently get is bitcoiner.bio 1.0. The 2.0 version will hopefully shift the whole site from just a linktree alternative to more of a content hub where you can find all sorts of content from many bitcoiners.

What advice do you have for beginners who want to get started with programming Bitcoin-based apps and websites?

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It always depends on what you want to create. If its a website, you are best of with learning HTML and CSS first. The JavaScript to build actual functionality. Vanilla JS is not fun to code with though, so I would learn React or Vue next.

How do you balance your time between creating YouTube content and working on your other projects?

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It’s a challenge, not gonna lie. I still work 30h/w in my esports startup, that’s where I make my living. That leaves me with limited time for YouTube and code-based projects. The time allocation is usually dependent on what I find most interesting at the time. As I said I’m like a pendulum going back and forth from video creation to app development. I can become quite obsessed with ideas and have no problem working 12-16h days for a couple of weeks when inspiration strikes. This always fades though and then it becomes about discipline and time management.

What do you love the most about Bitcoin?

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That it’s so multidisciplinary. There are few things you can look at from so many different angles and still learn something new from all the time. It’s a fantastic humanitarian tool and got me interested more widely in human rights in general.

How has the response for Bitcoiner Bio been from the wider Bitcoin community?

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I have only seen support, literally nothing negative at all. That’s what the bitcoin community is about. If you create some cool product for them or art or create educational resources you will get the support. I love that part. I must say though, that I haven’t done any sort of marketing yet, so only a few people have even heard of bitcoiner.bio so far. Currently there are about 200 profiles on the site.

Can you discuss any notable moments or milestones in the short history of Bitcoiner Bio?

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Launching (which is always scary), my first paying customer, greater toolset & analytics for premium users.

What are your plans for expanding Bitcoiner Bio in the future?

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It would make sense to adapt the idea to other niches, but I don’t really know which one, so that’s something to figure out in the future. For now I am focused on doing the right thing for bitcoiners and help artists, creators and educators from the space.

What are 5 pieces of advice you would give somebody new to Bitcoin?

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DCA to never worry, don’t trade, Bitcoin only, Run your own node even if just to experiment with the technology, Use lightning whenever possible, Read everything you find interesting and try explaining it yourself afterwards. Education is the key to Bitcoin adoption.

What is your favorite Bitcoin book that you have read, and why?

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There are many great ones out there. I got started with “The Bitcoin Standard” which is great for beginners, even though it has some weaknesses in the middle part in my opinion. “Layered Money” is great and “Bitcoin Is Venice” if you are ready for a more challenging read. Two of my favourite books that are related to the subject, but not Bitcoin-specific are “When Money Dies” and “The Ethics Of Money Production”.

Thanks for allowing BitByte to interview you today! Do you have any last comments?

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I just want to thank you for your support and giving me this opportunity! If you want to learn more about me you can also check out my 21ism feature and podcast.

You can follow Till on his socials below:

Twitter

Youtube

Bitcoiner Bio

21ISM

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