Patrick van der Meijde, founder of BitKassa and co founder Arnhem Bitcoin City joins me to talk about his experience with co-founding one of the earliest Bitcoin ‘circular economy’ communities in 2014.  How he got started Taking payments pre-lightning Are there enough people spending? Resurgence in circular economies Adopting Bitcoin Arnhem City Links:  X: @PatrickvdMeijde Site: adoptingbitcoinarnhem.com Site: arnhembitcoinstad.nl  Cofounder @BitKassaNL Cofounder Arnhem Bitcoin City @Bitcoinstad Youtube: 10 years of merchants accepting bitcoin in Arnhem Sponsors: Swan.com (code LIVERA) CoinKite.com (code LIVERA) Mempool.space Stephan Livera Links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack Chapters/Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction and Background 01:55 - Bitcoin Narratives in 2014 04:45 - Transaction Fees and Challenges 08:46 - Arnhem Bitcoin City and its Evolution 09:55 - Context of Arnhem City in the Netherlands 11:45 - Capital Gains Tax in the Netherlands 12:33 - Impact of AML Regulations 14:13 - Merchants Keeping Bitcoin 15:00 - Swan.com 16:14 - Mempool.space 17:11 - Coinkite.com 18:40 - Merchant Churn and Turnover 23:35 - Importance of Local Community 28:55 - Adopting Bitcoin Conference in Arnhem 31:32 - Transition to Lightning Network 35:45 - Success Rates of Lightning Network Payments 36:30 - Improvement of Lightning Network 37:53 - Conclusion and Event Details