Using Bitcoin to Change the World: UHNW Philanthropy, Stewardship & Generational Legacy w/ Matt McClintock & Alla Futterman (Bespoke Group) SLP745

**Stephan Livera** (0:00)
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to Stephan Livera Podcast. Today, we're going to be talking about Using Bitcoin to Change the World for Ultra High Net Worth Philanthropy and Stewardship. And rejoining me on the show today is Matt McClintock. He is founder and CEO of Bespoke Group. And also joining us today is Alla Futterman, also from Bespoke Group, focusing on philanthropy operations. And so, yeah, welcome back to the show, Matt. It was great to catch up with you in Prague just briefly, and Alla, great to meet you in Prague.
Let's just start with some of these, I know obviously you gave your talk at the conference, Matt. In fact, I was the one to intro you, but just for listeners who maybe haven't caught that, give us a bit of an overview there, and what are some mindset shifts you see in these ultra high net worth Bitcoin families?

**Matt McClintock** (0:48)
Yeah, well, first, thanks for having me back. It's always great to chat with you, Stephan, so thank you for that. Yeah, the talk was really kind of a different angle, I think, from what we see a lot in the Bitcoin space.
And it really is an extension of a lot of the work that we get to do with the types of clients that we serve.
I was challenged by the Bitcoin Prog Group to come up with a topic on using Bitcoin. The idea that was the theme, of course, of the conference. And in talking with Alla about this and with the rest of our team, we thought, you know, this is a really interesting opportunity for us to talk about what we're doing in the philanthropy space for a lot of our clients. You know, the overwhelming majority of our clients have been profoundly enriched by Bitcoin. They've been in it for a long time. They've been in it deep. They were either early miners back when you could do that with a laptop or in one case, there was literally a woman who mortgaged her home and bought Bitcoin with that back in 2012 or something like that. Others were just early adopters because they were technology. They were in the technology space and they saw what Bitcoin could do that was so different. Along the way, they achieved a level of wealth that surpassed their desire for consumption.
We have had the opportunity. I mean, some of it has been driven by tax opportunities, tax-saving opportunities for sure. But really more than that, it's this sense of stewardship, the sense of responsibility, the sense of my wealth doesn't just begin and end with me, but maybe there's something else I can do that will make this world a better place. I was able to tell some of the stories about the work that our clients are doing, not just in the United States, but around the world using Bitcoin and the wealth that they achieved with Bitcoin to change the world in tangible, dramatic, physical ways. We talk a lot about change the money, change the world. I think very often the conversation around Bitcoin is great. We're changing the money, change the money, change the money, change the money, and that's great. But that second piece, change the world, that was the thrust of the talk and how people are changing the world with Bitcoin.

**Stephan Livera** (3:10)
Alla, I know you also work closely with the team on this and with clients on this. What are some mindset shifts you see people make when they get into this mindset of thinking about philanthropy?

**Alla Futterman** (3:25)
Yeah.
Great to be on the show. Thanks for having us. I think there's a couple of things. I think primarily when Bitcoin is 17 years old, I heard this mentioned at the conference that it's now a teenager, and I like thinking about it that way because it's all grown up, and even some of the conversations that we were hearing at the conference are somewhat more sophisticated. We've grown up with the space and moved on to think about Bitcoin beyond just the Bitcoiner ecosystem, but to really think about it holistically and on a macro level, how it can impact every aspect of our lives. And I think some of the things that maybe hold us back is we've still kind of kept Bitcoin in its own speculative corner. We haven't really integrated it with the full impact and legacy thinking that we give other asset classes. And I think Bitcoin belongs in the bigger picture with the same stewardship lens and the same things that you consider on your balance sheet. And so I think it's that conceptual shift of bringing it in with the other more traditional asset classes and not kind of keeping it in the corner all by itself.