Preppers and Penny Savers Find a Home on Bitcoin App, Fold

Long before last-minute preppers were forming lines around the Costcos of America, Will Reeves of Fold has been serving preppers and penny savers a heavy dose of Bitcoin. And now, amid the pandemic, business has been good. Very good.

Building an On-Ramp for Apocalypse Money

Final Provisions took up just a portion of the Fold team’s time over the course of last year. “It was part of our ‘10% time,’ in which we explore different topics and new ideas,” said Reeves.

The site is rather pessimistic. In between different gifs featuring rioters, downed androids, and flooding subway tunnels, are links to products on Amazon. These aren’t your everyday household items, however. 

Instead, viewers are shown a catalog of end-of-the-world essentials. From emergency bags of water, pet cockroaches, to a DIY houseboat building plan, there is a clear target audience in mind. The second item on the list is also a Ledger Nano S cryptocurrency wallet. 

All items feature a link to Amazon, where Fold users can earn cashback for any purchases. Source: Final Provisions

Critically, this site was built a year ago, long before countries began tracking cases of Coronavirus. “Even before the pandemic, we saw some of the cracks and stresses that the world was facing,” said Reeves. “And as a Bitcoin company that’s working within a larger community, we saw a lot of overlap with so-called ‘preppers’ and Bitcoin enthusiasts.”

The primary existential threat for most maximalists has been irresponsible monetary policy. One could argue that Bitcoin was wrought out of the carnage that was the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent bailouts. And after a brief tour of crypto Twitter, it’s not hard to pick up the apocalyptic sentiments.  

JUST IN: US Government says that "Your money is safe at the banks" and "The last thing you should be doing is pulling your money out of the banks right now".

That sure sets me at ease.