theCUBE + NYSE Wired: BitGo IPO | Sam Callahan, OranjeBTC

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Sam Callahan

CEO

OranjeBTC

play_circle_outline Introduction of Sam Callahan from OranjeBTC at BITCO's IPO event.

play_circle_outline Significance of BITCO’s IPO for cryptocurrency mainstreaming and financial infrastructure growth.

play_circle_outline Regulatory Clarity: Key to Unlocking Institutional and Corporate Bitcoin Adoption for Enhanced Accessibility and Growth

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Sam Callahan, OranjeBTC

Sam Callahan

CEO OranjeBTC

In this interview from the NYSE floor during the BitGo IPO, Sam Callahan, director of strategy and research at OranjeBTC, joins theCUBE’s John Furrier to discuss the significance of the first crypto IPO of 2026. Callahan argues that BitGo’s public debut marks a critical maturity point for the industry, signaling the "normalization" of digital assets and the integration of crypto infrastructure into the traditional financial system. The conversation highlights how regulatory clarity is driving a new wave of corporate and institutional adoption, enabling compan... Read more

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Sam Callahan, OranjeBTC

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John Furrier

>> Welcome back everyone. I'm John Furrier, your host of theCUBE here on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for live-streaming of the coverage of BITCO's IPO. This is part of our Crypto Trailblazers, our NYC Wired program, a CUBE Original. Excited to bring in Sam Callahan, director of strategy research at OranjeBTC. Sam, great to see you again. Saw you in the celebration room for the BITCO IPO. The bell's right there.

Sam Callahan

>> Yeah.

John Furrier

>> We're here on the show floor. How you doing?

Sam Callahan

>> I'm excellent. I'm excellent. This is a day of celebration, it's a sign of the industry's advancing and maturing, and I couldn't be happier to have another vehicle that people can get access to Bitcoin.

John Furrier

>> First IPO in 2026, raising 200 plus million dollars, debuting on the digital asset infrastructure. I mean, we're seeing a sea change. I mean, we've been covering this on our Crypto Trailblazers. Obviously cryptocurrency, we're seeing the normalization, the mainstreaming of crypto, but the financial infrastructure with BITCO and others point to kind of a growth wave that's coming. And I think it clearly is the real world integration of digital assets. Why don't we have Bitcoin in our wallets? I do Apple Pay, pay for the subway. I use Venmo to pay people. It's a natural extension to have crypto. What does this mean, this IPO mean for the world?

Sam Callahan

>> Well, I think you said it yourself. I mean, the integration of crypto and Bitcoin into the traditional financial system. It's happening and it continues to happen over time. And BITCO is a company that's been building for a long time and they've built out the infrastructure that allows you to have different custody solutions. And now, Wall Street's able to have a whole plethora of options for it. And it's the work of BITCO and other companies like it that helps this industry move forward.

John Furrier

>> I love the phrase, it's overused a lot, but rising tide does float all boats. And you're seeing the platform work being done from BITCO and others. And then you'll see Bitcoin currencies become just transparent. What's your view on that as Bitcoin continues? Bitcoin's a little bit below where it should be. 100,000 plus, some think it's going to go higher. Bitcoin, they hold a lot of custody on their side. What's the Bitcoin market look like? What does that enablement mean for the future of the currencies?

Sam Callahan

>> Well, over the last 12 months, we've seen regulatory clarity, which is really important for institutions to feel comfortable allocating to this asset class. And so, you see that now with corporate adoption. So corporations such as OranjeBTC are acquiring Bitcoin, because not only do they believe in the value proposition to hold it on its balance sheet, but also they have the tools and the partners that allow them to do it in a way that they can do it safely. And so, now they feel comfortable doing it. So I think we'll continue to see this wave of institutional adoption, of corporate adoption as the regulatory clarity kind of moves out into the market.

John Furrier

>> All right. You're the director of strategy and research at OranjeBTC. One, what are you guys working on now? What's the strategy? How does that translate to execution? Where do you see that going?

Sam Callahan

>> Yeah. OranjeBTC is the largest Bitcoin treasury company in Latin America. So we're listed on the B3 Stock Exchange in Brazil. And our mission is to drive Bitcoin adoption in Brazil and in Latin America, a region that needs it most. And so, they've suffered from financial instability, currency debasement, capital controls in the past. And so, Bitcoin, we think is a perfect product market fit for that region. And OranjeBTC wants to be a leader.

John Furrier

>> Yeah. Explain the impact of how the currencies in Latin America with stablecoins really change the game for the countries that have a lot of instability, volatility. What does this do for the market? How do you guys see the results they share? Explain that. People don't know the nuances of what this actually means when you put that kind of stability and trust and transparency into the market.

Sam Callahan

>> Yeah. I mean, stablecoins are a breakthrough and innovation. They improve access to dollars. And in regions in Latin America where the currency's more unstable, they're looking for relative stability. They want to just not have their currency lose value in the month and pay their bills, and now they can access it through dollars. Now at OranjeBTC, we think that Bitcoin is the better long-term savings. And so, you can use stablecoins for your day-to-day. But if you want to save for the long time, even US-based stablecoins still suffer from currency debasement over time. So if you want to save long-term, Bitcoin's the asset you want to hold.

John Furrier

>> And they like it, because they get stability, growth. I mean, you buy Bitcoin now at 95,000.

Sam Callahan

>> Yeah.

John Furrier

>> It's only going to go up.

Sam Callahan

>> It's a good opportunity. And right now, I think the message out of Davos, I mean, you hear Dalio say it, the monetary order is breaking down. There's a lack of trust in institutions. There's a lot of uncertainty. And so, Bitcoin is certain. You know that there's only going to be 21 million. The monetary policy doesn't change. In a world that's changing and a lot of uncertainty, Bitcoin is certain. And so, Benjamin Franklin said that there's debt, there's taxes, but there's also now there's only going to be 21 million Bitcoin. That is a certainty. And that's a rare thing in this market. And I think people are starting to pay attention.

John Furrier

>> I was talking with a friend, we were riffing, we're reading a bunch of stuff on some of the AI trends. And the commentary was AI loves machines love other machines, and AI loves data. Bitcoin is as reliable from an AI perspective in forecasting and understanding the data. We don't know what the Fed's going to wake up and have a bad day, what the Fed chairman... He could be in a weird mood and you don't know what's going to happen. Machines don't lie. This is one of the major factors. Now we think AI is going to be a great collision with crypto. What's your view on that? How do you see that playing out? What's your reaction?

Sam Callahan

>> Well, I think if you type in to any AI platform, what is the currency that AIs are going to use? All of them think and they say Bitcoin. Because Bitcoin, you don't have to trust any counterparty. It has final settlement, machine transaction. It's quick, it's decentralized, it's trustless. That's the currency that AIs are going to use to transact with one another. And there's really no other option available. And so, Bitcoin, I think will be the currency of choice for machines.

John Furrier

>> Sam, explain what's going on with BITCO. You got the enabling platform. Bitcoin you're involved with. People that are smart that aren't inside the ropes might not understand the nuances. How do you explain what's going on to someone who's smart, but isn't inside the ropes? You got the platform enabling, you got apps coming on, you got Bitcoin, you guys are in Latin America with stabilization there. How do you explain all this to a common person?

Sam Callahan

>> Well, I would just say it's technologically innovative. So you have a lot of these cross-border payments. I mean, try to send money abroad right now. It's still slow. It's still expensive. It's a pain. Stablecoins help that. It's about efficiency. Bitcoin, on the other hand, when I talk to a regular person who might not understand this stuff, it's about life feels like it's getting more expensive for people. Why is that? And I start to say, "Well, this isn't because of the money printing. It's because of the currency debasement." And you need to protect yourself and hold hard, scarce assets if you want your purchasing power to be preserved and increase. And so, this is why life feels like expensive, grocery store feels more expensive. It's about the money. And so, start thinking about the money, start thinking about how you save your money, because it's probably the most important question you can ask yourself over the next decade.

John Furrier

>> I always try to explain it. One thing I do, we'll get a little nerdy, but I say to folks, remember before Amazon. Amazon came out, now you get stuff shipped to your house. Now you got Amazon Web Services. That took the data center, put it in the cloud, massive change to how we work and play with retail and everything else. That kind of changed by a 10 to 100 X with crypto and AI, because there are going to be so many new use cases. Are there things that you see and you see in Latin America emerging from just the adoption of Bitcoin and as these platforms emerge on the financial rails, what are some observations you'd share on things that are opening up that people might not see?

Sam Callahan

>> Well, in Brazil, I mean, the problem is the weakness of the currency. I mean, it really is. I go back to that every time. And so, if they can just have options available, Bitcoin is permissionless. All you need is a smartphone. You don't have to get a US bank account to get access to US tech stocks to be able to preserve your wealth. You can just have a phone with internet connection and you could access the Bitcoin network and store your wealth in it. That alone is a paradigm shift, really is. And for people in Brazil, it's about educating them. And once they start to understand it, they immediately get it, because-

John Furrier

>> Currency fluctuations, inflation. These are factors that could change someone's life overnight.

Sam Callahan

>> Yes.

John Furrier

>> Their home, their wealth, and crypto preserves.

Sam Callahan

>> Yeah. And in Latin America, it's not a hard thing to sell people, because they've lived through it. And in the United States, we've had the privilege of having a relatively stable currency. In Latin America, not so much. So they really wrap their heads around this pretty quickly, because they've been through it. They felt the pain of what it's like to see their savings disappear overnight.

John Furrier

>> Final question. As people watch investors, what do you say to them about the market opportunity to get in crypto? What's the forward-looking kind of vision of crypto as an ongoing investment opportunity?

Sam Callahan

>> Well, a couple of months ago it was all about the debasement trade, right? But to me, it's not a trade at all, because it's kind of baked into cake that fiat currencies will lose value over time. You saw precious metals kind of rallying right now. And in my opinion, Bitcoin's going to close that gap eventually, because Bitcoin has two things going forward over precious metals. One, it's digital, right? It's not difficult to move, it's not expensive. And the second thing is that it has a fixed absolute supply. And so, there's never going to be more than 21 million. Gold can't say that. Silver can't say that. You can always mine more of it. That's not the case for Bitcoin. So that fixed supply and digital nature allows me to think that those characteristic, that gap's going to close in terms of the price performance. And so, I think 2026 is going to be a great year for Bitcoin and the tailwinds of institutional adoption, corporate adoption, that companies like Bitcoin helps kind of drive. That's what's going to be-

John Furrier

>> And as the platforms come out, you're going to have more digital integration in life. That's certainly going to be a big lift.

Sam Callahan

>> Yeah, and it's not just crypto native companies like BITCO. We're going to see Wall Street really move in. The big banks have to move into this industry in big ways, the Bitcoin products and services that they're going to offer for clients. Bitcoin's going to be more accessible than it's ever been before.

John Furrier

>> All right. Sam Callahan, director of strategy research at OranjeBTC here on theCUBE, on the floor of the NYC. My name's John Furrier, host of theCUBE, our new home on the East Coast, NYC Wired program and CUBE original. Thanks for watching.