My First Bitcoin operates as a Bitcoin-only non-profit, and a new review of its 2024 finances shows just how far that commitment reaches in practice. Across the year, only 13.56% of expenses were paid in fiat currency, 100% of reserves were held in Bitcoin, and more than 85% of payment volumes moved through Bitcoin or the Lightning Network. The organization frames the policy as more than ideology: the best way to predict the future is to create it.
The good
The numbers point to a working circular Bitcoin economy. The organization completed 800+ Bitcoin transactions in 2024, settling 63% of payment volume via Lightning and 23% on-chain, with only 14% falling back to traditional fiat. Quarterly fiat dependency fell steadily across the year, from 5.8% in Q1 to 2.0% in Q4. Lightning adoption drove much of the cost efficiency, and recruiting staff who are paid on a Bitcoin standard proved unproblematic.
The bad
The friction lives at the edges. Software subscriptions — graphics, video editing, and development platforms — remain fiat-only, and relying on third-party intermediaries introduces fees and operational drag. Reaching teachers in low-adoption, rural areas is still difficult to do in Bitcoin. Notably, the organization ran the entire year without a bank account, leaning on creative peer-to-peer workarounds to fill the gaps.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
The ugly
The largest unsolved problem is travel. International expenses for tickets, hotels, and per diem made up the bulk of that remaining fiat spending, simply because traditional travel infrastructure has not adopted Bitcoin payment rails. The organization’s four-part policy — Bitcoin-only savings, Bitcoin-first operations, alternatives and education for non-Bitcoin transactions, and quarterly transparency reporting — keeps these tensions visible rather than hidden.
Originally published at myfirstbitcoin.org
