The Open Money Initiative was a nonprofit research organization I co-founded and ran with Jill Gunter and Alejandro Machado. The organization conducted field research on how cryptocurrency and digital payment systems functioned in economies experiencing monetary instability, hyperinflation, and currency controls.

OMI's research methodology involved on-the-ground interviews, live experiments and data collection in countries like Venezuela, where traditional financial systems had broken down for large portions of the population. The team documented how people actually used Bitcoin, stablecoins, and other digital assets for everyday transactions, remittances, and wealth preservation—moving beyond theoretical claims about cryptocurrency adoption to document real-world usage patterns and limitations.

The organization published reports and analysis that examined both the practical utility and the significant barriers to cryptocurrency adoption in crisis economies, including infrastructure challenges, technological literacy gaps, and volatility risks. OMI's work provided empirical data on digital currency usage in contexts where it was often discussed anecdotally, contributing primary research to conversations about financial access and monetary alternatives in developing economies.

Our work was widely shared at conferences in Norway, Finland, New York City, Colorado, Latin America and in publications like Bloomberg, FastCo, and numerous podcasts, including the most-listened-to Bitcoin podcast, What Bitcoin Did.