Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) are not rushing to stack sats, and Oliver Porter, Founder & CEO of Jippi, understands the challenge better than most. His strategy revolves around adapting Bitcoin education to fit seamlessly into the digital lives of young adults.
“We need to meet them where they are,” Oliver explains. “90% of Gen Z plays games. 70% expect to earn rewards.”
So, what will effectively introduce them to Bitcoin? In Oliver’s mind, the answer is simple: games that don’t feel preachy but still plant the orange pill.
That’s exactly what Jippi is. Based in Austin, Texas, the team has created a mobile augmented reality (AR) game that rewards players in bitcoin and sneakily teaches them why sound money matters.
“It’s Pokémon GO… but for sats,” Oliver puts it succinctly.
Oliver’s Bitcoin journey, like many in the space, began long before he was ready. A former colleague had tried planting the seed years earlier, handing him a copy of The Bitcoin Standard. But the moment passed.
It wasn’t until the chaos of 2020 when lockdowns hit, printing presses roared, and civil liberties shrank that the message finally landed for him.
“The government got so good at doing reverse Robin Hood,” Oliver explains. “They steal from the working population and reward the rich.”
By 2020, though, the absurdity of the covid hysteria had caused his eyes to be opened and the orange light seemed the best path back to freedom.
He left the UK for Austin “one of the best places for Bitcoiners,” he says, and dove headfirst into the industry, working at Swan for a year before founding Jippi on PlebLab’s accelerator program.
Jippi’s flagship game lets players roam their cities hunting digital creatures, Bitcoin Beasts, tied to real-world locations. Catching them requires answering Bitcoin trivia, and the reward is sats.
No jargon. No hour-long lectures. Just gameplay with sound money principles woven right in.
The model is working. At a recent hackathon in Austin, Jippi beat out 14 other teams to win first place and $15,000 in prize money.
“We’re backdooring Bitcoin education,” Oliver admits. “And while we’re at it, encouraging people to get outside and touch grass.”
Not everyone’s been thrilled. When Jippi team members visited one of the more liberal-leaning places in Texas, UT Austin, to test interest in Bitcoin, they found some seriously committed no-coiners on the campus.
“One young woman told me, ‘I would rather die than talk about Bitcoin,’” Oliver recalls, highlighting the cultural resistance that’s built up among younger demographics.
This resistance is backed by hard data. According to Oliver, some of the Bitcoin podcasters they met with in the space to do market research reported that less than 1% of their listeners are from Gen Z and that number is dropping.
“Unless we find a way to capture their interest in a meaningful way, there’s going to be a big problem around trying to sway Gen Z away from the siren call of s***coins and crypto casinos and towards Bitcoin,” Oliver warns.
Jippi’s next big move is Las Vegas, where they’ll launch the Beast Catch experience at the Venetian during a major Bitcoin event. To mark the occasion, they’re opening up six limited sponsorship spots for Bitcoin companies, each one tied to a custom in-game beast.
“It’s real estate inside the game,” Oliver explains. “Brands become allies, not intrusions. You get a logo, company name, and call to action, so we can push people to your site or app.”
Bitcoin Well—an automatic self-custody Bitcoin platform—has claimed Beast #1. Only five exclusive spots remain for Bitcoin companies to “beastify their brand” through Jippi’s immersive AR game.
“I love the Jippi mission. I think gamified learning is how we will onboard the next generation and it’s exciting to see what the Jippi team is doing! I love working with bitcoiners towards our common mission – bullish!” said Adam O’Brien, Bitcoin Well CEO.
Jippi’s sponsorship model is simple: align incentives, respect users, and support builders. Instead of throwing ad money at tech giants, Bitcoin companies can connect with new users naturally while they’re having fun and earning sats in the process.
For Bitcoin companies looking to reach a younger demographic, this represents a unique opportunity to showcase their brand to up to 30,000 potential customers at the Vegas event.
While Jippi’s current focus is simple, get the game into more cities, Oliver sees a future where AR glasses and AI help personalize Bitcoin education even further.
“The magic is going to really happen when Apple releases the glasses form factor,” he says, describing how augmented reality could enhance real-world connections rather than isolate users.
In the longer term, Jippi aims to evolve from a free-to-play model toward a pay-to-play version with higher stakes. Users would form “tribes” with friends to compete for substantial bitcoin prizes, creating social connections along with financial education.
Unlike VC-backed startups, Jippi is raising funds pleb style via Timestamp, an open investment platform for Bitcoin companies.
“You don’t have to be an accredited investor,” Oliver explains. “You’re directly supporting the parallel Bitcoin economy by investing in Bitcoin companies for equity.”
Anyone can invest as little as $100. Perks include early access, exclusive game content, and even creating your own beast design with your name/pseudonym and unique game lore. Each investment comes with direct ownership of an early-stage Bitcoin company like Jippi.
For Oliver, this is more than just a business. It’s about future-proofing Bitcoin adoption and ensuring Satoshi’s vision lives on, especially as many people are lured by altcoins, NFTs, and social media dopamine.
“We’re on the right side of history,” he says firmly. “I want my grandkids to know that early on in the Bitcoin revolution, games like Jippi helped make it stick.”
In a world increasingly absorbed by screens and short attention spans, Jippi’s combination of outdoor play, sats rewards, and Bitcoin education might be exactly the bridge Gen Z needs.
Interested in sponsoring a Beast or investing in Jippi? Reach out to Jippi directly by heading to their partnerships page on their website or visit their Timestamp page to invest in Jippi today.
