Alex Adelman, CEO of bitcoin rewards program, Lolli

Alex Adelman is CEO and Co-Founder of Lolli, which is a rewards application that gives you bitcoin when you shop at your favorite stores. Frank Chaparro and Steven Zheng discuss e-commerce and crypto, the power of memes in regards to marketing Lolli in the space, how the firm lures Fortune 500 companies to its platform and why it could one day offer services like lending and possibly a credit card.

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Adelman co-founded Lolli in 2018 with the idea that most people would never buy bitcoin directly through an exchange, but might happily accept it as a byproduct of purchases they were already making. The browser extension and app pay users a percentage of their purchase back in bitcoin when they shop through thousands of partnered online retailers, ranging from major fashion and travel brands to everyday e-commerce staples.

By mid-2019, with bitcoin's price recovering sharply from its 2018 lows and consumer interest in crypto ticking back up, Lolli's pitch of frictionless, no-cost exposure to bitcoin had found renewed relevance. The conversation covers how Lolli structures its retailer partnerships and affiliate-commission model, converting a cut of standard e-commerce referral fees into bitcoin rewards rather than cash. Adelman talks through the company's early growth metrics and user base, the mechanics of custody and how rewards are held for users, and why he views rewards programs as a more effective onboarding tool than exchange sign-ups or educational content alone.

He also addresses the competitive landscape of crypto rewards and cashback apps emerging at the time, and how Lolli differentiates itself through retail breadth and brand partnerships rather than trying to compete directly with exchanges on trading features. Adelman also shares his own path into the industry and how a background in growth and consumer products shaped his approach to building a crypto company aimed at non-crypto-native users.

The two discuss regulatory considerations facing a product that sits at the intersection of e-commerce, rewards, and digital assets, along with Adelman's outlook on what mainstream bitcoin adoption might look like if it arrives through spending and rewards behavior rather than speculation. The episode offers a snapshot of one of the more consumer-facing plays in crypto during a period when much of the industry's attention was still fixed on trading and infrastructure.