Welcome to PTYcoin.

If you’ve been around the block, you might remember PTYcoin as Panama’s first crypto on-ramp — the one I built from the ground up starting in 2011, back when I was the country’s first Bitcoin trader and broker. We ran it until 2024. Now it’s back, but in a new form: a bilingual crypto blog for everyone following this space from Latin America and beyond.

A quick hello

I’m Jim Phillips — ergophobe to most of the crypto world. I’ve been a tech geek since I was five, and hooked on Bitcoin since 2011, drawn in by the promise of money you actually control: censorship-resistant, self-custodied, yours. Over the years I worked alongside OGs like Erik Voorhees and Roger Ver, helped launch exchanges like 1BTCXE and Panda Exchange, and mined Bitcoin through the chaos of the 2017 scaling wars. The throughline has always been the same — giving people the tools to step outside traditional financial systems and take control of their own future.

What PTYcoin is now

PTYcoin started in Panama, but the community around it has grown well past any single country. Here’s what you’ll find:

  • Local adoption stories — from Panama, across LatAm, and wherever crypto is changing how people live and transact.
  • Project spotlights — the builders and ideas worth knowing about.
  • Plain-language analysis — markets, policy, and the occasional hard-won lesson from years in the trenches, covering everything from DeFi to Web3.

Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just dipping your toes in, the goal is to keep it friendly, approachable, and bilingual. Every article is published in both English and Spanish — no one gets left out of the conversation.

This is a two-way street

I want PTYcoin to be a hub for the community’s ideas and voices, not just mine. Got a story tip or a project we should cover? Want to write for us? Building something worth a spotlight? Reach out at info@ptycoin.com — I’d love to hear from you.

My bigger dream is for PTYcoin to be a catalyst: a place where innovators, dreamers, and builders connect and make this whole space stronger. Maybe one day that even includes a crypto conference. For now, let’s just get the conversation rolling.

— Jim Phillips, Founder & Chief Editor, PTYcoin