FIRAS
ISA
Founder & CEO, Crypto Dispensers.
Chicago. Bitcoin. 2017 to now.
- Founded
- September 12, 2017
- Education
- Saint Xavier University, Chicago
- Headquarters
- 205 N Michigan Ave, Suite 810, Chicago, IL
- Company
- Crypto Dispensers (Virtual Assets, LLC / C-Corp)
"I wanted to build a company for Americans who work hard, who try to save, who want to own something that holds its value, and who deserve more than a lifetime of payments, interest, and obligations with nothing to pass on."
Firas Isa grew up understanding what it meant to work for every dollar. He watched people around him earn cash, real, physical cash, and struggle to do anything meaningful with it. Banks that didn't want them. Savings accounts that couldn't keep up with inflation. A financial system designed, at its core, for people who already had assets.
In 2017, he installed a single Bitcoin ATM at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. Not because Bitcoin was trendy, it wasn't, not yet. But because he could see what it was: a savings tool that didn't require a credit score, a bank account, or anyone's permission to use.
From that one machine, Firas built Crypto Dispensers into a company that has onboarded over one million users globally, operates retail access points at 16,000+ stores, and processes transactions across 159 countries. He didn't raise a seed round first. He installed a machine and figured it out.
Founded Crypto Dispensers. Launched the first Bitcoin ATM at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL, the largest mall in Illinois. September 12, 2017.
Mall network expansion. Deployed Bitcoin ATM kiosks across Simon, Brookfield, and Tanger Properties, major retail destinations across the Midwest.
Invented BitcoinPOP™. Built the Point of Payment system that turned 16,000+ retail locations, CVS, Rite Aid, and more, into instant cash-to-Bitcoin access points.
Reached 1 million users globally. Launched the web platform. Integrated Paybis, Transak, and Cybrid to support debit, credit, ACH, and wire purchases across 159 countries.
Corporate restructure and Series A. Converted from LLC to C-Corp. Announced a $5M Series A at a $25M valuation. Began mobile app development.
Global digital payment network. Operating across 159 countries with 16,000+ U.S. retail locations, SOC 2 Type II certification, and FinCEN registration.
FIVE PRINCIPLES
THAT DRIVE
THE WORK.
Firas doesn't talk in frameworks. He talks in decisions, the ones he made at 3 AM when the company had one machine and no roadmap. These are the beliefs that came out of those decisions.
The people who need wealth preservation most are the same people the financial system makes it hardest for. Bitcoin changes that equation, if you can access it.
Firas didn't write a white paper. He put a machine in a mall. Then he built retail distribution that didn't require a machine. Ideas mean nothing without the follow-through.
If your product requires users to change their behavior, you've already lost. BitcoinPOP works because it fits into how people already handle money.
Crypto has a reputation problem. Crypto Dispensers holds FinCEN registration and SOC 2 Type II certification because trust has to be earned, not assumed.
The people buying Bitcoin at CVS today are leaving something real behind for their kids. That's the point. That's always been the point.
READ THE
FOUNDER'S
LETTER.
In his own words, why Firas built Crypto Dispensers, who he built it for, and where he intends to take it. Written from Chicago. Unfiltered.