Bitcoin Can Be Better: Two 17-Year-Old Students Show How

What were you doing at age 17? I had already graduated from high school, and was dating a college professor, but that’s another story for another day. Most are enjoying life as a Junior or Senior, without getting your head dunked in the toilet like a freshman. Planning summer vacations, applying to colleges and studying for your college boards. That is not nearly stimulating enough for these two future Bitcoin moguls.

They feel Bitcoin can be better in some areas, and have come up with a solution for the currency that they have released to the public. And this is not even their first Bitcoin business foray.

Also read: Bitcoin Business Ideas To Get Your Started

Bitcoin Can Be Better Says Two High School Seniors

Good ideas can come from the most unlikely of places and being a high school student can’t stop Brendan Duhamel and Jamie Young. At the recent Demo Conference in San Jose, California, an annual meet-up/competition held since 1991 for tech start-ups, they released an innovative plan in regards to Bitcoin payments, escrow, and product procurement. “Pavilion.io” is the name of their creation, and it provides a trustless exchange for online shopping sites like eBay, when they someday accept Bitcoin for payment. It allows people to buy goods and services with Bitcoin, and only have the payment made once the purchased item is delivered, removing an oft-mentioned “leap of faith” in using the currency. Since Bitcoin has not FDIC for financial services or exchanges, and no general oversight for purchases, many would like an automated way to protect consumers. Pavilion.io works without a third-party corrupting the Bitcoin concept at its core. Bitcoin is designed to be purely a peer-to-peer transaction, not requiring a middleman to legislate each transaction while compromising the privacy/security of the participant’s accounts.

“Pavilion.io has the potential to be a game-changer,” says Erick Schonfeld, executive producer of the conference, said.

They go to school just north of Boston, Mass, but are considering a move to Silicon Valley, after they graduate and take a year off to decide where their future lies. The teens have already raised $25,000 in funding for their new venture funding from Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, CA. It’s not hard to see how this can distract them from the traditional, and somewhat antiquated path of college/internship/job/career/pension. Few colleges teach you how to run your own business through their curriculum, much less get tens of thousands in seed funding.

“I would rather do this than go to college,” Young said. “Last year we ran a hedge fund.” Young recalls. It was called Lionfin Capital, Sharknado mashup of words they liked. “The amount we were investing was only in five figures, and it was mostly friends and family that were investing in it, so we got bored,” said Duhamel. He thinks a trip to the New York’s Bitcoin Center convinced the teens to switch their focus to the virtual currency. “We realized that bitcoin is what all the cool people in finance in New York are interested in today,” Duhamel said.

While in San Jose for the Demo Conference, the young partners are also hoping to get some time with people like noted super-investor Peter Thiel. He once famously said it is a waste of time for the most talented young founders and entrepreneurs to seek a college degree instead of pursuing their business ideas. It seems these two may end up having more than gaps in Bitcoin figured out.

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