Carol Souza, co-founder of Area Bitcoin, has an impressive path that started quite differently from where she is today.
Born in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Carol initially pursued a career in dentistry—a traditional choice influenced by her family and the promise of stability.
She worked in a public role and even opened her own dental practice. However, her life took a remarkable turn when she discovered Bitcoin.
Today, let’s delve into Carol Souza’s story and her rise as a prominent educator in the world of Bitcoin.
Let’s get started!
Carol Souza’s Story
As mentioned in the introduction of this article, Carol Souza, now known for her educational work on Bitcoin, began her career in an entirely different field—as a dentist.
Thus, her journey into the world of Bitcoin involved important choices and personal challenges that shaped her path.
The Beginning
At just 17, Carol Souza faced the difficult decision of choosing a profession. Coming from a conservative family with a military father focused on stability, she felt a pull toward a secure path. At the same time, her adventurous, curious side shone through; she even took up drumming.
This free-spirited nature sparked her fascination with technology, particularly through platforms like Napster and torrents, where she spent hours downloading music and connecting with people around the globe. This interest in tech would ultimately lead her to Bitcoin.
When it was time to choose a career, Carol was torn between dentistry and advertising. She even thought about blending her love for music and advertising by creating jingles.
However, a conversation with her father proved pivotal. He advised that dentistry could provide greater independence, financial stability, and freedom as her own boss, while advertising, unless she started her own agency, might limit her to working for others without as much growth potential or control over her schedule.
Following this guidance, Carol Souza chose dentistry.
A career in dentistry
Carol enrolled at PUC (Pontifical Catholic University) and quickly developed a deep passion for dentistry. After a year and a half, she transferred to UFRGS (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul), where she completed her degree. Upon graduating, she began to consider her next steps carefully.
Faced with the choice of opening her own dental office or working for others, Carol Souza sought stability by taking public exams while also considering specialization, as she liked the idea of working in health posts and serving the community.
Soon after graduation, she passed an exam in a nearby city and opened her private practice, balancing life as both a public servant and an entrepreneur.
From Investment Interest to a Bitcoin Deep Dive
Carol Souza ventured into the world of investments in 2013, immersing herself in the stock market, treasury bonds, and other traditional financial assets.
However, in 2017, as Bitcoin’s price surged, she decided to buy her first satoshis. Initially, she saw Bitcoin as another asset in her investment portfolio, which already included stocks and fixed-income investments. Her first step was to invest R$1,000, a sum she deemed safe enough to take on the risk of volatility.
From that first purchase, Carol viewed Bitcoin as a long-term asset, understanding the impact of its volatility. Even though she bought near the peak of the 2017 rally, she stayed calm through the decline in 2018.
During this period, she kept her Bitcoin in her wallet while continuing her work as a dentist and public servant.
However, by late 2018, Carol’s perspective on Bitcoin began to shift. She started considering accepting Bitcoin payments at her dental office, marking a pivotal change.
For Carol, Bitcoin transformed from a simple financial asset into a true currency, offering a practical alternative to the high fees charged by card machines, which could reach up to 20%.
Beyond that, Bitcoin provided unique financial independence, enabling her to act as her own bank without relying on intermediaries.
This marked the beginning of Carol’s deep dive into Bitcoin.
What began as a means of diversifying investments grew into a profound understanding. She came to see Bitcoin as a revolutionary technology, one that could transform the financial system—a tool poised to reshape how we interact with money and centralized systems.
The start of Area Bitcoin
In 2020, Carol Souza made the bold decision to leave her stable career as a dentist and public servant to fully dedicate herself to the Area Bitcoin project.
For many, this choice might have seemed risky, but for Carol, it represented a calling inspired by the transformation Bitcoin had sparked in her worldview.
Up until that point, Carol Souza believed strongly in the security offered by a public job and a steady career. However, as she immersed herself further in the world of Bitcoin, she began to question this belief.
“I realized that stability was an illusion,” she shares. “If the Carol from 2013 heard this, she’d think it was crazy, but Bitcoin completely changed the way I think.”
When asked what she meant by “stability is an illusion,” Carol explained that the traditional routine of working five days a week in pursuit of security felt, in fact, quite fragile. She saw how external factors, such as political or economic shifts, could easily disrupt this perceived stability.
“Bitcoin showed me that the financial system is far more volatile than we realize. This idea of security can vanish in an instant due to a single government decision,” reflects Carol Souza.
Even while still working as a dentist and public servant, Carol devoted much of her free time to studying Bitcoin, listening to podcasts, reading books, and diving deep into the subject.
“I was completely focused, and through this journey, I realized there was something much bigger at stake,” she recalls.
Transitioning to the online world wasn’t easy for Carol, who had always been more reserved and hesitant about social media. “I hated appearing in videos,” she admits, laughing.
However, with the support of her partner, Kaká Furlan, Carol Souza gradually overcame this reluctance and began to express herself more openly. Over time, the videos for the Area Bitcoin YouTube channel improved, and Area Bitcoin began to gain traction.
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The Turning Point (Day 1)
The turning point, or “Day 1,” came when Carol Souza found herself completely exhausted—working in her dental practice by day and recording videos for the Area channel by night.
“I was drained, completely worn out. That’s when I thought, ‘What if I left it all behind and dedicated myself 100% to Bitcoin?’” she recalls.
Realizing that while there were many dentists, there were few people fully committed to educating about Bitcoin, Carol began to consider stepping away from her dentistry career.
However, leaving behind years of study and her own practice was not an easy decision.
“In the beginning, it was scary. It seemed crazy to leave everything I had built. But I thought: the diploma is here; I can always go back. This moment of contributing to Bitcoin might not come again,” says Carol Souza.
The pandemic in 2020, with lockdowns and more time at home, accelerated her decision, giving Carol the final push she needed to dedicate herself fully to Bitcoin.
“It was a leap into the unknown, but looking back, it was the bravest decision I ever made—and I don’t regret it,” she concludes.
Today, the results speak for themselves: Area Bitcoin is one of the largest Bitcoin education platforms in the world, with over 500,000 followers on social media, 4,000 students, and a global impact on millions of people with its educational content on Bitcoin.
Transformation to a Bitcoin Mentality
Through her journey with Bitcoin, Carol Souza underwent a profound transformation in her mindset and worldview. When asked about Bitcoin’s impact, she readily says that the biggest shift has been in the self-confidence it’s given her.
“Before Bitcoin, I fully trusted third parties — institutions, the government, the decisions I made, thinking they would be preserved in the future,” she recalls.
However, as she delved deeper into Bitcoin, the history of money, and the effects of inflation, she came to realize the importance of taking control of her destiny and reducing her reliance on institutions and others.
Carol Souza remembers how, before discovering Bitcoin, she passively accepted much of the information she encountered. “A news story would air on TV, and I would just believe it. Now I question everything,” she asserts.
This healthy skepticism drove her to seek information independently rather than merely accepting statements from authorities or governments. Bitcoin became a catalyst for developing this critical perspective and for realizing that true financial freedom begins with self-reliance.
This shift in thinking tied directly to the concept of independence.
“Before, I was building a portfolio of stocks and fixed income, trusting the numbers and valuations of companies. But then you see cases like Americanas (A huge retail company that went bankrupt in Brazil), where the numbers were falsified and investors were deceived,” explains Carol Souza.
She also adds, “Bitcoin helped me see that not everything we’re told is real. Today, I have more confidence to investigate and validate the information myself.”
Alongside critical thinking, her self-confidence also grew. For Carol Souza, Bitcoin is not just a form of digital currency; it’s a way of understanding how the world truly operates.
“I started to realize that the stability we seek so much, whether in jobs, investments, or institutions, is illusory,” she asserts.
It’s this sense of predictability and control over her own money that fuels her courage to follow this alternative path.
However, processing these shifts in perspective wasn’t easy. Carol explains that it was a major transformation, and now she views the financial system, government roles, and even the media with a degree of skepticism.
“Bitcoin makes you rethink everything because you realize that the government and banks control money, manipulate price inflation indicators, and are often in collusion to keep the system as it is,” says Carol.
This new outlook brought Carol not only a critical perspective but also greater peace of mind. She feels more in control of her own life, no longer relying on external systems that can be manipulated or corrupted.
“Bitcoin strengthened me, gave me mental clarity that I need to keep developing,” she concludes.
Today, Carol Souza remains firmly on the path she chose, confident that she is making decisions that secure her freedom and financial future.
Speaker at Major Bitcoin Conferences
Carol Souza is one of Brazil’s leading Bitcoin educators. She has participated in Bitcoin developer seminars and is a regular speaker at conferences worldwide, including Adopting Bitcoin in El Salvador, Satsconf in Brazil, Bitcoin Atlantis in Portugal, and Surfin’ Bitcoin in France, among others.
Global Perspective on Bitcoin
Carol, a featured speaker at prominent conferences like Adopting Bitcoin, Bitcoin Atlantis, and Surfin’ Bitcoin, offers insights into Bitcoin’s ecosystem development in Brazil and its global counterparts.
Development of Bitcoin in Brazil
When asked about the evolution of Bitcoin’s ecosystem in Brazil from 2021 to now, Carol recalls a very different landscape.
“Back in 2021, I felt like we weren’t on the same page,” she says. At that time, Brazil was still very focused on the broader cryptocurrency universe, with little distinction between Bitcoin and “crypto.”
According to Carol, environments solely dedicated to Bitcoin were scarce in the country, contrasting with international conferences like Adopting Bitcoin, where the line between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies was clearly drawn.
However, inspired by these international experiences, Carol began promoting this focused vision back in Brazil, aiming to educate the public on the distinction between Bitcoin and the wider crypto world.
Now, in 2024, Carol sees a much more developed Bitcoin ecosystem in Brazil, increasingly aligned with global trends.
“Today, Brazil has a very strong scene of Bitcoiners, and in many aspects, we’re on the same page as the folks abroad,” she observes.
Events like SatsConf and initiatives like Area Bitcoin exemplify the rapid growth of the national scene. She also highlights that many Brazilians now work with international Bitcoin-only companies and actively participate in global conferences and meetups.
“In 2021, it was strange even to mention that Bitcoin and crypto weren’t the same thing, and people deliberately mixed them to sell their narratives,” Carol Souza comments.
Moreover, she mentions a notable development in Brazil: the emergence of circular economies in regions like Rolante and Jericoacoara, where Bitcoin is starting to be used practically in daily transactions.
“This wasn’t something seen a few years ago,” Carol Souza notes, indicating the real impact Bitcoin is having in certain Brazilian communities.
For her, this mindset shift is significantly impacting Brazil’s Bitcoin ecosystem. “Today, Brazil leads in Bitcoin-related searches on Google, comparable to the U.S., and interest in Bitcoin has grown tremendously,” she highlights.
However, she acknowledges that, given Brazil’s vast size, there are still many who confuse the narratives of crypto and Bitcoin, which can sometimes lead to misunderstandings.
Optimism for Bitcoin in Brazil
Carol is optimistic about the future, believing Brazil will continue to align with the international Bitcoin community.
“Brazilian Bitcoin conferences are now much more focused on Bitcoin development, whereas back in 2021, half the talks were about trading,” she observes.
She foresees even more growth in the coming years, with more Brazilians gaining a deeper understanding of Bitcoin and actively participating in its development.
For Carol Souza, this transformation is not just a passing trend; she believes Brazil will continue advancing within the Bitcoin ecosystem. She feels that this growing interest will play a vital role in helping people gain a true understanding of what Bitcoin is.
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