Agenda

James Stephens is a blockchain security specialist, forensic investigator, and fintech executive with over a decade of experience across crypto, DeFi, and digital asset infrastructure.

He is the Founder and CEO of Qastle Wallet https://qastlewallet.com/ a next-generation digital asset wallet focused on redefining security in the age of quantum computing. Through a pioneering partnership with NYSE-listed Quantum eMotion, James has led the development of the world’s first quantum-secure wallet architecture, integrating advanced entropy and cryptographic resilience into digital asset self-custody.

In parallel, he is working with ExeQuantum to bring Signature Factor Authentication (SiFA) into enterprise environments, extending beyond traditional multi-factor authentication toward a more robust, multi-layered security model for corporations operating in high-risk digital ecosystems.

James has been recognized internationally for his leadership in technology and security. In 2026, he was named by Microsoft’s MSN as one of the Top 10 Leading Men shaping the future through technology, resilience, and long-term thinking, and has also been selected for inclusion in Marquis Who’s Who.

A member of the Forbes Technology Council and a certified expert in blockchain and cryptocurrency forensics, his work focuses on identifying vulnerabilities, strengthening system resilience, and helping define the next generation of secure financial infrastructure.

A frequent speaker on blockchain security and the future of digital assets, James brings a practical, security-first perspective to the challenges facing global adoption.

Andrew Tilmann serves as the CEO of the Midwest Bitcoin Summit and President of the Bitcoin Scholarship Foundation. With a fresh vision for the American Heartland, Andrew is on a mission to ignite a digital finance revolution across the Midwest. Moving beyond traditional tech hubs, his current focus is to establish the region as the new frontier for Bitcoin innovation.

Andrew is dedicated to democratizing financial literacy and technological sovereignty, ensuring that the Midwest is not just an observer, but an active driver in the future of global finance.

Asia’s fastest growing physical Bitcoin community

Brianna Honkawa d'Estries is the founder of Evento (evento.so), an open-source event organizing platform with a built-in Bitcoin Lightning wallet, funded by the Human Rights Foundation. She is also the founder of Hack4freedom (hack4freedom.com), an all-women's Bitcoin and freedom technology hackathon series operating across Africa and Brazil.

Brianna works with D++ on Bitcoin education through games, bringing hands-on Bitcoin experiences to people around the world. Together they are bringing that mission to Bitcoin Conference with a Mario Kart 64++ activation where players earn Bitcoin instantly to their Lightning wallet just by playing.

Brianna came to Bitcoin through its human rights potential and has stayed committed to that mission - getting more women, marginalized communities, and people from the places where Bitcoin is needed most into the industry as builders.

Isabella Santos is a Bitcoin circular-economy builder, storyteller, and founder based on Isla Mujeres, Mexico.
She is the creator of BTC Isla, a real-world experiment proving that Bitcoin adoption must be bottom-up — not top-down. Through merchant onboarding, education programs, a Bitcoin Café, and on-the-ground storytelling, she documents what it actually looks like to build a parallel economy from scratch.
Isabella is also the co-founder of Get Based, a media company producing high-impact Bitcoin content and short-form tutorials for sovereign brands. Her work blends investigative storytelling, street interviews, and narrative-driven documentaries designed to wake people up from the fiat system.
Her focus isn’t price.
It’s sovereignty.
She believes Bitcoin is:
• a tool for saving human time and energy
• a hedge against systemic fragility
• a foundation for parallel systems
• and a bridge to healthier, freer communities
On Isla Mujeres, she has helped onboard dozens of merchants, organized Bitcoin meetups and retreats, and built a local ecosystem where people can earn, save, and spend in sats.
Her mission:
Prove that Bitcoin works — not on paper, but in real life.

Alex Gladstein is Chief Strategy Officer at the Human Rights Foundation. He has also helped organize the Oslo Freedom Forum since its inception in 2009. In his work Alex has connected hundreds of dissidents and civil society groups with business leaders, technologists, journalists, philanthropists, policymakers, and artists to promote free and open societies. Alex's writing and views on human rights and technology have appeared in media outlets across the world including The Atlantic, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, NPR, TIME, The Washington Post, WIRED, and The Wall Street Journal. He has spoken at universities ranging from MIT to Stanford, briefed the European Parliament and US State Department, and gives lectures on freedom in the digital age at Singularity University. He frequently speaks and writes about why Bitcoin matters for freedom, and his books include "The Little Bitcoin Book," “Check Your Financial Privilege," "Hidden Repression," and "A Trojan Horse for Freedom."

Author of The Bitcoin Tao

Bitcoin design engineer and human rights foundation grantee working on Cashu.

Evan Kaloudis is a software engineer and entrepreneur building tools at the frontier of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. He’s best known as the founder and lead developer of ZEUS, a mobile, open-source Bitcoin wallet that empowers users with full self-custody, privacy, and node-level control.

With a background in cybersecurity and infrastructure engineering, Evan has spent the past several years focused on advancing self-sovereign finance. He is a vocal advocate for privacy-preserving, self-custodial technology and has been a prominent voice in defending open-source Bitcoin tools amid growing regulatory pressure.

Through ZEUS, Evan is pushing Bitcoin payments forward — making them more accessible while equipping users with tools that preserve their financial sovereignty.

Alex Lewin is a software engineer at Fedi, building freedom technology to empower humanity. He is the author of the Fedimint SDK, a toolkit for building fedimint wallets. In addition, Alex is a seasoned hackathon veteran with deep experience both participating in and organizing hackathons. He works with the world-renowned Bitcoin++ conference series to run high-quality hackathons around the globe.

David is the CEO and co-founder of Lightspark. Most recently, he led all payments and crypto efforts on Meta/Facebook. In 2018, David started Diem (fka Libra). He joined Meta in 2014 to lead Messenger, which he took from under 200M monthly users to over 1.5B. Previously, he was PayPal’s President. A lifelong entrepreneur, David launched two companies in Europe and then founded mobile payments company Zong in Silicon Valley, which was acquired by PayPal in 2011.

Matt Hill is the co-founder and CEO of Start9. As a technologist from the cypherpunk tradition, he creates software that protects privacy in order to shift the balance of power in society towrds individuals and families.

After producing 20 movies and 30 TV shows in Hollywood, and simultaneously building a couple of real estate companies to fill the downtime, Terence ultimately found Bitcoin as a solution to wealth preservation.

This led him to writing "Proof of Money: The Big Idea Behind Bitcoin" and joining The Bitcoin Adviser to onboard HNWIs into collaborative custody and inheritance setups.

He currently hosts the daily show, "Bitcoin Today," is a consultant to Horizon's Bitcoin home equity program, is a contributor to the Santa Monica Bitcoin Office, and enjoys making loud Bitcoin videos while inexplicably skating along the beach.

Mark Moss is building the world he wants to live in — powered by Bitcoin. As founder of the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund, Chief Visionary Officer at Matador, Chief Bitcoin Strategist at Satsuma, and founder of Market Disruptors, Mark operates at the intersection of Bitcoin, capital markets, and macroeconomic disruption. With over 100 million views and decades of experience in finance, he is a leading voice helping investors and entrepreneurs understand how Bitcoin is reshaping the global economic order.

Class of 2020, fell deep down the rabbit hole between diplomatic assignments and during COVID lockdown.
Served on the editorial team and contributed a chapter to 'National Security in the Digital Age: Bitcoin as a Tool for Modern Statecraft,' a first-of-its-kind volume to inform policymakers and elected officials on how digital assets can serve American interests in a rapidly evolving geopolitical landscape.
Co-founder of Bridger Solutions, an Africa-focused Bitcoin Mining Company
Former diplomat/national security practitioner, past speaker/panelist at BPI.

Jake is the co-founder and CEO of Bridger, a Bitcoin mining company that specializes in partnering with nations to identify and monetize their wasted or stranded energy. Prior to Bridger, Jake worked for the U.S. Department of Defense conducting training and military cooperation assistance in Central Asia, Europe and Africa.

Kyle Schneps is Director of Public Policy at DCG, working at the intersection of energy, data centers, Bitcoin, and AI. His work examines how emerging technologies are reshaping U.S. geopolitics, competitiveness, and national security.

The majority of Kyle’s career was spent as a U.S. Intelligence Officer. He also served in a diplomatic post at the U.S. Department of State advising the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Bay and in the New York State Governor’s Office overseeing state operations. He is a former White House Fellow focused on national security and federal budgeting.

Kyle is co-author and editor of National Security in the Digital Age. He holds two master’s degrees from Columbia University.

Human Rights pro-activist

Formerly Chief Technology Officer of Silvergate Bank, Chris is an expert in U.S. banking technology and operations with an end-to-end understanding of both banking operations, and the systems that support it.

Chris has a deep technical understanding of both Bitcoin and Traditional Finance, with hands-on experience linking settlement between digital assets and fiat currencies. He has led cross-functional teams both implementing and operating Tier 0/1 payments and FX platforms within a U.S. banks.

Emily Kapur is a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, and co-chair of the firm's Blockchain and Digital Asset Practice, which she has helped grow from a single matter in 2017 into an award-winning practice group with dozens of active matters and marquee clients across the industry. With a Stanford Ph.D. in financial economics and a proven courtroom track record, Emily brings quantitative rigor and practical litigation instincts to crypto's most complex disputes—a combination that presiding judges have praised as demonstrating "creativity and sophistication.”

Emily has served as lead or co-lead counsel in some of the most consequential digital asset cases in the market. Her representations include bringing multi-billion-dollar claims on behalf of the FTX debtors, representing Binance's former CEO in a closely-watched SEC enforcement action that the SEC dismissed with prejudice, defending crypto clients in numerous securities class actions dismissed at the pleading and summary judgment stages, and successful resolutions of major founders’ disputes. She has been repeatedly recognized for her leadership in crypto and fintech litigation by Benchmark Litigation, Law360, and Lawdragon, among other publications. Emily received her B.A., Ph.D., and J.D. from Stanford University and her M.Sc. from the London School of Economics as a Marshall Scholar.

Jonathan spent the first 13 years of his career at Morgan Stanley focused on foreign exchange markets and wealth management. In 2018, he left Wall Street to join the largest Bitcoin custodian in the world, Xapo.

At Xapo, he marketed custody and trading to institutional investors. Subsequently, he joined Silvergate where he helped to build and scale their Bitcoin collateralized lending program to nearly $1.5B in commitments with no losses.

Jonathan now leads the lending business at Unchained, the longest-tenured continuously operating lender in the industry.

BTC Sessions is the world's most trusted bitcoin-only educator since 2016, teaching tens of millions of people how to get, use and secure Bitcoin on YouTube. He also offers custom Bitcoin education with his team at Bitcoin Mentor, and leads various international community initiatives alongside groups like the Human Rights Foundation.

Nathan Fitzsimmons is the VP of BTC Mentor, a leading service for personalized one-on-one Bitcoin education. As a dedicated Bitcoin educator, he has spent the last two years empowering hundreds of newcomers worldwide through hands-on workshops and one-on-one sessions covering the full spectrum of self-custody models, including privacy and security best practices.

Nathan hosts the Mentor Sessions Podcast—which has gained 600,000 views on YouTube in the first year—on the BTC Sessions channel and also co-hosts the BTC Sessions Live Streams.

Jeremy is the author of CTV, a proposal to expand smart contract functionality on Bitcoin. Jeremy is a startup founder and a Bitcoin Core Developer.

Danielle DiMartino Booth is CEO & Chief Strategist for QI Research, an independent research and analytics firm serving institutional clients, family offices and Commercial Real Estate professionals. Prior to QI, which she founded in 2015, DiMartino Booth spent nine years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas where she served as Advisor to President Richard W. Fisher throughout the financial crisis. Before serving in the public sector, she lived in New York and worked at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Credit Suisse. DiMartino Booth is a frequent keynote speaker, a regular commentator in the financial media and author of FED UP: An Insider’s Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America (Portfolio, Feb 2017).

I learned about bitcoin many years ago and am impressed with its growing influence and global acceptance.

Matt Hougan is the Chief Investment Officer for Bitwise Asset Management, a specialist crypto asset manager that manages more than $15 billion across a suite of US ETFs, European ETFs, SMAs, staking solutions, onchain vaults, and active strategies.

Before joining Bitwise in 2018, Hougan was CEO of ETF .com, where he created the first ETF data, ratings, and classification system, and built the world’s largest ETF conference. A regular guest on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business, Hougan’s thoughts on investing have been widely profiled in the media. He is a three-time member of the
Barron’s ETF Roundtable and co-author of two publications for the CFA Institute Research Foundation: “A Comprehensive Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds” and “Cryptoassets: The Guide to Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency for Investment Professionals.”

In addition to his role at Bitwise, Hougan is the co-founder of FutureProof, creator of the world’s largest financial services conference; a board member of QuantumStreet AI, a AI-driven investing company with $7 billion in assets under management; and a strategic advisor to Blockworks, a crypto data and research company. Hougan graduated from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in philosophy.

Satsie is an open source developer and educator with contributions to various projects in the bitcoin space. She currently leads up the Bitcoin Dev Project (bitcoindevs.xyz), an initiative creating tools and education for bitcoin devs. She is also on the board of directors for the Payjoin Foundation.

Prior to working in open source she was the lead backend engineer at Casa where she built software to make multisig safe and easy. When she's not busy chasing her two tiny bitcoiners, she is a co-organizer of Boston BitDevs and writes zines about bitcoin tech. She is passionate about empowering people to achieve higher levels of self sovereignty, and the communities needed to support that work.

You can find more of her work at https://satsie.dev

John is the founder of My First Bitcoin, the world's largest bitcoin education non-profit, working with educators in over 40 nations around the world.

niftynei started working in bitcoin in 2018 as part of the engineering team at CashApp. Since then, she's worked on Lightning at Blockstream and founded two foundational projects for the bitcoin developer ecosystem: bitcoin++ a global conference showcasing the cutting edge of bitcoin and Base58 a 501c3 nonprofit focused on translating the bitcoin protocol into technical mastery for the next generation.

Andrew B. Gordon, Esq., CPA
Managing Attorney, Gordon Law Group
Founder, Main Street Crypto PAC
Andrew B. Gordon is the Managing Attorney of Gordon Law Group, a nationally recognized leader in cryptocurrency taxation, IRS controversy, and digital asset compliance. A rare dual-qualified Attorney and Certified Public Accountant, Andrew combines deep legal insight with financial acumen to help clients navigate the complex intersection of tax law, blockchain technology, and regulatory policy.
Andrew earned his B.A. and Master’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois and his Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law. During law school, he volunteered at the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, gaining firsthand experience advocating for taxpayers in disputes with the IRS. He later clerked for the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, where he assisted in litigation and even chaired an IRS fraud trial; an experience that gave him unique insight into how the IRS builds its cases.
Today, Andrew is widely regarded as one of the nation’s leading authorities on cryptocurrency taxation and policy. He advises individual investors, crypto funds, blockchain startups, and Fortune 500 companies on issues ranging from tax reporting and audits to regulatory compliance and strategic planning. Under his leadership, Gordon Law Group has become a trusted resource for high-stakes IRS defense and crypto-related legal matters nationwide.
Beyond his practice, Andrew is the founder of Main Street Crypto PAC, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing pro-innovation, practical cryptocurrency regulation in Washington, D.C. He frequently meets with lawmakers and regulators to advocate for policies that balance consumer protection with technological progress.
Andrew’s commitment to his clients is unwavering. Known for his strategic, client-first approach, he has helped save taxpayers millions of dollars while providing clarity and peace of mind in an increasingly complex tax landscape.
He is an active member of the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, and multiple professional and community organizations. Andrew also speaks regularly at industry conferences and has been featured in national media outlets for his thought leadership in crypto tax and regulatory matters.

Jordan Guess is a CPA and a Partner at Satoshi Pacioli, a Bitcoin-focused CPA firm, and Bitment, an AI-native Bitcoin accounting and tax platform. At Satoshi Pacioli, Jordan leads a team of eleven serving Bitcoiners and Bitcoin businesses with tax strategy, compliance, and cost-basis tracking, from individual holders to mining operations. With Bitment, he co-built purpose-built software that brings AI and automation to Bitcoin accounting workflows, including IRS-compliant data pipelines and local LLM tooling deployed in production.

Jordan operates at the intersection of Bitcoin, AI, and professional accounting as a practitioner who builds and ships the tools his own firm runs on daily. He speaks on Bitcoin tax and compliance, AI adoption for CPAs, and what it takes to build real infrastructure for a Bitcoin-native economy.

Vick Bathija is the Founder and Managing Member of Commerce CPA, a boutique firm specializing in tax strategy for businesses, crypto investors, and high-income individuals. He focuses on entity structuring and advanced tax planning, helping clients achieve long-term financial efficiency and growth.

Recognized as an early leader in crypto accounting, Vick was featured in Forbes in 2018 for his work in digital asset taxation. He holds degrees in Accounting and Taxation from Hofstra University.

Eric is the author of “Cryptoeconomics: The Fundamental Principles of Bitcoin”, creator of the CryptoEcon conference, and maintainer of the Libbitcoin software libraries since 2014. He has founded
several software startups, the first of which was acquired by Microsoft, where he spent two years as a software architect. He holds a computer science degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and is a
former US Navy F/A-18 pilot and TopGun graduate.

I'm concerned about human rights and freedom, decentralization of power, individual empowerment, privacy and self-sovereignty. Bitcoin and open source software play a key part in striving for these causes around the world that are increasingly important every day. As a contributor to Bitcoin Core since 2019 and BIPs maintainer since 2024, I pursue a long-term, evergreen role of help and service, hopefully with a measure of kindness, wisdom and forbearance, to the Bitcoin ecosystem. See my articles in https://jonatack.github.io/ for more.

Eric Lombrozo has been involved in Bitcoin development since 2011. In addition to his own projects, he has contributed to a number of open source projects including Bitcoin Core. He has also authored or co-authored a number of active BIPs.

Cofounded Fedi, Austin Bitdevs

John Koudounis serves as the President and CEO of Calamos Investments, the third largest liquid alternatives asset manager in the US. Under his leadership, the firm’s AUM has surged to over $46 billion, nearly tripling since he took the helm in 2016. Notably, he has overseen the launch of innovative products, including the world's first suite of downside-protected Bitcoin ETFs.
With over 37 years of experience in the financial services sector, he previously held the position of President and CEO at Mizuho Securities in the Americas, where he significantly expanded the firm's capital markets teams and enhanced profitability, client base, and product diversity, elevating Mizuho to a top-tier global investment bank.
In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Koudounis is recognized for his thought leadership, frequently speaking at global conferences and platforms such as CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg TV. Koudounis is committed to philanthropy and is involved with several organizations including the Concordia Leadership Council, the SEAL Future Foundation, The Hellenic Initiative, and the Ecumenical Bartholomew Foundation.
He holds a degree in International Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs and Economics from Brown University.

Founder, Owner and CEO of CES Corporation, Chuck L’Ecuyer is a third-generation electrician with over 20 years of experience in project operations. Since founding CES in 2011, he has grown the company from the ground up, assembling a team of skilled professionals across Engineering, Manufacturing, and Construction to deliver complete, multidisciplinary EPCM services.

In 2019, Chuck led the development of the Intelliflex product line—an advanced, fully integrated modular solution purpose-built for next-generation computing. Originally designed to meet the demanding needs of blockchain and cloud infrastructure, the Intelliflex platform has since expanded to power cutting-edge AI factories and high-density modular data centers. Engineered for rapid deployment and scalability, Intelliflex enables clients to fast-track infrastructure rollouts and accelerate return on investment.

I'm obviously not Satoshi, but I think I'm actually the first person to explain Bitcoin economics--in a 2006 provisional patent and a 2005 effortpost. I also think I instigated the shift to store-of-value valuation in 2014. I'm not sure I have anything particularly novel to say in 2026, but I still think my game theory of monetary standardization is clear and correct and might even help people in practice. I also have thoughts about blockchain governance, identity and reputation.

Former lead of Bitcoin in Cash App, former excutive, and now public writer and philosopher focused on finding meaning in our contemporary technological and scientific culture.

BTC Sessions is the world's most trusted bitcoin-only educator since 2016, teaching tens of millions of people how to get, use and secure Bitcoin on YouTube. He also offers custom Bitcoin education with his team at Bitcoin Mentor, and leads various international community initiatives alongside groups like the Human Rights Foundation.

Igor Istratov leads Digital Assets Product at Fifth Third Bank, overseeing the design and delivery of secure, compliant, and intuitive digital‑asset products. His remit spans stablecoins, digital‑asset custody, and stablecoin‑based cross‑border payments. Previously, he led SoFi’s Crypto business and held product and leadership roles at Digital Asset and J.P. Morgan, scaling blockchain solutions globally.

Andrew Begin is Chief Strategy Officer at Galoy, where he helps financial institutions integrate Bitcoin into their core banking and payments infrastructure. Galoy enables banks, credit unions, and fintechs to offer bitcoin-backed lending, payments, and digital asset services within a regulated framework.

Before joining Galoy, Andrew worked in strategic consulting within the WPP and Publicis Groupe networks, advising Fortune 500 companies across finance, technology, and healthcare on large-scale digital transformation initiatives.

Miles Paschini is CEO of FV Bank, a global digital bank which harnesses the combined capabilities of a licensed bank and qualified custodian to provide an extensive array of financial services that go beyond conventional banking offerings. By offering an expanded range of banking and digital asset custody products, FV Bank addresses a wide range of financial requirements, serving both individuals and businesses within the fintech and blockchain ecosystem.

Miles was awarded seven patents related to payment processing services during the development of EWI Holdings acquired by Blackhawk Inc. in 2006. In addition to developing the industry’s first cryptocurrency linked debit cards, Miles and FV Bank co-founder Nitin Agarwal are the first in history to be awarded a U.S. patent for the development of stablecoin instruments backed by sovereign debt and on chain KYC.

As Director of Flexible Compute Platforms at CPower Energy, I focus on enabling and monetizing energy flexibility for Miners and AI factories. With over 15 years of energy sector experience, my work emphasizes automated demand response, energy arbitrage and distributed energy resources. My expertise includes Demand Response market access for flexible, digital, automated loads, AI-driven site optimization, energy storage, blockchain and digital assets.

Rick Margerison is a veteran innovator in high-performance computing and thermal management with over 30 years of experience in legacy infrastructure and liquid cooling. He specializes in advanced liquid-cooled environments designed to solve the power density challenges of next-generation data centers without disrupting existing services. His work specifically addresses the increasing convergence of power requirements, bridging the gap between traditional enterprise power and the 415–480V three-phase standards now required by both industrial Bitcoin mining and the latest high-density AI platforms.

Rick’s focus is on the “energy symbiosis” between Bitcoin mining and AI. By architecting modular, liquid-cooled infrastructure, he enables high-density clusters to operate as flexible loads for the grid while solving the complex electrical handoffs required for parallel compute. A prolific inventor and contributor to the Open Compute Project (OCP) since 2017, Rick has also served as a lead for the ITE and Immersion Requirements communities. He brings a hardware-first perspective to the stage, demonstrating how specialized power distribution and shared infrastructure can turn the competition for energy into a collaborative, efficient model for global compute

CMO Simple Mining. Author of The Bitcoin Mining Investor. Macro & ai analyst.

Jeff Park was most recently a Partner and the Chief Investment Officer, responsible for leading its investment and capital markets strategy, portfolio construction and risk management.

Before joining ProCap Financial, Mr. Park was the Head of Alpha Strategies and Portfolio Manager at Bitwise Asset Management, one of the world’s largest crypto-specialist asset managers. Prior to Bitwise, he was a Partner at Corbin Capital Partners, a multi-billion alternative asset management firm that specializes in multi-strategy hedge fund and opportunistic credit investing, where he led the firm’s digital asset investing efforts.

He is a graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in Economics and International Relations.

Amanda is the COO of Nakamoto. Previously she was the cofounder of Second Gate Advisory, Head of Mining at Galaxy Digital, and Director of Bitcoin Mining at Fidelity Investments. Currently, she serves on the board of $WULF (Terawulf).

Nathan Fitzsimmons is the VP of BTC Mentor, a leading service for personalized one-on-one Bitcoin education. As a dedicated Bitcoin educator, he has spent the last two years empowering hundreds of newcomers worldwide through hands-on workshops and one-on-one sessions covering the full spectrum of self-custody models, including privacy and security best practices.

Nathan hosts the Mentor Sessions Podcast—which has gained 600,000 views on YouTube in the first year—on the BTC Sessions channel and also co-hosts the BTC Sessions Live Streams.

COO of Cake Wallet, host of the Opt Out podcast, and privacy advocate.

I've been pushing for, educating on, and implementing the latest in privacy tech on Bitcoin and in the freedom tech space since 2020.

Robin is the inventor of BitVM, the founder of ZeroSync—a Swiss non-profit advancing the application of proof systems to Bitcoin—and a PhD student at Stanford focused on Bitcoin scalability, privacy, and usability.

Chris is a Bitcoin entrepreneur and advisor focused on self-custody, insurance, and inheritance. He is the CEO of Bitsurance, the world's first insurance for Bitcoin held in self-custody, and Seedor, one of Europe's leading Bitcoin backup solutions. Chris works closely with hardware wallet manufacturers, miners, and Bitcoin companies across Europe, and regularly speaks on Bitcoin custody, threat models, and the economic and technical realities of building on Bitcoin.

Alex Leishman is the Founder, CEO, and CTO at River. Alex brings his deep expertise in software engineering, information security, and Bitcoin to River, where he oversees investor relations, corporate strategy, and engineering. Alex holds a Master's in Computer Science from Stanfard University where he helped teach the first Bitcoin class.

Erin Redwing is an astrologer focusing on Bitcoin and the technological changes arising in the Age of Aquarius. She is the co-host of Hell Money Podcast.

Johann Kerbrat is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto and International at Robinhood. Johann joined Robinhood to support the company in its mission to democratize finance for all and open up access to crypto to everyday investors. Prior to joining Robinhood, he held engineering roles at Airbnb, privacy-focused cryptocurrency startup Iron Fish, and founded an e-commerce and payments platform company. Johann grew up in Nice, France and holds an MSc in Software Engineering from Oxford Brookes University.

Jody Mettler is the Chief Operating Officer of BitGo and is also responsible for managing BitGo Trust companies to meet high standards of customer care and to ensure the safe and secure custody of their assets.

Prior to joining BitGo, Jody was the Director of Global Transformation at Citicorp. She spent over 20 years with Citicorp in various capacities ranging from corporate accounting to operations management primarily within the Institutional Client Group servicing large corporations to develop payment facilitation methods.

Jody also served as a member of the Board of Directors for Citicorp South Dakota Trust Company and is a member of the digital asset legislative task force to facilitate trust administration digital asset laws.

Paget Stanco is VP, Head of Institutional at Gemini, where she leads the firm’s institutional strategy, bringing bitcoin to a diverse audience of institutional clients, including market makers, asset managers, and HNW individuals. She also oversees Gemini's deployment of specialized bitcoin investment strategies, such as derivatives and price predictions. An early BTC believer and employee at Gemini, Paget has played a key role in building and scaling the institutional business, helping drive its evolution into a leading global digital asset platform.

Cofounded Fedi, Austin Bitdevs

Jeff Gardner is a Nostr developer focused on freedom tech. He is the creator of the Marmot protocol, which brings together the MLS protocol and Nostr's decentralized network to enable highly efficient and secure group communications. He is founder of White Noise, an end-to-end encrypted messaging app using Marmot, and is a founding member of And Other Stuff, a Nostr & Bitcoin builder collective. His work is supported by grants from the Human Rights Foundation and OpenSats.

Lauren is the devoted wife of Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of Samourai Wallet, who is currently serving a five-year federal prison sentence for developing non-custodial, open-source privacy software. She passionately advocates for cryptocurrency privacy rights and criminal justice reform, focusing on securing clemency for her husband and bringing attention to others who have suffered similar injustice under the previous administration.

Lauren campaigns to highlights the broader implications of the Samourai case, drawing parallels to other privacy-focused projects, and calls attention to the lawfare against innovators in the Bitcoin and crypto space. Resilient and outspoken, she balances her personal grief with determined activism, emphasizing that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" as she strives for her husband’s freedom and systemic reform.

McArdle is widely recognized for her pivotal role in securing the release of Ross Ulbricht. Notably, she extended a controversial invite to Pres. Donald Trump to speak at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention, where he committed to pardoning Ulbricht—a promise fulfilled immediately following his election. During a highly contentious period leading the Libertarian Party, McArdle navigated intense internal divisions, built coalitions with the anti-war left, and spearheaded a joint fundraising agreement with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., all while facing significant political opposition—including personal threats and legal challenges from left-libertarian critics. Following Ulbricht’s freedom, she has dedicated herself to championing the release of other crypto prisoners, like Ian Freeman and Samourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez.

Nathan Fitzsimmons is the VP of BTC Mentor, a leading service for personalized one-on-one Bitcoin education. As a dedicated Bitcoin educator, he has spent the last two years empowering hundreds of newcomers worldwide through hands-on workshops and one-on-one sessions covering the full spectrum of self-custody models, including privacy and security best practices.

Nathan hosts the Mentor Sessions Podcast—which has gained 600,000 views on YouTube in the first year—on the BTC Sessions channel and also co-hosts the BTC Sessions Live Streams.

BTC Sessions is the world's most trusted bitcoin-only educator since 2016, teaching tens of millions of people how to get, use and secure Bitcoin on YouTube. He also offers custom Bitcoin education with his team at Bitcoin Mentor, and leads various international community initiatives alongside groups like the Human Rights Foundation.

Clara Shikhelman is the Head of Research at Chaincode Labs, where she explores the theoretical foundations of Bitcoin from both computer science and economic perspectives. She previously held postdoctoral positions at the Simons Institute at UC Berkeley and at Caltech, and holds a PhD in mathematics from Tel Aviv University.

Quantum physics PhD
I have been involved in quantum computing since 2006 and now I measure the progress of quantum computers at breaking cryptography and design solutions to secure digital assets.

Long time self custody engineer, focused on making bitcoin better money for everyone.

Jordan is an educator empowering creators and solopreneurs to build with agentic AI. His journey began two decades ago in the pursuit of individual freedom, inevitably leading him to Bitcoin and even a year of documenting entrepreneur life in El Salvador. That experience made him realize that true sovereignty requires reclaiming control over both money *and* time.

Today, Jordan teaches how to leverage AI agents to unlock that control and harness unprecedented levels of productivity, creativity, and autonomy. He shares how to build self-owned digital ventures, using AI to build & explore while anchoring one's financial freedom in Bitcoin's permissionless design.

David Bailey is the CEO and Chairman of Nakamoto, a Bitcoin company he took public through a reverse merger with KindlyMD. Nakamoto raised one of the largest PIPE financings in digital asset history. A Bitcoin advocate since 2012, David founded BTC Inc. – home to Bitcoin Magazine, The Bitcoin Conference, and Bitcoin for Corporations, and co-founded UTXO Management, an institutional hedge fund focused on Bitcoin and digital assets. In 2024, David led a political engagement campaign that brought Bitcoin to the forefront of the U.S. presidential election advising President Donald Trump’s team on Bitcoin policy. David also serves on the boards of BTC Inc., the Bitcoin Policy Institute, and Moon Inc (HK Asia Holdings Limited).

Board Director of Bitcoin Strategy at Capital ₿, Europes first Bitcoin treasury company.

Dylan LeClair leads Metaplanet’s corporate Bitcoin strategy, advancing its mission to integrate Bitcoin into the core of public capital markets.

Cofounded Fedi, Austin Bitdevs

Jesse Posner is CEO and co-founder of Vora, building self-custody products for securing both bitcoin and personal AI. Previously a senior blockchain engineer at Block (Bitkey), where he led work on privacy, cryptography, and security. Before that, an open-source cryptographer contributing FROST and adaptor signature implementations to secp256k1-zkp as a Brink and HRF Bitcoin Development Fund grantee. Co-author of a BIP on Chain Code Delegation. Holds a patent (US10903991B1) from his time at Coinbase (2016-2020), where he worked on key management, threshold signatures, and key ceremony design. Corporate lawyer turned cryptographer. Code is law.

Derek Ross is the Head of Developer Relations at Soapbox Technology, where he drives developer adoption and ecosystem growth for Nostr — the open protocol for decentralized, censorship-resistant social media. With over 20 years of experience spanning systems administration, mobile tech journalism, and consulting, Derek is widely known as the "Nostr Evangelist" for his tireless work educating and onboarding developers and users alike.

Bitcoin and Lightning developer. Host of Austin bitdevs

Ryan Gentry is CEO of Bitcoin Infrastructure Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: BIXI), a $220M SPAC focused on bringing profitable Bitcoin infrastructure companies to public markets. Previously, he led Business Development at Lightning Labs for five years, helping scale the scale the company’s Bitcoin and stablecoins payments infrastructure to support tens of billions of dollars in annualized volume on the Lightning Network. Before that, he was Lead Analyst at Multicoin Capital. Ryan holds an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from UT-Austin.

I am the author of The Philosophy of Bitcoin, a Spanish-language bestseller. CEO of BTC Consulting 360 and Director of the Bitcoin Master’s Program at the University of the Hespérides.

Roger Huang was one of the first writers in 2014 to write about the intersection of Bitcoin in remittance payments and drug policy. Since then, he’s been a HODLer of Bitcoin, and he’s built several mini-projects with them for fun. He’s written for Forbes and TechCrunch and is the author of a book on Bitcoin + China (Would Mao Hold Bitcoin)

Kostas Ouzas is the founder of Minotaur Trading Systems, a company dedicated to building trading algorithms. With a background in quantitative system design and a deep focus on risk management, Ouzas developed Minotaur around the principle of protecting capital while capturing opportunity. Ouzas’s mission is to make institutional-grade trading intelligence accessible to everyday investors, enabling systematic exposure to Bitcoin’s long-term potential without emotion or speculation.