bitcoin++ talks economically

keynote

Kickoff

niftynei

Time

Wed, May 27 · 10:15 AM – 10:30 AM

Location

Main Stage

Type

keynote

Duration

15m

Speakers

niftynei

bitcoin++

X Nostr GitHub Instagram Website

talk

Economics of Protocol Design

Rene Pickhardt

Time

Wed, May 27 · 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM

Location

Main Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

Protocols do not only define what is technically possible; they also shape how rational participants behave. This talk introduces the economic perspective on protocol design, focusing on how incentives, selfish behavior, and emergent outcomes interact in decentralized systems. We will look at ideas from mechanism design, game theory, and concepts such as the Price of Anarchy: the gap between individually rational behavior and globally desirable outcomes. The Lightning Network provides a useful case study. While participants may act locally rationally when routing payments or setting fees, such behavior can still lead to depleted channels, reduced reliability, and inefficient liquidity allocation. The goal of this talk is to motivate why protocol designers must think beyond correctness and security. A well-designed protocol should make good behavior the natural outcome of self-interested actions. By exploring examples from Lightning and related systems, we will discuss how economic incentives can either support or undermine decentralized infrastructure.

Speakers

Rene Pickhardt

X GitHub Website

talk

Does this make Bitcoin better money?

Knut Svanholm

Time

Wed, May 27 · 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Location

Main Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

An exploration of what money is, what makes Bitcoin good money, and why it's crucial for Bitcoin to always be money and nothing else.

Speakers

Knut Svanholm

Lemniscate Media

X Nostr GitHub

talk

Defending Bitcoin as Critical Infrastructure

Luke de Wolf

Time

Wed, May 27 · 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM

Location

Main Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

This talk will walk through the definition of critical infrastructure, assert why Bitcoin satisfies the definition, and outlines a cybersecurity framework for understanding the defense of Bitcoin through a critical infrastructure lens.

Speakers

Luke de Wolf

X Nostr Website

talk

The economics of running a Lightning node

Michael1011

Time

Wed, May 27 · 1:00 PM – 1:30 PM

Location

Talks Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

What are the economics of running a Lightning node? Onchain fees are an obvious cost factor, but the true complexity lies in the price of liquidity

Speakers

Michael1011

Boltz

X Nostr GitHub

panel

Bitcoin-backed Loans with Arkade and Blockrise

Chris Seedor, Marco Argentieri (tiero), Jos Lazet

Time

Wed, May 27 · 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Location

Main Stage

Type

panel

Duration

30m

Marco and Jos walk us through the in's and out's of how Blockrise and Arkade are empowering the next wave of loans backed by bitcoin.

Speakers

Chris Seedor

X Nostr Website

Marco Argentieri (tiero)

Ark Labs

X Nostr GitHub

Jos Lazet

blockrise

X GitHub

talk

Bitcoin Yield: Lessons From DeFi

RegularMarek

Time

Wed, May 27 · 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Location

Talks Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

We begin by introducing concepts and terminology from Decentralized Finance (DeFi) that are carried over to the Bitcoin Finance application ecosystem (some call BiFi) We’ll discuss frameworks for understanding varying forms and means of earning yield as well as sources of risk when earning yield using Bitcoin. We’ll conclude by sharing lessons and observations from DeFi and what they mean for the future of Bitcoin Finance

Speakers

RegularMarek

Decentralised Consensus Systems FZCO

X Nostr Website

talk

The Case for Bitcoin: Freedom Tech, Open Society

Anita

Time

Wed, May 27 · 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Location

Main Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

This talk moves beyond theory. Drawing on firsthand observations from African countries, Anita shows how central bank policy, currency manipulation, internet shutdowns, and state-backed corruption systematically destroy economic agency. Financial infrastructure that can be controlled, will be controlled and becomes an instrument of exclusion. Open protocols aren't a technical curiosity, they are an alternative that gives back agency and dignity to people.

Speakers

Anita

Bitcoin For Fairness

X Nostr GitHub Website

talk

The Economics of a CRQC

bluematt

Time

Wed, May 27 · 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM

Location

Talks Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

What does the bitcoin market's response look like to a CRQC? We all know "the market decides what bitcoin is", but what will the market actually decide? We'll get into how the market values Bitcoin's philosophical underpinnings and what analysis might feed into the market's valuation of a future bitcoin schism over freezing coins in the face of an imminent CRQC risk.

Speakers

bluematt

spiral

X Nostr GitHub Website

talk

The Death of the 'Middleman': Survival Strategies for the 2026 Bitcoin Broker

Thomas Jeegers

Time

Wed, May 27 · 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM

Location

Main Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

Bitcoin was supposed to kill the middleman. Instead, the middleman is posting record revenues. So who got the theory wrong — the economists or the idealists? Drawing on real operating data from Europe's fastest-growing Bitcoin brokerage, this talk dissects the unit economics and survival strategies of the 2026 Bitcoin broker. As we enter 2026, we face a paradox: the more decentralized the network becomes, the more the market demands sophisticated intermediaries. The middleman isn't dead. He just stacks sats now.

Speakers

Thomas Jeegers

Relai

X Nostr GitHub

talk

Century Metadata: Small Encrypted Data, Long Storage

Rusty Russell

Time

Wed, May 27 · 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM

Location

Talks Stage

Type

talk

Duration

30m

This talk described a new project I'm starting: a service to keep small encrypted blobs of data for a small fee, and make them available for a century. A reliable service that does that would bolster the utility of BIP-39 words: allowing retention of wallet descriptors, labels and other instructions which otherwise require some additional data. We'll talk about privacy, standards and eencryption, as well the legal framework required for a project which will outlive us all.

Speakers

Rusty Russell

X Nostr GitHub Website

talk

Are we building the products Bitcoin deserves?

Jos Lazet

Time

Wed, May 27 · 3:45 PM – 4:30 PM

Location

Main Stage

Type

talk

Duration

45m

Jos, founder and CEO of Blockrise, has been involved in Bitcoin since 2013. Over the years, he has built a strong reputation as an experienced entrepreneur. In 2017, Jos founded Blockrise with the goal of making secure Bitcoin custody and management more accessible. In this 20m talk, Jos takes some time to reflect on the products we’re building for bitcoin. Are we building what Bitcoin deserves?

Speakers

Jos Lazet

blockrise

X GitHub

talk

P2Poolv2: Market Design for a Trustless Hash Rate Commodity

Kulpreet Singh (jungly)

Time

Wed, May 27 · 3:45 PM – 4:30 PM

Location

Talks Stage

Type

talk

Duration

45m

Pool operators are Bitcoin's last trusted middleman. They control what goes in the block and controls payouts. P2Poolv2 is a decentralized mining pool that removes them entirely. This talk covers the economics of hash rate as a commodity, how trustless hash rate markets compare to existing platforms like Nicehash and Rigly, and what market structures become possible when the operator is gone.

Speakers

Kulpreet Singh (jungly)

X Nostr GitHub Website

panel

The Economics of Bitcoin

Chris Seedor, Luke de Wolf, bluematt, Knut Svanholm, Marco Argentieri (tiero)

Time

Wed, May 27 · 4:30 PM – 5:15 PM

Location

Main Stage

Type

panel

Duration

45m

Knut Svanholm has asked "Does this make Bitcoin better money"? In this 45m panel, we talk about the economics of bitcoin as a monetary protocol.

Speakers

Chris Seedor

X Nostr Website

Luke de Wolf

X Nostr Website

bluematt

spiral

X Nostr GitHub Website

Knut Svanholm

Lemniscate Media

X Nostr GitHub

Marco Argentieri (tiero)

Ark Labs

X Nostr GitHub