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bitcoin++ Vienna, economics edition
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Economics of Protocol Design
- 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.
Does this make Bitcoin better money?
- 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.
Defending Bitcoin as Critical Infrastructure
- 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.
Bitcoin-backed Loans with Arkade and Blockrise
- 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.
The Case for Bitcoin: Freedom Tech, Open Society
- 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.
The Death of the 'Middleman': Survival Strategies for the 2026 Bitcoin Broker
- 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.
Are we building the products Bitcoin deserves?
- 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?
The Economics of Bitcoin
- 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.
The economics of running a Lightning node
- 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
Bitcoin Yield: Lessons From DeFi
- 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
The Economics of a CRQC
- 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.
Century Metadata: Small Encrypted Data, Long Storage
- 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.
P2Poolv2: Market Design for a Trustless Hash Rate Commodity
- 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.
Covenants make Bitcoin Better Money
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 10:15 AM – 10:45 AM
- Location
- Main Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 30m
How would the Austrians consider covenants, the proposal to make bitcoin more introspective? In this conversation, Matthew Vuk a Researcher at Second walks us through the philosophical argument for covenants
The Praxeology of Privacy
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 10:45 AM – 11:30 AM
- Location
- Main Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 45m
From Volatile Bitcoin to a Stable Monetary System
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM
- Location
- Main Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 45m
Austrian Economists Carl Menger, Ludwig Mises, and Friedrich Hayek explained how a hard commodity, as a base money, is stabilised by an elastic layer of credit money, as a money substitute. However, their teachings also saw internal opposition, especially by Rothbard. The internal debate is unresolved until today, recently carried forward by Antal Fekete, Juan Rallo, and myself, while opposed by Philipp Bagus, Jesus Huerta de Soto, and Guido Hülsmann. An the interactive audience live demo the current release of the Bitcredit Protocol, a novel FOSS protocol for credit money ("Umlaufmittel") on Bitcoin rails which now aims to settle the question after a century of debate: we will see practically which side has it right.
The Age of Corporate Nihilism
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 1:45 PM – 2:15 PM
- Location
- Main Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 30m
How FLOSS, Bitcoin, and AI Could Enable Low-Time-Preference Capitalism How does capital respond to its enviroment/context, and how is innovation impacted? What happens when free/libre projects are attached to private capital, does it change how decisions are made? Should all forms of capital be defended with the same rigor? How will markets survive the AI disruption of the wage-labour model? We explore how FLOSS, Bitcoin, and other decentralised systems create friction against regulatory capture and corporate nihilism while nurturing low time preference capitalism.
Austrian Economics as a tool of thought
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 2:15 PM – 3:00 PM
- Location
- Main Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 45m
Many Bitcoiners discover Austrian Economics as a philosophy aligned with their preference for liberty and Bitcoin. Originally, however, it was an interdisciplinary and value-neutral approach to science. Rahim Taghizadegan, the last Austrian economist in the direct tradition from Austria, will revisit what “Austrian” originally meant and why it remains powerful today: not as a checklist of policy positions, but as a tool of thought. The talk will trace the method from first principles to its implications for money, business cycles, entrepreneurship, and institutional change.
An Integer Discretized Share Auction on Bitcoin
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 3:00 PM – 3:15 PM
- Location
- Main Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 15m
Market design lessons from the Nodemonkes dutch auction launch.
Is Bitcoin the Austrian School’s Future?
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 3:45 PM – 4:30 PM
- Location
- Main Stage
- Type
- panel
- Duration
- 45m
Francis Pouliot of Bull Bitcoin once said: “The Libertarian movement died with Bitcoin”. In this discussion we invite Rahim Taghizadegan and Adam Bartha to explore the current state of the Austro-libertarian movement and what is Bitcoin’s role in it today.
The Design Space of Native Bitcoin Hashrate Derivatives
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 10:15 AM – 10:45 AM
- Location
- Talks Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 30m
Introduction to the problem space of hashrate derivatives and presentation of practical schemes
Bitcoin, Incentives, and the Next Billion Users
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 10:45 AM – 11:30 AM
- Location
- Talks Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 45m
This talk explores how Bitcoin adoption depends not only on technology, but on human incentives and game theory. By analyzing inflation, fiat currency dilution, and the modern attention economy, the presentation discusses how Bitcoin can restore long-term economic thinking, individual ownership, and financial dignity. It also examines how incentive-aligned digital platforms may help onboard ordinary people into Bitcoin naturally, expanding adoption beyond technologists and early adopters.
Speakers
Anatomy of an Ark Wallet
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM
- Location
- Talks Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 45m
Description to come
Getting Bitcoin for printed money: how to play
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 1:45 PM – 2:15 PM
- Location
- Talks Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 30m
The game of “Getting Bitcoin for printed money” is on, whether you like it or not. If you want to learn how to play it yourself, join us for a demystifying session on Invity Turbo Buy; a product designed by Bitcoiners for Bitcoiners to gain an edge over large institutions that can accumulate more Bitcoin by creating liquidity out of thin air.
Speakers
What happened to Bitcoin Layer 2s
- Time
- Thu, May 28 · 2:15 PM – 3:00 PM
- Location
- Talks Stage
- Type
- talk
- Duration
- 45m
This talk will be a subjectively objective review of the infamous Bitcoin Layer2 season of 2023 - 2025/26. During this period, we heard about countless ideas, scams, tokens, actual geniuses, and conspiracy theories. Now that the dust has (kind of) settled, it’s a great time to look back and draw some insights - from someone who was working at the heart of it and experienced it firsthand.