According to organizers, approximately 8,000 participants took part in the third edition of the continent’s largest Bitcoin conference.
From June 19 to 21, the third edition of BTC Prague took place in Prague, confirming itself as Europe’s largest Bitcoin conference. The event, hosted at PVA Expo Prague, registered approximately 8,000 participants, according to organizers.
Among the 200 speakers, the names of Michael Saylor and Jack Mallers stood out.
On the main stage, entrepreneur and YouTuber Mark Moss offered an analysis of technological evolution over recent decades, examining the relationship between innovation and social development. His presentation traced a historical picture of technological revolutions, showing how each wave of innovation has profoundly transformed the economic and social fabric.
Moss paid particular attention to what he considers the most promising convergence of our time: the union between Bitcoin and artificial intelligence. According to his vision, this combination represents a unique opportunity for companies. He emphasized how companies that manage to effectively integrate these two technologies will find themselves in a position of competitive advantage.
The “Institutional vs Cypherpunk” panel offered a comparison on the existing opposition between the regulated world of traditional financial actors and the libertarian and decentralized environment of cypherpunk culture that has always surrounded Bitcoin. The debate explored how these two apparently opposite universes can coexist in the Bitcoin ecosystem. According to Giacomo Zucco, institutional actors should not be seen as a threat to Bitcoin’s original nature, but rather as a “Trojan horse” that can be exploited to the advantage of the ecosystem. His thesis is that these large financial players bring with them large amounts of liquidity into the Bitcoin economy, resources that can then be strategically used to preserve and strengthen Bitcoin’s cypherpunk nature itself.
Particularly exciting was Jack Mallers‘ presentation. The CEO of TwentyOne Capital retraced his personal story, describing how, according to him, the Millennial generation has been devastated by the fiat monetary system. He spoke of the debts weighing on young people – for cars, houses, university studies – and how this financial burden generates depression and conflicts that often lead to divorces, destroying families and children.
According to Mallers, social pain is directly connected to and caused by the fiat currency system that systematically robs people of their purchasing power. Visibly moved, he shared his personal experience: “I too experienced my parents’ separation, I had depression, then as a kid in 2014 I discovered Bitcoin.” He recalled his first speech on Bitcoin in 2015, emphasizing how this technology represents future and hope for him.
On the Expo stage, the Bitaxe movement instead focused the spotlight on the democratization of mining, proposing open-source devices to counter the trend toward closed systems in the sector. Lars Näther‘s presentation titled “Bitaxe Open Source Bitcoin Mining” illustrated the growth of industrial mining, specialization and the transition from CPU to ASIC. Näther also retraced the genesis of the Bitaxe project, exploring all the fundamental stages of its development from May 2021 to March 2023.
The exhibition area confirmed itself as the distinctive feature of the conference, hosting approximately 100 companies that presented products including wallet solutions, mining and security tools.
The event enabled connections between professionals, entrepreneurs and sector enthusiasts. For the first time, the event offered real-time translations in over 60 languages through the use of artificial intelligence.
