Speakers

Daily Bitcoin Podcast Host. All-In Bitcoin since he is 21 years old and committed to interview every day a Bitcoiner in the next 10 years!

Rob Massey has over 25 years of professional experience in tax consulting for technology companies. Since 2012, he has focused on blockchain, digital assets, cryptocurrency and tokenization. He serves companies throughout the blockchain ecosystem inclusive of investors, miners, staking providers, payment processing, wallet hosting, custodians, exchanges, funds, DAOs, tokenization and protocol development. Rob leads Deloitte’s blockchain efforts in tax for the global firm.

Rob’s blockchain expertise spans the comprehensive tax considerations of blockchain enabled transactions and the analysis of the tax impacts of tokenization and digital asset transactions across business models, industries, and geographies. He also has a growing expertise in tax controversy matters involving digital assets and blockchain based business models.

Rob (and co-Author Conor O’Brien) worked with 50 other tax specialists in Deloitte to produce Bloomberg BNA’s Tax Management Portfolio, Taxation of Cryptocurrency and Other Digital Assets, No. 190-2nd. This 400-page tax treatise examines U.S. federal and state income taxation of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, providing a detailed analysis of the classification of digital assets for tax purposes. It offers an inclusive overview of the digital asset ecosystem, tax guidance to date, tax classification, and accounting treatment. The portfolio further delves into the tax implications of using, dealing, trading, and investing in digital assets, and addresses novel tax questions raised by digital asset transactions.

Rockstar Dev is a Core Contributor @ BTCPay Server, a self-hosted, free open-source Bitcoin payment processor. Rockstar also serves as the Head of Bitcoin @ Strike, where he leads non-profit efforts.

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)

Roland Bewick is the lead developer of Alby Hub, Alby's self-custodial, next-generation NWC-first lightning wallet. He also works on development SDKs and agent-first tools for the bitcoin lightning network. 2x BOLT FUN lightning hackathon winner with Bitcoin Connect and Lightsats. First in the world to create an OpenClaw that could spawn a child agent completely autonomously by paying for services with bitcoin.

Rory is the Vice President of Digital Asset Management at CleanSpark, where he leads Bitcoin treasury optimization and related capital strategy. The Digital Asset Management group directs the stewardship, deployment, and risk management of the company’s digital asset holdings to enhance balance sheet performance and generate incremental returns. Rory previously worked at Discovery Capital, a global macro fund, where he was a member of the investment team responsible for managing risk and trading a wide range of products across international and domestic markets. As a hedge fund veteran and CFA Charterholder, he brings a distinct maturity to the intersection of Bitcoin and financial markets.

Roya Mahboob is an entrepreneur and Afghanistan’s first female tech CEO, but her impact extends far beyond the sphere of business. Ms. Mahboob has used her success and tech expertise to help educate and empower Afghan women and girls, and she has been an outspoken advocate for their rights. She founded the Digital Citizen Fund (DCF), which aims to increase Afghan women’s technological and financial literacy. She also co-founded and supports the Afghan Girls Robotics Team. Ms. Mahboob has worked to build Innovation/Tech Centers across Afghanistan and has launched an online platform to strengthen the voices of Afghan women and journalists. Ancillary to this, she regularly speaks and writes eloquently about the vital importance of STEAM education and economic opportunity for women and girls as they pertain to human rights. Ms. Mahboob was named to TIME’s 2013 list of 100 Most Influential People and received the 2014 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, The Advancement of Gender Equality through Education Award, Young Leader of World Economic Forum 2015 , Asia Game changer 2019, Doha forum award of 2022, LantosHumanRights awards, the prestigious Presidential Leadership Scholarship and is a founding Leader of The NewNow, a group of rising global leaders tackling global challenges.

Building Breez

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.

Ryan is the lead developer of Mujina, the 256 Foundation's Open-Source Bitcoin Mining Firmware.

Ryan Long is a comedian, podcaster, and filmmaker who has amassed billions of views across his viral sketches, street interviews, and stand-up specials. He is the host of the hit podcast The Boyscast with Ryan Long, and has been featured on Netflix, NBC, Just for Laughs, The Joe Rogan Experience, Bertcast, Flagrant, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, and many more. He also created the acclaimed CBC Comedy series Torontopia and THAT GUY, as well as the TV series Ryan Long is Challenged (Bite TV) and Crown the Town with Ryan Long (Rogers TV).

Ryan has made some of the most viral sketches on the internet involving the crypto world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uag9TSN7qUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRuXOtD3CwE&t=7s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_aacBuhODE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N50lwEB4LJs&t=20s

Based in New York City, Ryan is a regular at The Comedy Cellar, New York Comedy Club, and The Stand, and tours internationally performing his unique brand of sharp, satirical stand-up.

Salman Khan is the Chief Financial Officer at MARA. MARA is a global leader in leveraging digital asset compute to support the energy transformation. Salman comes from traditional finance, oil and gas, energy transition and technology background and has worked in the Middle East and North America. Salman oversees the company’s financial strategy, corporate development, investor relations, legal and accounting functions.
Prior to joining Marathon, Salman Khan served as Chief Financial Officer for Verb Technology Company Inc., a Nasdaq listed leading provider of interactive video-based software-as-a-service applications and an e-commerce platform and played a pivotal role in selling the core business of the company. Before joining Verb, Salman served in various senior executive level positions at Occidental Petroleum Corporation and its spinoff, California Resources Corporation, including director of renewable energy, Director of Corporate Development, Director of Technical Accounting and Financial Reporting, and Business Division Controller and Chief Financial Officer. Salman also spent eight years at major accounting firms including Arthur Andersen, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young, where he served domestic and international clients in the technology, media, telecommunications, entertainment, and biotechnology industries. Salman holds a Master in Business Administration from the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business and is a licensed chartered certified accountant (UK).

Sal Pineda is a strategist and researcher focused on Bitcoin’s role in capital markets, energy systems, and the emerging digital economy. With experience across Latin America and the United States, he brings a distinctive blend of capital markets fluency, operational execution, and systems-level analysis to the study of Bitcoin, economic resilience, and institutional design. His work develops the concept of the “Knowledge Network of Bitcoin”: the decentralized ecosystem of miners, institutional allocators, policymakers, builders, educators, and grassroots advocates advancing Bitcoin adoption across finance, energy, and digital infrastructure.

His research examines how Bitcoin intersects with capital formation, treasury strategy, energy markets, and the convergence of Bitcoin, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing with national security, monetary sovereignty, and nation-state strategy. His work has been shared through research papers, educational guides, podcasts, X Spaces, and media interviews. His current research focuses on Bitcoin, policy development, and financial innovation in Washington, D.C., and the broader evolution of digital financial markets.

Sal brings a multidisciplinary background spanning diplomacy, strategy consulting, venture advisory, private equity, and capital markets research across fintech and emerging technologies. He is also a founding member and former co-president of the Cornell Bitcoin Club, the university’s student organization dedicated exclusively to Bitcoin education and research.

He holds an MBA from Cornell University and a Master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Having grown up experiencing the consequences of political instability and government failure, Sal approaches Bitcoin as a tool for strengthening economic sovereignty, institutional resilience, and long-term capital formation in the digital age.

Sam Callahan is Director of Strategy & Research at OranjeBTC, where he oversees the company’s Bitcoin treasury strategy and education initiatives. He previously served as Vice President at Battery Finance and Lead Analyst at Swan Bitcoin. He holds a degree in Biology from Indiana University Bloomington and has collaborated with Lyn Alden on research spanning Bitcoin and macroeconomics. He also serves on the advisory boards of MARA Digital Holdings, LQwD Technologies, and Cantilever Advisors.

Sam Kazemian is a cryptocurrency entrepreneur and early Bitcoin adopter, best known as the founder of Frax Finance. He began mining Bitcoin at University of California, Los Angeles in 2013, sparking a long-standing focus on decentralized money and crypto-native financial systems.

He has since founded multiple companies and raised over $40 million in venture capital, building infrastructure aligned with the core principles of decentralization, transparency, and censorship resistance. At Frax Finance, he leads the development of a growing suite of decentralized financial products, spanning stable assets, liquidity systems, and on-chain monetary infrastructure.

Kazemian is a regular speaker at global conferences, where he discusses trends across the crypto ecosystem, from DeFi and stablecoins to the next generation of on-chain financial markets.

Sam Konigsberg, CIMA®, CBDA®, Director, is a Market Leader with BlackRock's US Wealth Advisory Group. Mr. Konigsberg contributes to BlackRock's Bitcoin educational content and delivers seminars to wealth management professionals across the US. He earned his Certificate in Blockchain and Digital Assets (CBDA), his Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA), and finance degree from the University of Georgia.

Started buying in 2021, haven't stopped since.

Sasha Hodder is the founder of Hodder Law Firm and a Florida-licensed fintech and Bitcoin attorney. She has supported Bitcoin businesses since 2014 and advises on MSB/MTL licensing, compliance, banking partnerships, and regulatory strategy, while keeping a focus on privacy, civil liberties, and why Bitcoin matters.

Previously, Sasha served as Senior Counsel at Exodus, supporting legal strategy for a $75M tokenized Reg A+ public offering. She teaches Florida Bar CLE courses on crypto law, hosts the Sunset Circuit Podcast, and organizes the Bitcoin Race (Fastest Runner in Bitcoin).

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

Scooter Womack is a visionary leader in the Texas energy market, recognized for his pivotal role in shaping today’s energy offerings for flexible loads. As Founder and CEO of Vega Energy Advisors, Scooter leads an expert team with decades of experience, guiding large-scale power users through development planning, tailored procurement, risk management, and Demand Response strategies.

Behind the scenes, Scooter has been instrumental in launching multiple market participants and driving innovation across the ERCOT landscape. His work has enabled organizations to optimize energy usage, reduce costs, and implement sustainable solutions that align with evolving market dynamics.

With a proven track record of success, Scooter combines deep industry knowledge with strategic foresight to deliver measurable results for clients. His leadership continues to influence the future of energy flexibility and resilience in Texas.

Scott is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Block Rewards, a Bitcoin only compensation and rewards platform. He is also author of The Dao of Bitcoin: Towards a Cosmology of Energy Money

Scott Ellam is the Founder and CEO of Connecting Excellence Group (XCE), the first Bitcoin standard international executive recruitment group, listed on the Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE: XCE / OTCQB: XCELF).

In 2014, Scott founded XCE's flagship operating business Spencer Riley, an international executive search firm headquartered in Leeds, UK. Generating over 70% of its revenue from international clients and placements across high-growth sectors including professional services, business advisory and consulting, life sciences, logistics, engineering, and environmental services.

In 2021, Scott made the pivotal decision to adopt Bitcoin as the company’s primary balance sheet asset. This positioned XCE as a differentiated Bitcoin Treasury Company (BTCTC), combining profitable recruitment operations with disciplined BTC accumulation to create a compounding flywheel: XCE’s performance-based share attracts revenue generating high performance executive recruiters, driving revenue growth to support the company’s Bitcoin treasury capital markets strategy and long-term shareholder value.

Scott Marmoll is a 10-year investment banking and private equity veteran and nearly decade-long bitcoiner. He is Founder and Managing Director of Capital B Advisory. A boutique investment banking advisory firm focused on bitcoiner business owners. CBA bridges the gap between Wall Street deal execution and the Bitcoin economy.

Scott Millar is a Bitcoin entrepreneur and early advocate, founder of SideSwap, a non custodial exchange and wallet on the Liquid Network. With a background in trading and fintech, he builds infrastructure for Bitcoin settlement, tokenization, atomic swaps, and blockchain based capital markets, focused on open and interoperable financial systems anchored in Bitcoin.

Sean founded New West Data in 2020, leveraging his expertise from leading the New Ventures division at Enercapita Energy, a Canadian oil and gas firm. Since 2019, he has pioneered off-grid distributed computing, integrating digital infrastructure with stranded energy assets like flared gas to power Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing (HPC). Sean holds a Bachelor’s in Development Economics and an MBA from the University of Calgary.

Costa Rican businessman with a global outlook from the beginning of his career, he is a senior executive and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of leadership experience across technology scale-ups, strategic growth, and venture-backed businesses. He specializes in identifying niche opportunities at the intersection of technology, capital markets, and real assets, and in designing scalable strategies to capture and institutionalize those opportunities.

He is CEO of AYA Capital, a family office overseeing a diversified portfolio of high-potential companies and assets, including Bitcoin as a strategic allocation. One of its core companies is Digiplat, an institutional-grade Bitcoin liquidity and settlement firm providing tailored OTC execution to support real-asset acquisitions and capital deployment for high-net-worth individuals.

A central focus of his work is supporting Bitcoin high-net-worth individuals who relocate or spend significant time in Costa Rica and initially require assistance with luxury real estate transactions. Over time, this relationship often evolves into broader investment activity, including alternative investments, second family office structures, and Bitcoin-backed transactions executed within Costa Rica. This activity has grown exponentially as Costa Rica has emerged as an increasingly attractive destination for HNWIs due to its exceptional biodiversity, pristine natural environment, and globally recognized commitment to environmental protection. The country offers long-standing political stability, a strong democratic tradition, no standing army, a reliable legal framework for property ownership, and a high quality of life. It is also recognized as one of the world’s longevity hubs, hosting one of the planet’s five Blue Zones, and has become a natural convergence point for Bitcoin holders, entrepreneurs, and families seeking sustainability, privacy, and long-term capital preservation.

In 2025, he co-launched the podcast Bitcoin and Property Markets alongside the CEO of Coldwell Banker Costa Rica, with the objective of sharing insights on the growing convergence between Bitcoin liquidity and real-asset markets, particularly in Costa Rica and Latin America.

He also leads the IANUA Family Office Community, where he co-founded the Latin American chapter. IANUA is an exclusive global network of family offices and principals focused on alternative investments and cross-border collaboration, providing members with access to curated deal flow and off-market opportunities.

Previously, he co-founded Gosocket Corporation, where he drove international expansion and growth strategy, culminating in a successful acquisition by Pagero Group (NASDAQ: PAGERO).

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.

Founder Jacksonville Bitcoin Meetup 2014, Counterparty Board of Directors 2017, Rare Pepe Scientist (Digital Art Curator 2016-2018), 3x Featured Artist in 'On NFTs' by TASCHEN

Shawn Owen is the CEO of SALT Lending, a pioneer in Bitcoin-backed lending. SALT enables individuals and businesses to leverage their Bitcoin holdings to access liquidity without selling. Shawn leads the company's strategy in Bitcoin treasury management, digital asset lending, and expanding access to Bitcoin-backed financial products.

Technical and Opinion Editor at Bitcoin Magazine. Self educated researcher/educator.

Shone Anstey is the CEO and Co-Founder of LQWD Technologies Corp. (TSX-V: LQWD, OTCQX: LQWDF), an institutional-grade Bitcoin Lightning Network infrastructure company using AI and advanced technology to scale its network. He brings more than 20 years of experience building complex technologies and software across search, analytics, and data center operations. Active in Bitcoin since 2012, Mr. Anstey has held technology leadership roles in industrial Bitcoin mining and mining pool operations. He is also a Certified Bitcoin Professional, a Certified Cryptocurrency Investigator, and co-founder of BIGG Digital Assets, where he helped develop blockchain analytics tools used by U.S. federal law enforcement and cryptocurrency companies worldwide to support AML risk mitigation.

Creator of No More Inflation (2025), a documentary exposing the cause of inflation, its impact and how Bitcoin will end inflation.

The film features Graham Hancock, Dr. Robert Malone, Tuur Demeester, Alex Gladstein and many more.

Creator of Comeback Country (2022), a 11-minute short film on El Salvador’s rise from civil/gang war to Bitcoin adoption and safety under Bukele (retweeted by @nayibbukele).

Yash brings nearly a decade of power origination and data center development experience, ensuring ValueHash clients access reliable, scalable hosting for Bitcoin miners. He has been instrumental in educating and spreading the gospel of mining to utilities across the USA

Asset Allocation and Risk Mitigation

Sindura Saraswathi is a PhD student at the University of Central Florida, researching Bitcoin and the Lightning Network with a focus on scalability and reliability. Her recent work includes a closed-form framework for selecting optimal threshold signatures for Bitcoin custody and an in-depth analysis of pathfinding strategies across Lightning clients.

Sisun Lee leads crypto at Aven, where he drives product strategy across digital assets. He previously built and scaled global consumer products at Facebook, Uber and Tesla, and served as chief product officer at Argo. Lee is also a two-time founder of More Labs and Ramper, an embedded crypto wallet provider.

Bitcoiner working to bring open source back to Bitcoin mining.

Just a humble snowman stackin' sats and shredding on strings.
Find me on X @mattcsnow

Chaincode BOSS 2024 alumni, working on Payjoin Dev Kit full-time since, with a focus on integrations

Spencer Nichols leads Multimedia operations at Bitcoin Magazine, producing video content across the Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin for Corporations and the Bitcoin Conference. Serving as livestream Director for the Bitcoin Conference series, his work spans all domains of Bitcoin, telling the story of Bitcoin adoption across monetary, financial, technological and political verticals.

Since being one of the leaders of OTPOR, student movement that ended era of Serbia's bloody dictator Milosevic i am involved in movement building. Working through my organization with pro democracy and human rights movements in over 52 different countries i understand important of enabling freedom fighters skills and knowledge in developing technologies. Using Bitcoin as freedom money - one that no dictator can deny access to as well as training people in use of digital tools makes substantial part of mine CANVAS work with activists. Lately we are working on "Gene" first AI copilot designed to help freedom fighters across the globe.

Staci Costopolous, known as The Bitcoin Nova, is a community builder and podcast host who helps people see Bitcoin clearly for the first time. Like a supernova, her conversations bring sudden clarity, moments where Bitcoin finally clicks.

She is the creator and host of The Bitcoin Nova Podcast, where she uses curiosity, warmth, and real life dialogue to turn confusion into understanding. Through podcasting, Staci has experienced how starting her own journey inspired others to use their voice and create ripple effects that reach far beyond a single audience.

Staci also co creates and co hosts Hive Minded, a panel style show that blends Bitcoin education with humor, banter, and real friendship. Hive Minded highlights how conversation, collaboration, and different personalities make Bitcoin more approachable, especially for people who may never click on a traditional Bitcoin show.

Her journey shows that you do not need to be technical or have all the answers to make an impact. By simply starting a podcast and showing up authentically, she has connected with people across the Bitcoin ecosystem and helped others realize they can do the same, inspiring new creators to reach new audiences and carry the signal forward.

Through her podcast, Staci discovered the Illinois Bitcoin Council, whose mission is to help paint Illinois orange through education, advocacy, and collaboration.

Bitcoin investor, corporate advisor, and sovereignty coach working at the intersection of capital markets, digital assets, and human performance. Founder of Cassiopeia Advisory, host of the FinancialFox Show, and Non-Executive Director at Falcon Edge PLC, with over 15 years advising public companies and a decade in Bitcoin. She works with leaders and corporates navigating Bitcoin adoption She works with leaders and corporates navigating Bitcoin adoption while challenging conventional thinking and cultivating sovereign individuals over capital, body and mind.

Štěpán Uherík has served as CFO of Trezor since 2017, leading the company’s global financial, manufacturing, and Bitcoin strategy. A veteran of multiple Bitcoin bull and bear cycles, he combines battle-tested market experience with a deep commitment to personal freedom and open, sovereign technologies.

Steve founded Upstream Data in 2017 after 10 years working in the oil and gas industry as a mechanical engineer focused on optimizing upstream oil and gas facilities. Steve is passionate about conserving energy waste and is an industry leader in bitcoin mining infrastructure design and optimization for distributed energy systems. Steve holds numerous patents in bitcoin mining and oilfield technology.

Stephen Pollock is a founding-era operator who helped scale one of Bitcoin’s most influential policy institutions from concept to national presence.

As Senior Vice President at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, he built and led the organization’s growth architecture – spanning revenue, strategic partnerships, executive relationships, national events, and institutional positioning. He helped take the organization from zero to a nationally recognized institution, strengthening its credibility in Washington and across the broader Bitcoin ecosystem.

That work drew on 15 years in business development, political strategy, and government affairs. He has led multi-state campaigns and national initiatives, including grassroots efforts supporting major federal legislation. Over the course of his career, he has built relationships with political, business, and media leaders across 40+ states – from congressional offices to governors’ teams to the White House.

Today, through Signal Ridge Partners, Stephen advises founders and leadership teams at critical inflection points – aligning growth strategy, capital formation, and government and public affairs architecture. His work spans commercial partnerships, capital positioning, and institutional strategy for Bitcoin and digital asset companies.

Before Bitcoin, his background included state lobbying, multimedia strategy for large-scale national efforts, and work in fintech, angel investing, and SaaS.

Stephen is based in Nashville, where he unwinds by writing country songs, reading Bitcoin research, and working in the garden with his wife and children.

Stephan is a Bitcoin Core contributor, sponsored by Brink. His main focus is on the bitcoinkernel project, which isolates and exposes the Bitcoin consensus logic. Besides contributing, he hosts the London BitDevs Socratic seminars and helps out with other education and awareness efforts.

Interested in all things bitcoin, finding ways to improve bitcoin privacy and usability

Author of The Rarest Sets and the Pepetannica. Contributor to The Book of Kek. Creator of Rare Pepe Lore Lessons™ and the Common Coco Project.

Changzhou Bingrui Heat Transfer Technology Co., Ltd. is a leading provider of advanced thermal management solutions for Bitcoin mining and high-density data centers. The company specializes in dry coolers, liquid cold plates, and customized hydro-cooled container systems designed to optimize the performance and longevity of mining hardware.

With a strong focus on efficiency, reliability, and scalable deployment, Bingrui supports global mining operations by addressing one of the industry’s core challenges: heat. Its solutions enable higher computing density, reduced energy consumption, and more stable long-term operation across diverse environments.

By bridging thermal engineering with Bitcoin infrastructure, Bingrui plays a key role in advancing the sustainability and industrialization of next-generation mining systems.

Bitcoin Journalist with a focus on education, and a financial analyst with a background in accounting, holding a deep interest in bitcoin and the environment. Working as a bitcoin columnist for a business-focused newspaper in London and authoring numerous research articles on the benefits of Bitcoin Mining and its implications for renewable energy's future. Serving as the Director and Head of Mining and Sustainability at Bitcoin Policy UK, committed to exploring and educating about bitcoin's technological innovation and potential environmental impact at the core of these professional pursuits.

Tadge has introduced several important advances to Bitcoin, such as the Lightning Network, DLCs, and Utreexo. Currently working independently to help more people use Bitcoin.

Taras Kulyk, JD, MBA is Synteq Digital's CEO & Co-Founder. He brings a decade of global experience in digital compute & data center development after starting his career in fintech and capital markets.

Prior to co-founding Synteq Digital, Taras served in a number of senior roles within the digital mining data center sector; including Founder & CEO of SunnySide Digital, and SVP Growth with Core Scientific, where he originated several billion dollars in total contract value.

Before beginning his data center focused career, Taras was a Toronto based investment banker with BMO Capital Markets covering the traditional mining sector, followed by over two years with TD Securities in the Communications, Media, and Technology team, where his coverage included telecom, technology, media and data center companies.

Tatum Turn Up is known as “The Bitcoin Mining Operations Guy,” with hands-on experience in Bitcoin miners, field operations, and mining logistics. He’s also a media preservationist and citizen archivist interested in OSINT and freedom of information, and the host of Between Two ASICs, a satirical talk show featuring guests like Vivek Ramaswamy, Jack Dorsey, and Peter McCormack.

Taylor Monnig currently serves as chief operating officer and chief technology officer for CleanSpark. He was previously the company’s senior vice president of mining technology. His dual role focuses on operational excellence in Bitcoin mining, energy optimization, and corporate functions, while driving innovation in software, hardware, and digital asset technology. Taylor founded TMGCore, where he previously served as its chief operating officer. In that role, he worked to develop and commercialize single phase and two-phase immersion cooling technologies for HPC and Bitcoin mining. He was issued a number of data center patents and won an Intel innovation award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Arizona State University.

Working on the bleeding edge of visualizing the Bitcoin protocol to champion awareness and education. TC launched the Timechain Calendar website in 2022 and the mobile app in 2025. Timechain Calendar is an explorer and live data dashboard that shows a visual representation of Bitcoin's most important features.

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.

Current: PubKey. Formerly: Fidelity, Stronghold, HODL Capital, and Hash Function

Timothy Darrah is an Army Veteran, former NASA Fellow, Adjunct Professor at Vanderbilt University, and Co-Founder of Mangrove. Tim has spent over a decade building AI technologies for complex systems in critical environments. His hobbies include day trading, financial markets, and macroeconomics.

Timo is a well-known figure in the Bitcoin mining industry. He discovered the technology in 2014 and built the first professional mining farm in Africa in 2016. Since then, he has expanded his operations globally.

As the founder of MIM, Timo aims to democratize the Bitcoin mining industry and make it accessible to every enthusiast in Europe. His commitment to decentralization and his expertise continue to drive innovation in Bitcoin mining.

Tim Savage is the Chief Executive Officer at Ion Strategies, directing the vision of the firm and leading investment strategy, methodology, and execution. Deeply connected in the digital assets industry, he has over 10 years of market experience with a focus on Bitcoin. He is an industry thought leader and has spoken at the largest Bitcoin conferences in the world. He also resides on the Board of Directors at the Texas Blockchain Council, advocating for balanced public policy.

Prior to founding Ion, Tim practiced as a CPA for 14 years. He was an accomplished Tax Partner at Weaver and was highly successful in building the firm’s blockchain and digital assets practice, advising digital asset investment funds, financial services companies, and bitcoin miners. Earlier in his career, he spent 3 years at Ernst & Young, working with global financial enterprises and ranked as an elite Senior at the firm.

Creative at BTC Inc since 2017, Bitcoin Magazine Artist in Residence from 2023–2026, currently building the Bitcoin Museum & Art Gallery (BMAG).

Tom has traveled the globe attending Bitcoin events and assisting with freedom focused projects. He is the Bitcoin and Nostr ambassador of The Beef Initiative. He focuses on building grassroots support and boots-on-the-ground projects for independent ranchers around the world.

Tony Beck — Co-Founder and CEO, Beck & Bulow. Pioneer in Bitcoin-native business adoption, including BTC payments, treasury reserves, and employee Bitcoin 401(k)s. Champion of real food, real money, and real people, hosting events and retreats at the Beck & Bulow Ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Tor Ekeland is a leading criminal defense lawyer in the Bitcoin space and one of the earliest attorneys to take Bitcoin seriously as both technology and money. Long before “crypto law” was a practice area, Tor was advising and defending clients where code, finance, and criminal law collide. As far as is publicly known, he was among the first lawyers anywhere in the world to accept Bitcoin as payment for legal services.

Over the past decade, Tor has been at the center of some of the most consequential Bitcoin-related criminal cases, representing developers, operators, and individuals in matters that have helped define how non-custodial software and privacy-preserving tools are treated under the law. His work is frequently cited and closely watched because it sits right at the edge of where regulation ends and overreach begins.

Tor is known for combining deep technical understanding with aggressive, principled defense work, and for consistently challenging expansive enforcement theories that threaten open-source development and individual privacy. He is a leading advocate for Bitcoin, privacy, and the legal risks facing developers building decentralized systems.

https://www.trace-mayer.com/proof-of-work/

She also serves on the Board of the Carlos Beltrán Baseball Academy, underscoring her commitment to youth development and education, and on the Board of the Bitcoin Advocacy Project, reflecting her continued leadership in policy engagement and industry stewardship.

Trey Sellers is VP, Sales at Unchained and the creator of FIRE BTC, a newsletter and podcast helping bitcoiners map their path to financial independence. At Unchained, he helps individuals and institutions acquire, secure, and maximize the value of their bitcoin holdings. Through FIRE BTC, he bridges the gap between traditional FIRE principles and bitcoin-native personal finance. Trey has a background spanning sales, finance, banking, technology, and consulting.

Troy is a philosopher and long-time bitcoiner devoted to making good on the promise that bitcoin holds for a freer, fairer, and more sustainable world. He is a fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and co-founder of The Nakamoto Project.

Tyler is a the Chief Investment Officer at Nakamoto Inc. He's the co-founder of BTC Inc., the publisher of Bitcoin Magazine and organizer of Bitcoin 2023. He is the Chief Investment Officer and General Partner at UTXO Management, an asset management firm focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem. Tyler serves on the boards of Metaplanet, the Smarter Web Company and Matador.

Tyler is a multifaceted builder in the bitcoin and energy sectors. As Founder & CEO of Exergy, he commercializes "hashrate heating," transforming Bitcoin miners into intelligent heating solutions for homes and businesses. He authored the book "Bitcoin Mining Heat Reuse" & spearheads the Hashrate Heatpunks community movement, advocating for this synergistic industry. Committed to open-source principles, Tyler serves as a Board Member of the 256 Foundation, a non-profit challenging proprietary mining control. He is also a Co-Founder of The Space, Denver's Bitcoin citadel.

PM at Block working on lightning.

Urban serves as the CEO of two subsidiaries of NiceHash and as the operational architect of the group, the world’s leading hashrate marketplace. Leveraging his background as a Corporate banker with a career spanning roles at Raiffeisen Bank, Sberbank, and Sparkasse, he transitioned from traditional banking to the Bitcoin frontier in 2022.
Today, he bridges the gap between legacy finance and the Bitcoin ecosystem, overseeing Operations, Financial Infrastructure, AML, and Marketing at the group level. A specialist in navigating the intersection of the Bitcoin economy and traditional finance within an evolving regulatory landscape, Urban is a leading voice on how Bitcoin enterprises can integrate with traditional financial systems while ensuring institutional-grade compliance without compromising the ethos of Bitcoin.

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.

Vijay Selvam is the author of Principles of Bitcoin (Columbia University Press), and currently serves as Chief Legal Officer at Elektron Energy. He is a corporate lawyer and financial services expert with nearly twenty years of experience across the United States, United Kingdom, and Asia. He spent more than a decade at Goldman Sachs and has also held multiple leadership roles in the digital assets industry.

Vortex is an application developer and former host of the bitcoin news show and creator of bitcoindev.org, a website for helping developers begin integrating bitcoin into their own applications.

I started with Bitcoin in 2012. At first, I was just interested in the fact that it was easily accessible and could be transferred anywhere without any verification. This is what made me stick with it. I quickly delved deeper into Bitcoin, purchasing my first miner and experimenting with it. I wrote some basic scripts to make use of my miner. Initially, Bitcoin was not what it is for me today. It started as an online currency that was nice to have and turned into something that is necessary for me today. After finishing my Business Computer Science degree in 2022, I wrote more and more code, and eventually discovered the Bitaxe project, which hooked me. I instantly understood why open source is so important, and why Bitcoin is so far removed from open source these days. I became a contributor and then a maintainer, and now I am the lead software developer of this project. I am driving forward innovation and updates for anyone interested in using open-source mining equipment.

Parker Worthington (WebWorthy) is a leading Bitcoin videographer and filmmaker. His documentary MY TRUST IN YOU IS BROKEN chronicles Bitcoin's Blocksize Wars through the origins of BTCPay Server, serving as the definitive film on this pivotal chapter in Bitcoin history. It won the Audience Award at Bitcoin Film Fest 2024. Working for Bitcoin Magazine, he directed Michael Saylor's Endgame video and stands out as the sole Bitcoin videographer to record an interview at the White House. From merchant Lightning rollouts to grassroots adoption stories, Parker creates compelling narratives that affirm Bitcoin as sovereign, non-custodial sound money.

As the President of Bitcoin Bay, the nation's first Bitcoin meetup turned 501(c)3, Wesley is a leader in the grassroots movement. His framework for Bitcoin organizations now guides the next wave of Bitcoin communities. Recognized in the Florida State Senate for his policy efforts, Wesley drives strategic partnerships to cement Florida as the world’s best place to be a Bitcoiner. He works to ensure Florida’s path to hyperbitcoinization runs through Bitcoin Bay.

William Casarin is the founder of Damus, building decentralized social media applications designed to give users control over their online experience—without algorithms or gatekeepers. He has been involved in bitcoin since 2010, beginning as a miner before contributing to Bitcoin Core and the Lightning Network. William is passionate about the future of bitcoin and the development of decentralized protocols.

Will Reeves is the Founder and CEO of Fold (Nasdaq: FLD), the first publicly traded Bitcoin financial services company. Built by bitcoiners for bitcoiners, Fold helps consumers and businesses earn, buy, and save bitcoin through everyday economic activity.

Since founding Fold in 2019, Will has grown the company into a national Bitcoin platform serving households and enterprise partners, distributing tens of millions in bitcoin rewards and building one of the largest Bitcoin treasuries among public operating companies.

His work focuses on integrating Bitcoin into the core of financial life by designing products, capital structures, and corporate strategies that treat Bitcoin as long term financial infrastructure.

Will is Director of Research for BlackRock in the Fundamental Equities group. He leads the firm’s research and investment in North American Energy public equities.

Prior to BlackRock, Will was a Strategist and Trader at Och-Ziff Capital Management specializing in crude oil, refined products, and broader commodities/equities. Prior to Och-Ziff, Will was a Portfolio Manager and Analyst at Jamison Capital Partners, a commodities-focused hedge fund, leading the firm's Energy derivatives trading and research. Will started his career at Goldman Sachs in the Global Investment Research division covering the Energy sector.

Will graduated with a B.S. from Columbia University, summa cum laude, with a major in Financial Engineering and minors in Economics and Computer Science. He is a CFA Charterholder and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

With over two decades of technical expertise, Wright Wang joined MicroBT in 2018 and contributed to the development of two generations of ASICs. Subsequently, he transitioned from R&D to marketing and was promoted to Marketing Director in 2019. Wright possesses a profound understanding of the technical challenges faced by MicroBT’s customers and has successfully collaborated with numerous clients to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. Under his able leadership, MicroBT has garnered recognition as a reputable brand, consistently delivering high-quality WhatsMiner products that are widely acclaimed by global customers. In 2023&2024, he was bestowed with the Outstanding Contribution Award of MicroBT, led the key client project team and won the award for outstanding team.

I help people with sound money strategies. Basilic Financial is a bitcoin focused wealth management firm guiding clients to prosperity with purpose. PAX Partners is private credit fund for the digital age offering investments into bitcoin collateralized loans.

My style is to blend financial savvy with a passion for Bitcoin and conservative values. I seek to offer my clients with a fresh, informed perspective on wealth management & investment product design. I am interested in the intersection of behavior, incentives, and markets. My values stem from my Christian faith. My hobbies, marriage, and involvement in communities keep me inspired.

Xander Wu is the Founder & CEO of Zillion Network, bridging power-dense campuses and AI compute through modular AI data centers and GPU cloud operations. Prior to Zillion, Xander held senior leadership roles at Bitmain, serving as an offtake anchor and execution backstop for leading mining operators, particularly North America’s largest publicly traded mining companies, securing gigawatt-scale power capacity, accelerating large-scale campus buildouts and energization, and scaling liquid-cooled, power-dense data center designs across the ecosystem. At Zillion Network, Xander helps mining and energy infrastructure owners transform Bitcoin mining sites into AI-ready data centers that meet AI offtaker standards and SLA-backed commitments. Zillion has deployed and operated 20K+ GPUs, including H100, H200, and Blackwell-class systems, powering large-scale clusters for both training and inference. Xander sits at the intersection of Bitcoin mining, energy infrastructure, and cloud-scale AI compute, focused on turning “MW and racks” into financeable and contractable AI capacity.

Yash Belavadi is Founder and CPO of Surge, building products that enable Bitcoiners to spend dollars while holding their bitcoin, and rethinking how the decade-old bitcoin lending market should work. He works across Bitcoin infrastructure, product, and market design, focused on making Bitcoin-backed credit more open, verifiable, and aligned with Bitcoin ethos.

He strongly believes the future of financial products lies at the intersection of robust DeFi infrastructure and better user experience. That belief drives his work in Bitcoin lending: creating products that are not only technically credible, but also intuitive, practical, and built around the values Bitcoiners care about most — sovereignty, transparency, and control.

Ying Tong is a co-founder and CTO at { ideal }. She is a senior cryptography engineer with previous work at Zcash and the Ethereum Foundation. She is one of the primary authors of Halo2 with extensive experience implementing circuits and proof systems. Ying Tong is the primary author of the Argo garbled circuits implementation, the industry-leading scheme for BitVM3.

Yves Choueifaty is the Founder of TOBAM, a quantitative asset manager known for pioneering both Maximum Diversification® and LBRTY®. He has been involved in Bitcoin since 2013 and launched the first institutional strategies dedicated to Bitcoin and blockchain-related equities. Yves is a frequent speaker on portfolio construction, monetary evolution, and Bitcoin treasury strategies. TOBAM focuses on delivering exposures traditional asset managers do not yet provide.

Zach Herbert is co-founder and CEO of Foundation, a startup working to build the open hardware foundation for Bitcoin and a freedom-centric Internet. Zach studied mechanical engineering at Boston University and dropped out of Harvard Business School’s MBA program after his first year. Zach is passionate about Bitcoin, freedom tech, product design, and hardware.

Congressman Zach Nunn serves on the House Financial Services Committee, the House Agriculture Committee, and the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, where he is helping shape policies that ensure America leads in financial innovation and digital asset development.

A strong advocate for responsible innovation, Rep. Nunn has advanced policies designed to keep Bitcoin development, mining, and capital formation anchored in the United States rather than driven offshore to adversarial regimes such as the Chinese Communist Party. His approach emphasizes regulatory clarity, technological competitiveness, and market-driven growth to strengthen America’s economic leadership in the digital age.

Leveraging his background in cybersecurity and national security, Rep. Nunn introduced and successfully passed the bipartisan Financial Technology Protection Act unanimously through the House. The legislation targets illicit finance while protecting decentralized technologies—reflecting his belief that Bitcoin’s transparency, resilience, and security can reinforce, not undermine, the global financial system.

Rep. Nunn focuses on advancing policies that promote innovation, safeguard national security, and position the United States as the world’s premier environment for Bitcoin infrastructure and digital asset entrepreneurship.

Author of The Bitcoin Tao

Zack Shapiro is the Managing Partner at Rains LLP and leads the law practice and advises Bitcoin-focused startups. He also serves as Head of Policy at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, and is the Executive Director of the Peer-to-Peer Rights Fund. Zack is a graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School, and started his legal career clerking in the federal courts for the S.D.N.Y. and the 2nd Circuit, and at Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Zac is the Co-Founder and CEO of Meanwhile, the world's first financial institution denominated in Bitcoin. Meanwhile operates a licensed and regulated life insurance carrier that uses Bitcoin as its exclusive currency. The life insurer offers wealth planning products to Bitcoiners and BTC companies.