Agenda
45
Days
12
Hours
44
Mins
29
Secs
Friday–Saturday, December 18–19, 2026
Online, collaboration with the Kennedy Center
Organized in collaboration with the Kennedy Center. Due to Kennedy Center renovations, online this year (Friday–Saturday, December 18–19, 2026) on Riverside Webinar, single stage. Returns to the Kennedy Center in September 2027.
When
Friday–Saturday, December 18–19, 2026
Where
Online, collaboration with the Kennedy Center
Agenda
Friday, December 18
Time
Activity
9:00 AM
Keynote · Welcome Remarks — Prof. Aurelien Portuese, BTC in DC. The day opens with why this forum sits in the nation’s capital. Portuese sets the two-day question: how Washington can leave room for Bitcoin while writing rules that people can actually use. The welcome also explains the single-stage rhythm, so every session is shared by the whole room.
9:20 AM
Keynote · The Deflationary Opportunity — Jeff Booth, Ego Death Capital. Booth argues that technology keeps pushing the cost of goods down, and that money which fights that trend creates fragility. He connects those ideas to the choices facing Congress and capital allocators, and measures policy by whether people keep more of what they earn.
9:45 AM
Fireside · A U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve — Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Joe Kelly, Unchained. They examine what it would mean for the United States to hold Bitcoin as a reserve asset: custody, the legislative path, and the difference between a press release and a working statute. The conversation maps where the BITCOIN Act stands and what still has to be built.
10:15 AM
Fireside · Congress and the Open Network — Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Janessa Lopez, Block. They trace how a member’s office learns Bitcoin, from first hearing to drafted text, covering market structure, self-custody, and the cost of treating software as a licensed bank. The hour is about writing rules that do not freeze the protocol in last year’s business model.
11:00 AM
Fireside · Proof of Work, Up Close — Adam Back, Blockstream, and Aurelien Portuese. They slow the protocol down for a policy audience: why proof of work is a feature, how hash rate follows energy, and what lawmakers misunderstand about mining. It is a technical briefing that still speaks in sentences a committee can use.
11:30 AM
Panel · The Orange Wave in Business — Jacob Seifert, Scott Lindberg, Kit Stanwood. Moderated by Jeff Newman. Operators who put Bitcoin on a balance sheet, in a classroom, and in a shop explain what changed on Monday morning: payroll, suppliers, and customers who ask to pay in sats. Start small, publish the policy, and let the tool prove itself.
2:00 PM
Keynote · Bitcoin and Digital Credit — Michael Saylor, Strategy. Saylor lays out the shift from a currency used once to property held as capital: corporate treasury practice, digital credit, and why a scarce bearer asset changes the cost of capital. The address is built for people who allocate, regulate, or report on public companies.
2:40 PM
Keynote · Nation-State Adoption — Samson Mow, JAN3. Mow compresses the nation-state story into a short keynote: what changes when a country holds Bitcoin, why smaller states moved first, and the political risk of waiting for a perfect statute. A field report aimed at the people in the room who write those statutes.
2:50 PM
Panel · Congress and Bitcoin — Rep. Buddy Carter, Rep. Kat Cammack, Rep. Tom Emmer. Moderated by Hailey Miller. Three members compare how Bitcoin shows up in their districts, from energy to payments to speech, and what a whip count actually looks like.
3:20 PM
Panel · The Bitcoin Treasury Companies — Matt Prusak, Shahan Khoshafian, Kyle Schneps, Georges Karam. Moderated by Pierre Rochard. Public and private companies explain why they hold Bitcoin and how they report it: dilution, custody, and the questions auditors and boards now ask in the first meeting.
4:00 PM
Panel · Revolution and Control — Lawrence Lepard, Joe Gruters, Charlie Shrem, CJ Konstantinos. Moderated by Matty Ice. An author, a party chair, an early builder, and a reserve project argue how far Washington should steer a network built to need no permission.
4:45 PM
Panel · Consumer Protection in Bitcoin — Nick Spanos and Colin Crossman. Moderated by Preston Pysh. Protection that does not ban the tool: disclosure, fraud, and what a state office can do when the asset is global and the customer is local. Rules aimed at liars, not at the protocol.
5:15 PM
Panel · Bitcoin Mining in North America — Curtis Harris, Sonya Murphy, Gwyn Lauber, Darcy Daubaras. Operators and policy staff describe where North American mining actually sits: power contracts, hardware, local politics, and what a site needs from a grid.
Saturday, December 19
Time
Activity
9:00 AM
Keynote · Opening Remarks — George Washington University. Day two starts with a short reset from the university that convenes the forum: education and policy in the same room, on one stage, pointing to the human-rights, energy, and regulatory hours ahead.
9:05 AM
Keynote · Why the Design Matters — Michael Goldstein, Satoshi Nakamoto Institute. Goldstein returns to first principles: scarcity, verification, and why those choices were not accidents. He separates Bitcoin from a generic crypto policy bucket and gives the rest of the day its vocabulary.
9:15 AM
Keynote · Teaching Bitcoin — Giacomo Zucco, Plan B Network. Zucco makes the case that bad education produces bad law, and describes how to teach Bitcoin to people who did not arrive as enthusiasts, including staff and students. Clarity treated as a civic duty, not a marketing channel.
9:30 AM
Panel · Bitcoin Policy Frameworks — Thomas Pacchia and Anastasia Dellaccio. Moderated by Will Cole. They compare city, state, and federal layers of Bitcoin policy, and what a chamber, a bar, and a founder each need from the same statute. Frameworks a member can brief in one page.
10:10 AM
Fireside · Markets, Media, and the Record — Mark Moss and Frank Corva. How Bitcoin is explained once it reaches a mainstream audience and a newsroom: incentives in media, the stories that travel, and the ones that get flattened. Accuracy treated as part of advocacy.
10:30 AM
Panel · El Salvador’s Bitcoin Adoption — Milena Mayorga, Stacy Herbert, Max Keiser. Moderated by Tomer Strolight. An ambassador, the head of a national Bitcoin office, and an advisor describe what adoption looks like after the law is signed: reserves, education, and the gap between a foreign headline and daily use.
11:10 AM
Fireside · Bonds, Savings, and the Product — Pierre Rochard and Cory Klippsten. Two ways Americans meet Bitcoin: a bond-style treasury tool and a savings product. Custody, client education, and the sentences that belong in a disclosure.
11:30 AM
Panel · Sustainable Bitcoin Mining — Darcy Daubaras, Bob Burnett, Beau Turner, Gary Krause. Moderated by Elliot David. Stranded power, grid services, and how a site is financed. Environmental claims treated as something to measure, not recite.
2:00 PM
Fireside · The Administration’s Digital Asset Brief — Patrick Witt, Harry Jung, and Andrew Rittenhouse. Officials from the White House and Treasury describe work already underway: interagency process, the strategic reserve conversation, and what accumulation would require in practice.
2:40 PM
Panel · Bitcoin and Human Rights — Frank Corva, Anna Chekhovich, Jorge Jraissati. Moderated by Arsh Molu. A bearer asset for people who cannot trust a local bank or a local court, and tools that move value when accounts are frozen.
3:20 PM
Panel · Honest Money and Behavior — Chris Sullivan, Shawn Baker, Tiffany Cianci, Shane Smith. Moderated by Alex Stanczyk. How a money that cannot be quietly diluted changes personal and professional incentives, from a portfolio desk, a clinic, advocacy, and insurance.
4:00 PM
Panel · The New American Dream — Halston Valencia, GenZ BTC, Tom Conley, Trey Musgrave. Moderated by John Balkam. Younger voices and a public servant describe what opportunity looks like when saving in a scarce asset is possible. Adoption that does not start in a boardroom.
4:45 PM
Panel · U.S. Regulators — Landon Zinda, Arpan Sura, Travis Voyles. Moderated by Eleanor Terrett. Counsel and officials from the SEC, the FCC, and the EPA sit with a reporter who covers them, and explain how each agency even meets Bitcoin.
5:20 PM
Keynote · Cornell Bitcoin Study — Ella Hough. Findings from Cornell’s global Bitcoin study and what the numbers imply for policy. Built to be cited: method, result, and the limit of the claim. A research close rather than another opinion.
SECURE YOUR SPOT
45
Days
12
Hours
44
Mins
29
Secs
