← The Bitcoin Treasuries Podcast with Tim Kotzman
The Bitcoin Treasuries Podcast with Tim Kotzman
BTC Prague & Bitcoin Corporate Day: What You Need to Know
00:19:16
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome back to the Bitcoin Treasuries podcast. I'm Tim Kotsman. I'm here with Matias, the founder of Bitcoin Prague and Bitcoin Corporate Day. Matias, thanks for your time. Thanks for joining us today.
- [00:13]
B
Thank you for invitation Tim and looking forward to chat.
- [00:17]
A
Maybe we can start with Bitcoin Prague because I think everyone's heard of Bitcoin Prague. Maybe can you give us a little bit of background and history and what year is this of Bitcoin Prague? And then maybe fewer people are aware of Bitcoin Corporate Day and how that has really taken off. So maybe we can cover those two points to start.
- [00:40]
B
Yeah. So for those who don't know, BTC Prague is the biggest bitcoin conference on the continent. Every year we welcome more than 7,000 people. We have four stages, 250 speakers, more than 100 companies, Bitcoin only companies in the expo area. And this will be the fourth year. So we started with this international conference in 2023 when we were already organizing our Czech bitcoin conference for three years. So the whole show started in 2020 during the COVID times when no one really could meet. We were under the very heavy lockdowns and we were postponing the dates for this first bitcoin conference in Czech Republic in only Czech language. And we actually managed to do it in September 2020 and we had 500 people there wearing masks. It was very strange time as you can remember. And because we did it, we kind of made this conference even though it was very difficult for us. It gave us an escape velocity and we are kind of benefiting from this first push from until now and we've been growing. So the first conference was 500 people. The next year was 1,000 people. The year after we had 2,000 people only in Czech language. So in 2022 we actually became the biggest non English speaking bitcoin conference in the world. Czech Republic has a great background like bitcoin was here since 2009. The first hardware wallet, Trezor, first mining pool, slash pool, the biggest ATM manufacturer, General Bytes, a lot of cypherpunk, libertarian and anarcho capitalist bits background made Czech Republic really a fertile soil. So this really helped us to establish such a strong base here in the Czech Republic in the middle of the Europe, small country, very historical with, with quite difficult history to to, to be honest. But that's exactly what what made us the, the community, what we are today.
- [03:06]
A
And when did Bitcoin Corporate day start? Was last year. The first one, what was the impetus, what was the idea behind it and how has it been going so far?
- [03:18]
B
Yeah, good question. We've been watching the institutionalization of bitcoin space since 2024. We thought that it will come, but it didn't. So 25 was the year we said now is the right time to actually start one more event which is Bitcoin Corporate Day. So it was last year in June during BTC Prague. And the reason behind that was that we, we recognize many of high level attendees, super high net worth individuals, institutions, family offices. They, they didn't find BTC Prague interesting enough. Let's say this way. BTC Prague is mostly for retail, also business. But it's not, it's not intimate. So we said to ourselves, let's organize one more event which will be invite only behind the closed doors where we can really focus only on this small edge of bitcoin which is, which is money. Because for us hardcore bitcoiners, Bitcoin is much more than money, is a freedom tool. It's a open source technology, it is a community. But, but to be honest, the traditional finance world is not interested in those other aspects. So we tailored this event Bitcoin Corporate Day for exactly this audience. And the purpose is to bridge the barrier between bitcoiners and the traditional world. So we are talking about everything, what you need as an institutional investor or a senior decision maker, you to quickly adopt Bitcoin to your organization and we speed up the process of adoption this way. So the reason behind it is just to help bitcoin adoption save the world and make sure that the transition phase into a new monetary standard is rather smoother and peaceful.
- [05:27]
A
And do you want to touch on. There's, there's at least two Bitcoin corporate days in this year, in 2026, is that correct?
- [05:35]
B
Yeah. So, so the next one, the most closest one is during BTC Prague or let's say before, just the day before the official flagship event starts June 10 Wednesday in Prague on, on the Prague Castle. It's a, it's a beautiful place. It's actually the, the biggest castle complex in the world. I think it's more than thousand year old. So we choose this place to make sure that attendees from all the world will not only get the right knowledge but they will feel some kind of exclusivity. And the second event we are planning is going to be in London in square miles in September, September 22nd. We are just finalizing the details and we will announce it soon. So those two events are planned for 2026 and perhaps there will be more. We just don't know which city we will choose to visit. Because really, BCD is the event which will be traveling around the European cities just to meet the audience, the traditional world, halfway. Because honestly just it's very difficult to get C level managers to Prague. So we said to ourselves, let's do this step and go to the cities, to the environment they are familiar with. And this way, I guess it will be more successful than just waiting for people come to Prague.
- [07:22]
A
What's the best way for people to look at information? Is there a website, tickets, all of that sort of thing both for BTC Prague and for. Is the Bitcoin Corporate Day still invite only? And so there's a website for BTC Prague, is that correct?
- [07:41]
B
Yes, yes. So there is, there IS website for btcprague btcproc.com you can find all the informations on the website. The lineup is there. I would really recommend to be part of, to buy the ticket for the whole three days because Thursday is without retail. So it's more institutional, more business focused. So you shouldn't miss that. And the webpage for Bitcoin Corporate Day is bitcoincorporated.com and you can click on the, on the button on the very top, request the access. So we are curating this event. As you can imagine, there is a huge demand. So if you feel like you fit into the room, just ask for the invitation and we will get back to you.
- [08:31]
A
Awesome.
- [08:32]
B
Yeah. So Prague is beautiful city and it makes sense to connect those two events. We have VIP zone in the main event, at the main event where you can meet all the speakers and all the founders and senior managers from the bitcoin ecosystem. So it's definitely worth traveling across the ocean.
- [08:59]
A
How have you been thinking through programming for BTC Prague with such a focus now on the corporate and institutional adoption, do you think it'll kind of evolve over time or is it really important to keep the main BTC Prague stage really focused on the core freedom and money aspects of Bitcoin?
- [09:28]
B
Yeah, it's a very delicate thing to create and to manage all the content which is necessary to have at BTC Prague and also Bitcoin Corporate Day. And I'm a program director, so I'm, I'm creating all stages and I need to balance the, the whole thing because people are coming to Bitcoin for different reasons. And one of our mottos is empowering individuals and that goes through the whole, whole event space and through all our events, we want our attendees to feel empowered and not only sitting and listening the interesting talks. We really like actionability. So there is always something to take it from every single talk. That's pretty much how I lead the way and how I lead the speakers. I never put the words in their mouth. I just tell them to leave people with some homework or action call. And it works. It works very well. Regarding the topics, we have four main topics. It's money, freedom, community and open source technology. So you can expect to find everything from those at BTC Prague. And if we are talking about Bitcoin Corporate Day, the program really reflects what the partners and what the institutional world is prepared to offer. We are really still in the beginning. So it's about investment, but it's also about how to onboard other institutions and how to talk to your board members. It's about regulations, legislative changes and pretty much how to prepare for the next wave of institutional adoption. How to be the winner really. Because the first comers here have a huge advantage and the tools are different. And as an institutional, as an institutional kind of member or attendee, you should know what are the options. So we are here to give you the options and give you the shortcuts not only to the tools but to the people who can lead you through the whole process. Because at the end the Internet is unlimited. You can find everything on the Internet, but who has the time to really go and watch thousands of hours of YouTube videos and really make sure that navigates through the whole chaotic space? Right? So at BTCProc and BCD, we are making sure that we create the space and the environment in a way that it will amplify the effect of, of your time there. It's. We are creating, we are finding the, the signal in the noise and, and broadcasting it to our attendees.
- [12:41]
A
How do you think about. I guess I'm thinking of four segments. Individuals, corporates, institutions, meaning like Wall Street, BlackRock, Fidelity and then nation states. Is there kind of. I mean Obviously retail was 0 to $100,000 Bitcoin. How do you personally think about the corporate track and adoption and institutions and nation states? And is it kind of this bob and weave of if the nation states take off, then the corporates and Wall street are even more in. And it's almost like this not push and pull but very dynamic environment where it's really anyone's guess as to what happens over the next couple of years with all of this more institutional and nation state adoption that could potentially take us up an octave. So to speak.
- [13:41]
B
Yeah, you know, I, I think that bitcoin is going through the evolution. The events four years ago were full of black hoodies, anarcho capitalists, hackers, like technologies pretty much, and freedom fighters, libertarians. The. I think that we are kind of over this and for the next wave of individuals because those people really like bitcoin and they could see the future with bitcoin. But most of the people, the normies, Jim and Joe from the street, I think for them to really enter bitcoin, they need to see bitcoin as an offering from their favorite institution, from their favorite bank. So I'm taking the institutionalization of bitcoin as a necessary part of the evolution to onboard the next wave of people, of individuals. So it is kind of push and pull or what's the analogy you used? I think it is true. And it needs to go all in like simultaneously. And that's what we are doing. We are pushing the retail, we are pushing the middle class and small businesses. We are trying to onboard them to accept bitcoin. And also we are working on institutional adoption because everything needs to happen if we want bitcoin to stay distributed enough. That's another point. I don't feel very well if I see that there are just two or three big buyers and bitcoin is not getting to the hands of the others. But it's about every single person to decide if they want to buy bitcoin or not. So I think that the next wave is coming and it's just a matter of few small steps. What needs to happen like now, with clarity, act. It's one of these steps. In Europe it was a mica regulation and those things really opens the door and, and tore down the barriers for the big players to entry.
- [16:08]
A
BTCPrague.com is that where we need to go to get tickets?
- [16:13]
B
Yeah. BTCPrague.com make sure that you go for three day or the VIP ticket. It's not that expensive to fly first class with us. You can get really in touch with all the important people from the bitcoin space. We are hardcore Bitcoin conference. No blockchain, no web3nfts. You don't see that at BTC Prague. No politicians on the stage. We do it in the right way with the right ethos. So I'm 100% sure that everyone comes to BTC Prague will go away satisfied and with more conviction. And again, Prague as a city is really beautiful. It's. It's very historical with great food and the best beer. In the planet.
- [17:04]
A
I can definitely attest to that. Prague is is a unique and magical and super fun place to visit. Well, Matthias, thank you for your time today. I'll send over to you if you have any closing thoughts or or anything to wrap us up, but really appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us.
- [17:20]
B
Thank you very much. And if any of your listeners have any questions, my DMs on Twitter or LinkedIn are open. So just hit me up and I'll be happy to give you some tips for Prague or any guidance you need.
- [17:34]
A
Awesome. Thanks, Matthias. We'll talk to you soon.
- [17:36]
B
Thanks Tim.
- [17:38]
A
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