Bitcoin conferences are a dime a dozen today. There’s all the things from the large-scale Vegas-type occasions with 30,000 attendees that BTC Inc. (the proprietor of Bitcoin Journal) places on, to the small, intimate gatherings of dozens or a whole bunch of devoted Bitcoiners — or the ten,000 attendees that BTC Prague gathered within the Czech capital this 12 months. All of them serve a function and cater to a particular area of interest, they usually’re vital to totally different individuals at totally different phases of their Bitcoin journeys, wherever they’re.
Remu Karhulahti joins me, from an enviable and impeccably pristine Finnish panorama — pine tree and birch bushes, sun-glimmering lake, blue skies… and sure, there was an out of doors sauna within the background — to speak in regards to the latest Bitcoin convention child on the block: BTCHel, the primary large-scale Bitcoin convention within the Nordics. Going down on August 15-16 in Helsinki, Finland, the group is bringing names like Jeff Sales space, Peter Todd, Giacomo Zucco, Knut Svanholm and Adam Again to the Finnish capital. Lower than a month earlier than the occasion kicks off, we discuss Bitcoin adoption, the panorama within the Nordic nations and the necessity for one more Bitcoin convention.
JB: Remu, you’re the CEO of BTCHel, a brand new Bitcoin convention and the primary of its form within the Nordics — why one other European occasion?
Remu: Effectively, I had been to all the most important European ones — Baltic Honey Badger, BTC Amsterdam, BTC Prague, Bitcoin Atlantis, Oslo Freedom Discussion board and so forth. — and felt that I had a number of expertise as an attendee. I had labored the cubicles at a number of of them and I’ve additionally organized occasions up to now. I had studied Bitcoin since 2020, and labored with the European e-book writer Konsensus, and I felt that we had an untapped potential right here within the Nordic nations.
We run this neighborhood hub in downtown Helsinki all 12 months spherical, the place everybody from hardcore Bitcoiners to random plebs off the road hang around. Some simply come for the bitcoin ATM we now have, others are inquisitive about Bitcoin, and a few simply present up. (The massive orange home windows additionally draw some consideration.)
There had been month-to-month meetup occasions in Helsinki since 2014 with 30-40 individuals repeatedly attending, and we needed to make one thing greater — give again to the neighborhood. When our group of 5 bought collectively in August final 12 months, we realized that we now have all these unconnected initiatives in Finland: the miners, varied Bitcoin firms, the energetic local people, the Finnish Bitcoin Affiliation, and loads of tech-savvy individuals (eds. word: Finland is at quantity 5 on Bitnodes’ record of reachable nodes, in a rustic with fewer individuals than Minnesota).
JB: What’s the meant viewers? Don’t you suppose one more Bitcoin occasion would cannibalize attendees from among the established ones?
Remu: No, not likely. The Nordic panorama is an unexplored area of interest, and it was only a matter of time earlier than anyone would arrange an occasion like this. Many Bitcoin conferences and corporations are specializing in massive markets just like the U.S. or continental Europe, however it is best to actually go the place others aren’t going.
I don’t really suppose that BTCHel competes with the bigger European conferences. We undoubtedly have an area aggressive edge right here in that we would draw people who find themselves sufficient to attend a two-day occasion in Helsinki, however wouldn’t journey to, say, Riga, Prague, or Amsterdam for it. The hardcore Bitcoiners such as you and me clearly wish to go to all of them, however there’s all the time a big, native viewers that gained’t — people who find themselves not a part of the clique. To date, we’ve had a number of tickets bought to Germans, so I believe we’ll have a big worldwide presence as nicely. For BTCHel 2025, we predict we’ll get about 1,000-1,200 attendees.
JB: Do you even have Finnish-language content material, or is it English-only?
Remu: Principally English and worldwide. We do have a small aspect stage for Finnish shows however that’s about it.
JB: You talked about that some Finnish Bitcoiners had crowdfunded 200 copies of Nik Bhatia’s e-book “Layered Cash” to ship to Finnish members of Parliament. What has the response been, and the way’s the Bitcoin discuss going amongst Finnish legislators?
Remu: Sure, it was a enjoyable initiative in 2023, and we adopted up with some suggestions however didn’t actually hear an excessive amount of again. I don’t suppose most Finnish politicians are hostile to bitcoin, however bitcoin is nothing to them. The one factor that comes up is the mining trade, the place a proposal to tax miners extra was launched final 12 months however didn’t cross.
JB: Why do you suppose Bitcoin hasn’t taken off within the Nordics? It’s an in any other case fairly tech-savvy area, with high-speed web entry in all places and cell funds and so forth., so what’s stopping bitcoin adoption over right here?
Remu: I’ve a principle about this. Such as you say, Nordics had been early to tech and the web, and particularly in Finland with Linux and the open supply motion, we now have a number of people who find themselves focused on these matters. However Finland is a high-trust society — peaceable, with a number of safety for personal property and belief in establishments. And that’s what bitcoin solves, so there isn’t a acute want for the answer that’s bitcoin. For common individuals, it simply doesn’t make sense.
JB: What’s the thought with BTCHel? Are you going to run this convention yearly like many of the others, or, say, each 4 years like Bitcoin Atlantis?
Remu: We’re planning to do that long run, and we’ll put up BTCHel subsequent 12 months once more. The ethos for the group and the core worth of BTCHel is that it’s community-driven and grassroots. My imaginative and prescient for what we’re doing right here is that we’re constructing a really welcoming place, open for everybody who needs to take part and study. I’ve already made plans to scale subsequent 12 months even greater, so we will make it extra accessible to plebs and bootstrapped start-ups.
All the opposite main conferences normally have a mom firm or a big sponsor behind them, so in the event that they don’t make a revenue they will nonetheless maintain going… with the draw back that they’re beholden to that firm. We don’t have that. We’re plebs, community-driven, and we bootstrapped from the bottom up — and it’s fairly seemingly that we gained’t handle to make a revenue both. We’re doing this for the love of the sport.
JB: So, how are you going to run the convention subsequent 12 months, then, in the event you’re not making a revenue?
Remu: Ah, we’ll determine it out. Possibly bitcoin’s worth retains going up, and our firm treasury will increase in worth.
Disclaimer: BTC Inc., the guardian firm of Bitcoin Journal, additionally places on Bitcoin conferences around the globe: Bitcoin Asia in Hong Kong, Aug 28-29; Bitcoin Amsterdam, Nov 13-14; Bitcoin MENA in Abu Dhabi, Dec 8-9; and the flagship occasion Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas, April 27-29, 2026.
