There is a moment Justin, Head of Events at BTC Inc, keeps coming back to. In 2021, the Bitcoin conference audience watched a recorded message from Ross Ulbricht, still in prison at the time. People cried. Four years later, in 2025, Ulbricht walked onto that same stage in person, pardoned and free, to address 25,000 attendees. “That whole full circle moment,” Justin said, “that’s what it’s all about.”
It is a fitting story to open with, because it captures something The Blockopedia’s Co-founder Mohammad Ahmad Khan kept circling back to throughout their conversation: Bitcoin conferences are not really about Bitcoin the asset. They are about a community that shows up for each other in a way Ahmad says he has not seen replicated anywhere else on the conference circuit.
From a 2,500 Person Room to a Global Series
Justin joined the team behind Bitcoin Magazine in a marketing role back in 2018, moving into events the following year. The first conference he ever helped run, Bitcoin 2019 in San Francisco, drew around 2,500 people and was, at the time, the largest Bitcoin gathering ever held. Eight years later, the series regularly pulls in tens of thousands of attendees across Miami, Amsterdam, Abu Dhabi and now Hong Kong, with Bitcoin Asia 2026 landing August 27 and 28 at the Hong Kong Convention Center.
Justin pointed to a handful of genuine inflection points along the way, from Edward Snowden speaking in 2019 to the first post pandemic Miami event, but singled out 2024, when Donald Trump addressed the crowd, as the moment the conference’s gravity pulled in an audience far beyond the existing Bitcoin community.
Building for Every Kind of Attendee, Not Just One
What struck Ahmad most, hearing Justin describe the programming process, was how deliberately unsegmented the event is. There is an open source stage for developers, a Mandarin language track, institutional programming like Bitcoin for Corporations and a matchmaking style Deal Day for enterprise attendees, and a full 101 track for total newcomers. Justin was blunt about the philosophy behind it: “You should not be segmenting out one audience… it’s really about building something for everyone.”
That same instinct is behind one of this year’s more unexpected additions, an entire trading card expo running alongside the main conference. The idea came from a smaller card expo the team ran in Las Vegas, where Justin noticed the sheer overlap between people who collect Bitcoin and people who collect Pokémon and other trading cards. With 50 to 60 booths planned, the expo doubles as what Justin openly calls an orange pill strategy, a way to introduce Bitcoin to a crowd that may have never considered it.
Why Hong Kong
Ahmad pushed Justin on why Hong Kong specifically, given the series already runs events in Miami, Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi. Justin’s answer centered on Hong Kong’s unusual concentration of every relevant demographic in one place: grassroots builders, institutional players, and active pro Bitcoin regulatory momentum from the city’s Securities and Futures Commission. This year’s lineup reflects that breadth, headlined by Balaji Srinivasan for the sovereignty and financial freedom crowd, Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich and David Bailey for the corporate treasury audience, and local policy voices like Johnny Ng and Duncan Chiu for those following Hong Kong’s regulatory path. CZ was also just confirmed as a headline speaker.
What Success Looks Like in a Bear Market
One of the more honest moments in the conversation came when Justin addressed expectations directly. Last year’s event, held during a bull market, drew around 20,000 people. This year, in a bear market, the team is expecting just over 10,000, and Justin framed that plainly as a real success rather than a step back. In his experience, bear market conferences tend to draw a more committed, longer tenured crowd, which often makes for more meaningful conversations on the floor, even with lower attendance.
Ahmad attended Bitcoin Mena and Bitcoin Abu Dhabi himself, offering his own reflection on why these events hit differently than the dozens of other Web3 conferences he covers annually. At other events, he said, he tends to run into the same faces every time. At Bitcoin gatherings, he keeps meeting entirely new people, ones genuinely excited to talk about the technology itself rather than price movement.
Looking Ahead
Asked about the next two years, Justin kept the answer simple: growth, more markets, and continued movement toward what the Bitcoin community calls hyperbitcoinization. He confirmed the team is already scouting new regions for future events, though he declined to name them ahead of an expected announcement at Bitcoin Asia itself.
For anyone still deciding whether to attend, Justin’s closing message was direct: look at the agenda, the speakers and the side events, find the one thing that pulls you in, and show up. “Once you see it in person,” he said, “you’re hooked.”
Watch the full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LjhHRDwcX4&t=43s
