Common S3nse, a two-day privacy-focused conference and hackathon, is now just nine days away, taking place September 4–5 in Amsterdam as part of Cypherpunk Week Amsterdam.

Bringing together privacy advocates, developers, cypherpunks, researchers, and builders, Common S3nse is set to explore the technologies and ideas shaping a more private digital future.

If privacy, decentralization, and open-source technology are your thing, this is one event you won’t want to miss.

Learn more: https://cryptoevents.global/common-s3nse-2026-amsterdam/

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The Cypherpunk Week Agenda

• Aug 31 — Sep 5 — Solana Startup Village Amsterdam

• Sep 1 — Web3Privacy Now Meetup

• Sep 2 — Red Light Cypherpunks: A Walking Tour

• Sep 3 — DashCon

• Sep 3 — Floating Tech Talk #6 XXL Edition

• Sep 4-5 — Common S3nse

• Sep 4 — Bugs & Beers: Researchers, Builders, and Anyone Who Gives a Damn About Security

• Sep 5 — Rebellious Cypherpunks: Afterparty

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New York City is set to become a meeting point for the global blockchain industry this September as UN Blockchain Week 2026 takes place from September 10–19, bringing together more than 1,000 participants across more than 100 events, panels, workshops and networking sessions.

The 10-day program is being held alongside the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and New York Fashion Week (NYFW), positioning the event at the intersection of blockchain technology, international policy, finance, artificial intelligence, energy and culture.

Organizers describe the week as a platform connecting policymakers, investors, technology builders and industry professionals while exploring how blockchain and related technologies could influence financial markets and emerging industries. The official program identifies Bitcoin, AI, energy, space, money, blockchain, technology, fashion and investment among its principal themes.

A Two-Day Conference Anchors the 10-Day Program

The centerpiece of the week will be the UN Blockchain Week Conference, taking place on September 16–17 in New York.

The two-day conference is designed around high-level discussions covering Bitcoin, AI, energy, space and blockchain adoption, bringing together policymakers, institutional representatives, entrepreneurs and builders.

The program reflects the increasingly interconnected nature of the digital-asset sector. Bitcoin and blockchain infrastructure will be discussed alongside artificial intelligence, energy markets and the emerging space economy, while the event’s broader schedule extends into fashion and consumer technology.

Among the announced speakers are Brock Pierce, futurist, philanthropist and economist; Vít Jedlička, president and founder of Liberland; Michael Terpin, entrepreneur, adviser and investor; Bruce Porter Jr., CEO of GlobalBoost; and Lou Kerner, founder of DAIAA and CryptoMondays.

The event’s official program also includes BitcoinPalooza, scheduled for September 17 at the Hard Rock Cafe Times Square, followed by the Washington Elite Investment Summit & Gala on September 18.

From Blockchain Policy to Fashion-Tech

One of the defining features of UN Blockchain Week is its effort to move beyond a traditional crypto conference format.

The organizers are using the simultaneous concentration of international leaders and fashion-industry participants in New York to create programming around the convergence of blockchain with creative industries and emerging technologies.

The official themes include Bitcoin and the future of money, AI-powered autonomous agents, decentralized applications in the space economy, energy innovation and fashion-tech.

That broader scope is reflected in the week-long schedule, which includes panels, workshops, networking events and runway programming alongside more conventional blockchain discussions.

According to the organizers, the objective is to create opportunities for different sectors to meet at a time when New York is hosting a particularly concentrated international audience.

Washington Elite Gala to Close the Week

The week will culminate with the Washington Elite Investment Summit & Gala on September 18 in Times Square.

The event, hosted by Bruce and David Porter, combines a closed-door investment summit with a black-tie gala and networking program. Its stated focus spans energy, fashion, crypto and digital assets, privacy, AI and space.

The gala is being presented as the flagship event of Blockchain Week, with participation subject to approval. Organizers say the gathering is intended to connect investors, policymakers, institutional leaders and innovators, with the evening running from 6 p.m. until midnight.

The investment-focused format adds another dimension to a week otherwise dominated by conferences and community events, giving founders and investors an opportunity to discuss capital, partnerships and emerging technology away from the main conference floor.

The final day, September 19, is scheduled to feature the Pause the World for Peace clean-energy and peace concert in Times Square, providing a public-facing conclusion to the program.

A Meeting Point for the Broader Blockchain Industry

UN Blockchain Week arrives at a time when the blockchain industry increasingly overlaps with traditional finance, artificial intelligence, energy infrastructure and other technology sectors.

Its timing in New York is a central part of the proposition. With international policymakers, financial institutions, technology companies, investors and media organizations converging on the city, organizers are seeking to make blockchain part of broader conversations around technological and economic development rather than treating it as a standalone industry.

For attendees, the 10-day format also offers a different proposition from a conventional two- or three-day conference. Participants can combine the flagship September 16–17 conference with specialist events, networking sessions, cultural programming and investment-focused gatherings throughout the week.

The event offers general admission and VIP options, with VIP access including additional networking opportunities and access to the Washington Elite Gala.

For members of the Bitcoin and wider Web3 communities, UN Blockchain Week 2026 is therefore shaping up as an opportunity to connect with participants from outside the traditional crypto ecosystem — from investors and policymakers to AI, energy, space and fashion professionals.

UN Blockchain Week 2026 runs September 10–19 in New York City.

Official website: https://www.blockchainweek.ai/

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The past 24 hours have been wild. Earlier this morning a fresh article went live on our website, but ten minutes later it was old news, at least regarding the price action part.

So what happened?

• Bitcoin surged past $71,000 on Thursday morning—its highest price since early June.

• This follows the biggest single-day gain since March, when Bitcoin rallied past $69,000 on Wednesday, climbing as much as 8.7% to an intraday high of $69,892

• The trigger: the U.S. Treasury announced it will double its long-bond buybacks to $4 billion per operation, weakening the dollar and pushing traders into risk assets like crypto.

• Over $1.14 billion in short positions were liquidated in a single hour Wednesday, accelerating the move upward in a classic short squeeze.

• The White House hosted crypto executives alongside SEC and CFTC chiefs the day after the SEC proposed its first formal token offering framework.

• Strategy +12%. Coinbase +9%. Circle and BitMine both up ~10%.

What Does the Market Think Comes Next?

As recently as Tuesday, the distribution of contract prices on Glimpse, a Bitcoin-native prediction market, was skewed toward downside ranges, with bearish price buckets attracting the most market interest. By Wednesday evening, as Bitcoin held above $68,000, that distribution had rotated sharply, with bearish price ranges losing ground and upper buckets attracting significantly more market interest, reflecting genuine uncertainty among participants about whether the move has legs or will fade before the week is out.

Analysts and data both suggest bulls should temper their enthusiasm, at least in the short term. Short-term holders have an average cost basis near $68,700, very close to where Bitcoin was trading after the spike. That means many buyers from the recent decline have just reached break-even, a price level where historically many choose to sell. Just above that sits the 200-day exponential moving average at roughly $71,491—a level Bitcoin has not managed to close above since the bear market began.

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Bitcoin-native platform broadens its offering, giving traders more ways to earn Bitcoin through accurate market forecast

Glimpse, the Bitcoin-native forecasting market backed by Stillmark, Timechain, Wolf and Entrepreneurs First, today announced the expansion of its platform beyond Bitcoin, with forecasting markets for Ethereum, Solana and Gold now available to users.

The launch marks the next stage in Glimpse’s growth following the successful introduction of its Bitcoin forecasting market earlier this year. By expanding into additional assets, Glimpse is giving traders more opportunities to turn market conviction into Bitcoin rewards, regardless of whether markets are rising, falling or trading sideways.

Unlike traditional trading platforms, Glimpse allows users to forecast where an asset will trade within a future price range rather than simply buying or selling it. Users who make accurate forecasts earn Bitcoin, creating a new way to participate in financial markets through probabilistic forecasting.

The addition of Ethereum, Solana and Gold reflects growing demand from users looking to apply the same forecasting approach across a broader range of globally traded assets.

Speaking of the update, James Pierog and Ruban Sundara Raj, co-founders of Glimpse, said: “Bitcoin was always just the beginning. Our vision is to build the world’s leading forecasting market, where people can express conviction across financial markets while earning Bitcoin for being right. Whether you think Ethereum is undervalued, Gold is about to rally or Bitcoin is entering a range, Glimpse lets you put that view to the test. Every forecast also contributes to a live picture of where the market collectively expects these assets to go, giving traders valuable insight alongside the opportunity to earn Bitcoin.”

Rather than focusing solely on price direction, Glimpse enables users to trade future price ranges, creating opportunities even when markets move sideways. Every trade contributes to a live, market-generated probability distribution that shows where participants collectively expect an asset to trade, providing a transparent view of market expectations rather than individual opinions.

The expansion also represents another step towards Glimpse’s vision of becoming the leading forecasting market for digital assets and global financial markets.

Key benefits for traders include:

• Earn Bitcoin by making accurate forecasts rather than simply buying and selling assets.

• Find opportunities in sideways markets as well as periods of strong volatility.

• Put market conviction to the test against other traders.

• See where the market collectively expects an asset to trade.

• Fast Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals via the Lightning Network.

The company plans to continue expanding the number of available markets over time as it builds what it believes will become the home for financial forecasting on Bitcoin.

Glimpse operates with a compliance-first approach and is progressing through the Bermuda Monetary Authority’s in-principle approval process. Participation is available to eligible users who complete identity verification requirements.

About Glimpse

Glimpse is a Bitcoin-native forecasting market that allows users to earn Bitcoin by accurately forecasting where financial assets will trade. Rather than simply buying or selling assets, participants forecast future price ranges, creating live market expectations while competing against other traders. Built on Bitcoin with Lightning Network support, Glimpse combines financial incentives with probabilistic forecasting to create a new way to engage with global markets.

Join: glimpse.trading

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The 12th edition of the European Blockchain Convention (EBC12) returns to Barcelona at a pivotal moment for the industry. It is the region’s first major institutional gathering since the world’s first comprehensive cross-border digital asset regulation (MiCA) became fully law, and the event where European deal flow happens.

Rather than chasing mandates city by city across London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich, and Barcelona, EBC12 compresses the European digital asset market into a single two-day commercial arena. It takes place on 16–17 September 2026 at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, a new premium venue reflecting the event’s institutional evolution.

The debate about whether institutions will enter digital assets is over: Deutsche Börse has invested $200 million in Kraken; Santander’s digital bank, Openbank, has expanded its crypto trading for customers across Germany and Spain. Both will be among the institutions discussing what comes next, with 80 of Europe’s top 100 banks landing in Barcelona this September.

“Eight years ago, we built EBC because we believed Europe would be where this industry matured. A lot of people thought we were early. In 2026, European banks are deploying capital, institutional products are live across major markets, and the regulatory framework is in place. EBC is where the people driving that change meet once a year to do real business,” said Victoria Gago, Co-CEO of European Blockchain Convention and Digital Assets Forum.

Sessions cover institutional capital allocation, real-world asset tokenisation, regulatory market structure, and the future of stablecoins and CBDCs as global settlement infrastructure.

Alongside the main programme, EBC12 features 10,000 pre-arranged one-to-one meetings, a Buy Side Breakfast for allocators and institutional investors, and a dedicated press room with direct access to speakers.

EBC12 expects over 5,000 attendees from 90+ countries for two days of market intelligence, strategic networking, and commercial momentum at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya.

More info: https://eblockchainconvention.com/european-blockchain-convention-12/

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Bitcoin Asia 2026 hits the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre August 27–28, and while the conference itself is expected to pull in a 10,000-plus crowd from 125+ countries, the more interesting story is what’s happening on the business side. Deal Day and the Bitcoin for Corporations Symposium are running as a concentrated enterprise track alongside the main event, giving companies, investors, and operators an actual structured environment to do business rather than just work a conference floor.

Hong Kong has spent the last couple of years turning itself into one of the more serious regulatory sandboxes for digital assets anywhere in the world—a licensing framework for virtual asset service providers, approved Bitcoin ETFs, and an increasingly open posture toward institutional crypto activity. For companies trying to build relationships with capital across Asia-Pacific, it’s hard to think of a better base of operations right now.

Deal Day is invite-only, every participant is vetted, and every meeting is pre-scheduled: 30-minute one-on-ones running throughout the day on August 27, with schedules curated in advance by BTC Inc. based on what each company is actually trying to accomplish. At Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas, this format produced 23 presenting companies, 23 investing partners, and over 200 structured meetings, with names like Kraken, Metaplanet, BitGo, Bitdeer, Barclays, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Bitwise all in the room. Hong Kong is set up to do the same thing for Asia-Pacific’s financial center of gravity.

The whole institutional program runs on one open floor anchored by the BFC Symposium stage on one end and Deal Day on the other, with a Deal Flow Zone in the middle offering in-app table booking for one-on-one meetings. This way, corporate treasuries, capital allocators, and infrastructure providers are put in the same physical space to let them actually transact.

The BFC Symposium itself runs August 27, 10 AM to 3 PM, and is squarely focused on governance, capital formation, yield strategies, and the operational questions companies face once bitcoin is actually on the balance sheet. It follows successful editions in Las Vegas and New York (Amsterdam is next, in November), and it’s included with a GA+ or Whale Pass.

“Hong Kong sits at the center of the conversation between Eastern capital markets and the global Bitcoin ecosystem,” said Brandon Green, CEO of BTC Inc. “The Bitcoin Asia networking opportunities, Deal Day, and BFC Symposium together give companies and investors the infrastructure to turn that conversation into outcomes.”

If you want in on the business track, the GA+ Pass gets you the Deal Flow Zone, in-app scheduling, the Networking Lounge, and priority seating. Deal Day is separately credentialed through application.

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AFX Trade, the Verus Ethereum Bridge, and B² Network were all hit within hours of each other on July 22–23, underlining the persistent vulnerability of the infrastructure connecting blockchains.

Three separate exploits drained a combined $35.5 million from decentralized finance protocols within a six-hour window on Wednesday, in what security researchers are calling one of the more concentrated bursts of losses the sector has seen this year.

The attacks struck AFX Trade, the Verus Ethereum Bridge, and B² Network—three unrelated protocols with three different failure modes, but a common thread: in each case, the problem was not a flaw in the blockchain itself but in the systems layered on top of it.

AFX Trade — $24.15 million

AFX Trade, a decentralized perpetuals exchange that settles in USDC, was drained of about $24.15 million after an attacker compromised the validator signing keys behind a bridge the protocol operates on Arbitrum, a popular Ethereum scaling network.

Cross-chain bridges work by holding assets in custody on one blockchain while issuing equivalent tokens on another. To authorize withdrawals, most bridges require a set number of appointed validators to sign off. In AFX’s case, the on-chain logic functioned as designed: five hot-validator signatures met the quorum needed to authorize the withdrawal. The problem was with the private keys that generated those signature—attackers had compromised the private validator signing keys held offchain by the bridge’s operators. In other words, the smart contract did exactly what it was told to do.

The attacker then moved the stolen USDC from Arbitrum to Ethereum, with PeckShield reporting the funds were swapped into 12,467.5 ETH and traced to a single wallet, 0x6276…ebAC.

Blockaid, a blockchain security firm, flagged the security incident and noted the exploit was “specific to a bridge that AFX operates,” adding that it was working with the Arbitrum team to coordinate a response with the affected protocol.

Offchain Labs co-founder Steven Goldfeder moved quickly to clarify the scope of the incident on X:

“We can confirm that the transaction in question originated from a third party protocol, and the Arbitrum native bridge has not been hacked or exploited in any way.”

The incident is similar in character to the roughly $285 million Drift Protocol loss in April, where attackers spent months working their way toward privileged access rather than breaking any contract code. SunSec, founder of Web3 security community DeFiHackLabs, said the evidence pointed to compromised keys rather than a smart contract logic flaw.

The AFX team suspended bridge operations. No recovery mechanism or timeline has been announced.

“We continue to work closely with leading security firms, ecosystem partners, exchanges, and relevant authorities to monitor fund movements and support the ongoing investigation. We will keep the community updated as more verified information becomes available,” AFX wrote while extending a white hat settlement offer to 30% of the stolen funds to the party responsible for the recent bridge incident.

Verus Ethereum Bridge — $7.55 million

Hours after the AFX incident, Blockaid flagged a second exploit, this time targeting the Verus Ethereum Bridge, which allows users to move assets between the Verus network and Ethereum.

An attacker used the bridge’s import path to trigger unbacked Ethereum-side payouts, draining approximately $7.54 million in ETH, tBTC, USDC, USDT, EURC, MKR, and scrvUSD from bridge reserves. “Unbacked payouts” means the bridge released funds on the Ethereum side without a corresponding deposit having been made on the Verus side — essentially, the attacker tricked the system into handing over assets it had no right to release.

Blockaid noted this appears related to the previous Verus Ethereum Bridge incident in May 2026: same bridge contract, same entry path, and same bug class — though the July attack involved a new transaction and a different attacker and loot wallet.

That May incident, reported by CoinDesk, saw roughly $11.5 million drained through a forged cross-chain message that passed the bridge’s verification checks while requesting a payout far larger than any underlying deposit. After negotiations, the attacker in May returned 4,052.4 ETH, keeping the rest. Apparently, funds were subsequently redeposited into the bridge while the underlying vulnerability was never fully patched.

The fact that the same entry point was exploited twice, by different attackers, in the space of two months will raise serious questions about the Verus development team’s post-incident response. A critical bridge failure that recurs through an identical mechanism is not bad luck; it is an engineering and governance failure.

B² Network — $3.86 million

The third incident targeted B² Network, a Bitcoin layer-2 project. The B² Network lost roughly $3.86 million after an attacker seized its staking contract’s upgrade authority — the administrative permission that controls whether and how a smart contract can be modified.

Lookonchain traced the transactions after approximately 8.59 million B2 tokens reached an attacker-controlled address and were exchanged for 5,409 BNB, worth about $3.01 million, implying roughly $850,000 in slippage and price impact during the sale.

The B² team said the incident has been contained, that staking has been suspended pending a security review, and that no further impact is expected. The team also pledged to fully compensate affected users.

As CoinDesk noted, this failure mode—compromised keys and permissions rather than broken cryptography—remains the primary cause of major crypto thefts, being the same mechanism behind the largest heists in the sector’s history, from the Wormhole and Nomad bridge hacks of 2022 to KelpDAO’s roughly $290 million loss earlier this year.

A punishing year gets worse

The three incidents bring July’s total hack losses to roughly $97 million across 14 recorded incidents, already surpassing the $75.32 million in losses from June. The broader picture for 2026 is grimmer still: attackers carried out 207 separate hacks and stole $972 million in the first half of the year alone.

Cross-chain bridges—the pipes that allow assets to move between separate blockchains—have long been among DeFi’s weakest points. They concentrate liquidity, rely on off-chain key management, and are often built and audited under time pressure by small teams. What Wednesday’s events illustrate is that the problem has not become easier to solve: the largest losses continue to stem not from novel cryptographic attacks but from failures of key custody and access control — problems the industry has been discussing since at least 2022.

The Verus bridge exploit is particularly difficult to excuse. A known vulnerability, left unpatched after a nine-figure loss two months prior, was exploited again by a different attacker using the same method. That is a failure of a different order to a novel zero-day.

AFX has not publicly detailed how its validator keys were compromised, and both AFX and Verus have yet to release formal post-mortems as of publication.

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Swiss digital asset company Finrate AG today announced it has sold its staking data platform, Staking Rewards, to institutional crypto infrastructure provider The Tie, marking a strategic shift toward its conference and networking business centered on the Digital Asset Yield Summit (DAYS).

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to the announcement, the divestment allows Finrate to concentrate on expanding DAYS, its institutional conference series and year-round allocator network, while continuing to operate Looping Collective, its tokenized on-chain yield business, independently.

Founded in 2018, Staking Rewards established itself as one of the cryptocurrency industry’s best-known staking and digital asset yield data platforms, attracting more than one million annual users and providing institutional-grade market data across proof-of-stake networks and yield protocols.

Finrate said the decision reflects the industry’s evolution beyond staking into a broader digital asset yield market, arguing that Staking Rewards is better positioned to grow as part of The Tie’s institutional product suite.

“The Tie is the right long-term home for Staking Rewards,” said Mirko Schmiedl, CEO of Finrate AG. “For us, this is about focus. One team, one mission: building the leading private-capital conference and network in digital assets, just as institutional capital moves decisively into digital asset yield.”

The company said existing customers should experience no interruption in service. Members of the Staking Rewards team will join The Tie to continue developing and supporting the platform.

Betting on institutional networking

The sale underscores Finrate’s growing emphasis on institutional networking rather than market data products.

Originally launched as the Staking Summit, the conference series has been rebranded as the Digital Asset Yield Summit to reflect the expanding range of institutional yield strategies beyond traditional staking. According to the company, the conference business became its primary revenue generator by 2025.

The inaugural event under the DAYS brand took place in Miami during Consensus Week in May 2026. Finrate said the conference attracted 375 attendees representing 272 organizations from 25 countries, including institutional allocators and family offices overseeing a combined $2 trillion in assets.

The next edition is scheduled for October 6 at Singapore’s Raffles Hotel during Token2049 Week, where asset manager Bitwise will serve as title partner. Additional events are planned for Zurich and a return to Miami as the company expands its presence across Asia, Europe and North America.

Beyond the conferences themselves, Finrate is positioning DAYS as a membership-based institutional network that facilitates year-round introductions between limited partners, general partners and other participants in the digital asset investment ecosystem. The offering includes curated networking, allocator profiles and deal-flow opportunities between conferences.

Hyperliquid ecosystem remains a priority

Alongside the Singapore summit, Finrate will also host the fourth edition of the Hyperliquid Forum, an invitation-only event focused on institutional participation in digital asset derivatives and the Hyperliquid ecosystem.

The company’s broader strategy also includes Looping Collective, its tokenized yield business built on Hyperliquid. Current products include loopedHYPE (LHYPE) and Wrapped HLP (WHLP), with a Bitcoin-focused product, loopedBTC (LcBTC), planned for future release.

By retaining Looping Collective while divesting its data platform, Finrate appears to be narrowing its business around institutional capital formation and on-chain yield products, while leaving data and analytics to The Tie.

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With 100 days to go, Bitcoin Events is counting down to the 12th edition of the Blockchain Africa Conference (BAC26), taking place on 15 October 2026 in Johannesburg. As Africa’s longest running blockchain and digital assets conference, BAC26 will once again bring together bankers, regulators, institutional investors, developers, and founders to chart the continued mainstreaming of digital assets across the continent.

Now entering its second decade, the conference has grown into one of the most established gatherings of its kind on the continent, having welcomed more than 11,270 attendees, hosted over 410 speakers, and drawn delegates from more than 165 countries over the course of its history.

Blockchain Africa Conference 2026: Event Details

Date: 15 October 2026
Location: Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

BAC26 will bring together industry leaders, regulators, and innovators for a full day of panel discussions, workshops, and networking, covering topics including:

• Blockchain for Africa’s Development: case studies on supply chain management, digital identity, and financial inclusion powered by blockchain

• AI and Blockchain Convergence: how artificial intelligence enhances blockchain applications and creates more efficient ecosystems

• Institutional Adoption of Digital Assets: how banks, asset managers, and financial institutions are integrating digital assets into portfolios, products, and infrastructure

• Stablecoins, CBDCs & the Future of Money: the emergence of rand-backed stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, and their role in payments, settlement, and cross-border value transfer

• Regulatory Frameworks & Compliance: evolving regulatory approaches, licensing frameworks, and risk management strategies in South Africa and globally

• Digital Market Infrastructure & Access: the growth of ETFs, OTC markets, exchanges, and custody solutions enabling institutional participation

• Tokenization of Real-World Assets: unlocking liquidity and new investment opportunities through tokenized real estate, commodities, and private markets

• Payments, Inclusion & Cross-Border Innovation: leveraging blockchain to improve efficiency, cost, and accessibility across African and global financial systems

• Custody, Security & Risk Management: institution-grade custody, cybersecurity, and frameworks for managing digital asset risk

Why Attend?

Africa’s blockchain sector continues to outpace global trends. According to the latest African Blockchain Report, co-published by ABSA and CV VC, African blockchain startups raised $90.1 million across 28 deals in 2025, capturing 5.3% of all African venture funding, nearly double the global rate. The report also points to a longer-term shift under way: within the next decade, more Africans may transact in stablecoins than through traditional bank accounts, driven by mobile-first adoption, currency volatility, and limited access to banking infrastructure.

For anyone looking to understand where African capital, regulation, and institutional appetite are heading next, BAC26 offers a direct line to the people building and funding that future.

Confirmed Speakers

The conference will feature an exceptional lineup of global and African thought leaders, including but not limited to Lerato Lamola, Partner, Webber Wentzel; Dr Wiehann Olivier, Partner and Global Co-Head of Digital Assets, Forvis Mazar; Gillian Darko, Group Vice President of Strategy, Yellow Card; and Stafford Masie, Executive Chairman, Africa Bitcoin Corporation.

View the full list of confirmed speakers here. More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

Tickets and Registration

Standard and VIP Tickets for the Blockchain Africa Conference 2026 are available now here.

Visit the Bitcoin Events website to learn more about the event.

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The round was led by crypto-focused venture firm Dragonfly, with participation from North Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, F-Prime, Archetype, Liquid2 Ventures, and Morgan Creek. In return for the $65 million, Series A investors received an 8.98% equity stake in Venice AI, a vesting grant of 1.5 million VVV tokens, and warrants giving them the right to purchase an additional 5 million VVV tokens over the next eight years.

Voorhees, best known as the founder of the ShapeShift cryptocurrency exchange, announced the funding on X Wednesday, positioning it as validation for Venice’s core thesis: that mainstream AI platforms like ChatGPT are built on a model of mass data collection that users should be able to opt out of.

“This aversion to ubiquitous centralized surveillance and control is our philosophical foundation, and upon it Venice is growing rapidly,” Voorhees wrote. “In April, we hit 3 million users, and as of Q1, in an environment where AI firms were losing money while spying on you, Venice became profitable while choosing not to.”

Venice says it does not retain users’ prompts on its own systems, instead keeping conversations stored on users’ own devices, and handles more than 1.7 million API calls per day. The platform offers access to over 200 AI models—both open-source models it hosts directly and closed-source models from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic, accessed anonymously via API.

In an interview with TechCrunch, Voorhees said the company has surpassed $70 million in annualized revenue and turned profitable in the first quarter of 2026 — a relatively rare milestone in an AI industry where many well-funded competitors are still burning cash at scale.

Privacy as a product, not a feature

Venice’s pitch rests on a concern that has become harder to dismiss: as AI chatbots become go-to tools for sensitive decisions—medical questions, legal advice, personal dilemmas—the data being handed over to centralized platforms accumulates quietly and indefinitely.

Talking to GeekWire, Jesse Proudman, Venice’s president and CTO, put it plainly:

“It only takes one breach, one disgruntled employee who is going through that data, a government subpoena, a change in government policy — and then all of that data no longer is private to you.”

Voorhees went further in his announcement post, arguing that the AI industry’s fixation on job displacement and cybersecurity risks misses what he sees as a more fundamental threat.

“Perhaps it is not job losses or cybersecurity incidents that should most frighten us, but rather that our flow of consciousness is increasingly under examination—our thoughts are now constructed in tandem with and at the permission of this dystopian apparatus,” he wrote.

The new capital will go toward building Venice’s own compute infrastructure. That includes its first proprietary data center, reducing the company’s reliance on leased GPUs—a move Voorhees said will “ensure capacity in the coming resource squeeze and increase gross margins, making larger VVV burns feasible.” Venice also plans to expand into new markets and make what Voorhees described as “additive” acquisitions.

Token structure raises alignment questions

Venice operates with a dual-token economy. Users can stake VVV tokens to receive staked VVV (sVVV), then lock a portion of that to mint DIEM—a credit worth $1 of AI compute access on the platform that never expires. To fund this round, Venice chose to sell equity rather than draw down its token treasury. Voorhees noted that Venice remains the largest holder of VVV, with more than 30 million tokens out of over 80 million in supply, and said neither the company nor its team has sold any tokens despite the token rising more than 700% this year.

The decision has sparked debate among token holders about whose interests the capital structure actually serves. Venice sold equity without selling VVV, leaving open the question of whether token holders and shareholders are truly aligned, or sitting in different classes of the same growth story. That’s not a trivial concern: equity investors have legal rights and governance protections that token holders generally do not.

Only about 8% of users pay with crypto, which also undercuts the idea of Venice as a primarily crypto-native platform—most of its user base engages with it as a conventional privacy-focused AI product.

Wednesday also brought the latest in a series of planned emissions cuts, reducing the rate of new VVV issuance from 4 million to 3 million tokens per year—a move designed to tighten supply as the platform scales.

VVV spiked double-digits following the announcement and was trading at $13.81, up 2.4% over the last 24 hours.

There are other questions worth considering. Venice’s claim that it cannot see user conversations rests on technical architecture—encrypted proxies and locally stored chat history—but Voorhees himself has acknowledged the system does not provide perfect anonymity. “Substantially better” than the status quo is a meaningful bar, but it is not the same as zero-knowledge privacy, and users relying on Venice for genuinely sensitive matters should understand the distinction.

The funding arrives as AI privacy is attracting more scrutiny in Washington. Lawmakers have introduced legislation to require warrants for AI-assisted government surveillance, while the FBI has expanded its use of AI for threat analysis and facial recognition—the kind of institutional activity Voorhees is explicitly positioning Venice against.

“We will construct the platform dedicated to private and unrestricted machine intelligence; an open, permissive port city that respects the sovereignty of its inhabitants, both human and agentic,” Voorhees wrote.

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This is the kind of gathering that makes surveillance states nervous. Dark Prague returns October 2-4, and it’s not interested in your panel-discussion version of “decentralization.” This is the successor to the iconic Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis, rebuilt from the ground up around one question: how is control built, maintained, and resisted, and what happens when you take it apart to find out?

Technology is terrain here. Biology is leverage. Networks carry power, and for three days, the people who understand exactly how are going to say so out loud.

The venue as part of the argument

Old Wastewater Treatment Plant, Dark Prague’s new home, is the last fully preserved first-generation wastewater treatment facility on Earth, built in 1906. Art Nouveau industrial architecture, original machinery still intact, sitting on the UNESCO Tentative List. A place engineered to process waste, now hosting a conference engineered to process power.

Who’s actually going to be there

This isn’t a lineup of keynote-circuit regulars reading from slides. It’s a room full of the people building the tools and writing the code that cryptoanarchists, privacy engineers, and financial sovereignty researchers actually use:

Gavin Wood (Co-Founder, Parity), Amir Taaki (Cryptography, DarkFi), Rachel-Rose O’Leary (Core Developer, DarkFi), Aral Balkan (Small Technology Foundation), Nadim Kobeissi (Applied Cryptographer, Symbolic Software / Cure53), Harry Halpin (CEO, NYM), Jarrad Hope (Co-Founder, Logos), Max Hillebrand, Pavol Luptak, Juraj Bednar, and a roster of builders, breakers, and researchers who don’t usually share a stage: AJS (you may know him from earlier editions of MoneroKon), Bogomil Shopov, Darko, Dave Stann, Dylan Reibling, Elsirion, exiledsurfer, hbs, Jedai, and ketominer, among others.

Bitcoin. Cryptography. Monero. Fedimint. Financial sovereignty. Cryptoanarchism as a working philosophy, not a Twitter bio. It’s all in the same building, for three days.

Then the lights go down and the volume goes up

After 12+ hours of talks, workshops, and debates across three stages, Dark Prague switches frequencies. HIGH LIGHTS is the official Saturday night rave, a curated DJ lineup inside the same industrial machinery you spent the day sitting under. One more reason not to sleep.

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Dark Prague isn’t asking you to admire how control systems work. It’s asking you to learn how they can be rerouted, altered, or walked away from entirely. Thinkers, builders, and breakers, operating without permission, in a building that was already resisting demolition before any of them showed up.

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Three weeks from today, the DoubleTree by Hilton Miami Airport & Convention Center fills up with the largest concentration of Bitcoin mining professionals on the planet. Mining Disrupt 2026 is back, and before we get into why you should be there, let’s talk about right now.

>>> Today through July 6 only: buy one ticket, get one free! <<<

That’s the BOGO Independence Day sale. Two tickets for the price of one. Bring your business partner, your mining manager, your most Bitcoin-curious friend, or whoever you’ve been telling “you need to see this in person.” This is the moment.

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What Mining Disrupt Actually Is

Mining Disrupt is the world’s largest Bitcoin mining expo. Not one of the largest. The largest.

It draws thousands of attendees across three days—miners, infrastructure builders, energy developers, ASIC manufacturers, hosting providers, institutional capital, and every vendor with a serious stake in the hash rate economy. Attendees come from every continent. The floor is dense with exhibitors showing real hardware, real software, and real deals.

If you run a mining operation at any scale—from a home setup to a multi-megawatt facility—this is where the industry’s next 12 months get decided. Mining Disrupt is where partnerships get made, supply chains get renegotiated, and new entrants figure out what actually matters.

Dates: July 21–23, 2026
Location: DoubleTree by Hilton Miami Airport & Convention Center, Miami, FL
Event site: https://miningdisrupt.com/

The Program

Mining Disrupt runs a full slate of keynote speeches and panel discussions with speakers drawn from the global mining industry. Expect deep dives on:

• AI and high-performance computing convergence with mining infrastructure

• Quantum threats and the security arms race facing Bitcoin’s proof-of-work layer

• Energy innovation: new sources, better contracts, and the next frontier in cheap power

• Heat reuse and how miners are monetizing waste energy at scale

• The open-source movement reshaping mining software and firmware

• The home mining revival and what it means for decentralization

• The repair economy: fixing, reusing, and extending ASIC hardware life cycles

• Sovereignty, nodes, and what it means to run your own stack end-to-end

This is a working conference, not a hype circuit, with the conversations on the floor often more valuable than the ones on stage.

Why Three Weeks Matters

Miami in late July books fast. The conference hotel will fill. Flights will price up. The BOGO deal is gone after July 6.

Three weeks is enough time to clear your calendar, book a room, and tell the one person who should be sitting next to you that they’re coming too—for free.

The mining industry moves fast. The people who shape it tend to be in the same room at least once a year. That room is Miami, July 21–23.

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Freedom to disrupt. Power to mine.

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The European Union has issued roughly 230 licenses under its Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) before July 1, 2026—a deadline that will reshape how digital asset companies operate across the bloc’s 27 member states.

MiCA is the EU’s first unified rulebook for crypto businesses aimed at replacing a messy patchwork of national registration systems that had allowed companies to operate under whichever country’s rules were most permissive. Under the new regime, a single license granted by any one EU member state lets a company serve customers across the entire bloc through so-called “passporting rights,” similar to how banks and investment firms already operate in Europe.

Germany has emerged as the bloc’s leading regulator under the new framework, issuing 56 licenses so far. The Netherlands follows with 26 approvals, and France has granted 21. Together, the three countries account for nearly half of all licenses issued ahead of the deadline.

What Changes on July 1

Until now, companies could keep operating under transitional arrangements—essentially grandfathered permissions tied to their old national licenses. That cushion disappears on July 1. From that date, any crypto exchange, broker, custodian or wallet provider serving EU customers without MiCA authorization will be operating illegally in the bloc.

That doesn’t mean unlicensed firms vanish overnight, but it does mean they can no longer sign up new customers or offer most services. Typical responses include freezing new account registrations, restricting withdrawals-only access, transferring customers to a licensed partner, or exiting the European market altogether.

According to coverage from Bitcoin Foundation, the scale of the gap is significant: a large majority of crypto firms that operated in Europe under the old national rules still lack MiCA approval as the deadline nears, raising questions about how smoothly the transition will actually go.

Binance’s Bumpy Road to Compliance

No single case illustrates the stakes better than Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume. Because MiCA licensing depends on which specific corporate entity is actually serving EU customers — and that entity needs its own approval — global exchanges with complex, multi-jurisdictional structures have faced particular difficulty proving compliance.

Binance filed its MiCA application with Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission in January 2026 through a newly created subsidiary, but reports indicated regulators were poised to reject it, with some sources suggesting the European Central Bank had intervened behind the scenes. On June 21, Binance withdrew the Greek application, saying in a statement that “Europe remains an important market for Binance,” and that “our commitment to operating under a clear, fair, and harmonised MiCA framework is unchanged.

Bybit Positions Itself as Already Compliant

In contrast, Bybit has spent over a year building out a regulated EU presence. The exchange has been operating since May 2025 through Bybit EU GmbH, authorized under the supervision of Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA).

In a statement on X, Bybit EU described this as an opportunity rather than a threat:

“Since May 2025, Bybit, through its group company Bybit EU GmbH, has been operating as a MiCAR-regulated platform under the supervision of Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA), investing in local infrastructure, compliance, products, and partnerships to drive crypto adoption across Europe,” Bybit said in a statement. “As MiCAR enters its next phase, we are continuing to offer users a seamless, fully compliant and localized experience through bybit.eu.”

The exchange added that “Europe is a key part of our future, and Bybit EU welcomes all eligible customers as we continue building the new financial platform across the region.”

Where Major Global Exchanges Stand

Among the major US-based platforms, Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini have already cleared the bar. Coinbase secured its MiCA license from Luxembourg’s financial regulator, the CSSF, in June, consolidating years of separate national licenses in Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain into a single EU-wide authorization covering an estimated 450 million people.

Kraken was authorized through the Central Bank of Ireland and also holds a MiFID II derivatives license from Cyprus — a combination only a handful of exchanges have managed, since MiCA itself doesn’t cover leveraged products like futures. Gemini, the exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, obtained its license from Malta’s MFSA, also pairing it with a separate MiFID II derivatives authorization.

Other large platforms, including OKX and Crypto.com, have likewise secured Maltese licenses, while Bitstamp and Bitvavo rank among the early movers in Luxembourg and the Netherlands respectively.

Bull Bitcoin Joins the Licensed Ranks

Smaller, Bitcoin-focused platforms are also crossing the regulatory finish line. Bull Bitcoin, a non-custodial Bitcoin-only exchange, announced it has secured MiCA authorization in France, allowing it to operate across the entire European Economic Area under a single license rather than negotiating separate approvals country by country.

In a blog post explaining the move, the company laid out what the license means for its users in practical terms: continuity of service, clearer consumer protections, and the ability to expand into new EU markets without additional regulatory friction.

Bull Bitcoin is on the mission to Destroy Fiat. Engineering Sovereignty and allowing you to Own Your Money, Bull Bitcoin makes Bitcoin the money of the future—starting today.

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Consolidation, Cost, and Reduced Choice

While regulators and larger compliant firms have broadly welcomed MiCA as a step toward legitimacy, the rollout has drawn legitimate criticism on several fronts.

The most pointed concern is cost. MiCA requires firms to meet capital thresholds, build out governance structures, safeguard customer assets according to strict custody rules, and maintain anti-money laundering systems comparable to those used by traditional banks. For large, well-funded exchanges, this is a manageable compliance exercise. For smaller firms, it can be prohibitive. In France alone, around 40% of previously registered crypto service providers reportedly have not even submitted MiCA applications, with many instead pursuing acquisitions, partnerships, or winding down operations entirely.

Critics argue this risks turning MiCA into a de facto barrier to entry that favors large, well-capitalized incumbents over startups and innovative smaller players—the opposite of the open, competitive market regulators claim they want to foster. There are also concerns about approval bottlenecks: national regulators, wary of being seen as a “soft touch” jurisdiction that attracts companies shopping for an easy license, have in some cases processed applications slowly, leaving firms in limbo even when they are making good-faith efforts to comply.

Finally, MiCA’s reach has limits. The rules are largely built around centralized intermediaries—exchanges, custodians, brokers—and have a far less clear-cut application to decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, non-custodial wallets, and peer-to-peer trading, where there is no central company to license in the first place. That leaves a meaningful slice of the crypto ecosystem operating outside MiCA’s direct oversight, even as centralized players absorb the bulk of the compliance burden.

What Comes Next

Industry observers broadly expect the July 1 deadline to accelerate consolidation in Europe’s crypto sector. Larger, licensed platforms are positioned to absorb market share and customers from firms that exit or scale back, while questions remain about how regulators will handle edge cases—like Binance’s structure—in real time.

Supporters of the framework argue that short-term disruption is the price of long-term stability: a single, predictable rulebook across 27 countries, they say, gives both consumers and institutional investors more confidence than the fragmented system it replaces. Whether that confidence outweighs the costs imposed on smaller competitors will become clearer in the weeks following the deadline, as the market settles into its new, more tightly regulated shape.

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Announced Monday, Ethlabs is a non-profit research and development lab founded by five former EF researchers—Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf, and Julian Ma—and backed by publicly traded ETH treasury companies BitMine and SharpLink, plus SNZ Holding and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin, with over 50 ecosystem contributors also on board.

Its stated mission: make Ethereum the settlement layer of the global economy.

The lab’s initial focus is on removing the technical obstacles that prevent large financial institutions from operating on Ethereum at scale, i.e. faster settlement, cross-chain infrastructure, mainnet capacity, and ETH’s monetary properties.

The launch comes amid a wave of departures from the Ethereum Foundation, including two co-executive directors this year alone.

The Foundation itself welcomed the news—albeit somewhat reserved—stating that “the privilege of stewarding Ethereum must not be hoarded, but carefully shared.”

Lubin echoed that framing, describing Ethlabs as one of several new stewardship nodes forming around Ethereum—complementing, rather than replacing, the Foundation.

Whether Ethlabs becomes the one to “save Ethereum” remains to be seen. One thing that is clear for now is that Ethereum’s research ecosystem is no longer centered solely in the Foundation.

Read the full story, including the lab’s thesis, its three-pillar framework for Ethereum’s future, and what the Ethereum Foundation said about the broader wave of new organizations now entering the picture, over on CryptoEvents.

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Blockchain Futurist Conference returns this summer with a program built around where digital finance is actually going: stablecoins, tokenization, AI, institutional adoption, and the regulatory architecture Canada is still building in real time.

The speaker list reflects the moment. JPMorgan, Mastercard, Bloomberg, and zkSync are on stage for the institutional adoption session. Parliament, the Canadian Securities Exchange, Shakepay, and the Canadian Web3 Council are tackling policy. AiraPay, a company connecting traditional banking rails with digital asset networks, is a top sponsor and will be presenting in the expo hall. Stablecorp joins as the official Stablecoin Sponsor. InvestHK brings a global lens with a dedicated workshop on Hong Kong’s role in digital asset development.

One of the more interesting additions this year is the House of Intelligence forum, exploring AI, privacy-preserving technology, and digital assets together, co-hosted with House of ZK. Worth watching.

The venue matters too. Rebel Entertainment Complex is a legitimately good conference space, and the Cabana Pool Bar adjacency in late July is not an accident. The 50+ private VIP cabanas are hosted by institutions, investors, and policymakers, which means the hallway track here is structured deal flow, not just networking by chance.

This also sits inside Canada Crypto Week (July 20–26), so the programming extends well beyond the two main conference days. Side events are listed at canadacryptoweek.com if you want to plan the full week.

A couple of things worth acting on before you book:

🎟️ The 2-for-1 deal closes June 24. If you’re thinking about bringing a colleague or business partner, that’s the easiest decision you’ll make this week.

Promo code CRYPTOEVENTS25 takes 25% off standard tickets.

Full event info at cryptoevents.global. Official site at futuristconference.com.

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Illinois just signed into law what Bitcoin advocates are calling the harshest anti-Bitcoin legislation passed by any U.S. state — a tax law that charges residents simply for transacting using digital assets, with no exemption even for transferring coins between their own wallets.

On Tuesday, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 3019 into law, locking in a $55.9 billion budget for the next fiscal year. Bitcoin and digital asset industry groups are particularly discontented with Article 3 of the bill, known as the Digital Asset Privilege Tax Act.

The Digital Asset Privilege Tax Act will charge a 0.2% tax on all digital asset business activity. According to the bill, “digital asset business activity” refers to all transactions conducted on a registered broker exchange. In essence, this means the taxman will tax all transfers and storage of digital assets on exchanges and brokers on behalf of all Illinois residents.

The bill takes effect January 1, 2027, and some analysts project the trend may spill over to neighboring states. Tax firm BDO USA notes that out-of-state platforms doing sufficient business with Illinois residents could be subject to the same rules.

Industry Pushback

On June 16th, the Crypto Council for Innovation reached out with a letter to Governor Pritzker before he signed the bill, urging him to scrap Article 3 entirely. The council argued it could be violating federal laws, as it categorically targets blockchain technology as a medium for asset transfer — effectively penalizing Bitcoin users while leaving traditional finance untouched.

In the letter, the council compared the blanket bill to taxing correspondence because it is delivered by email rather than by post.

Prior to signing, the Blockchain Association and the Digital Chamber also sent a joint letter terming the proposal economically destructive, procedurally deficient, and legally unsound. The two groups argued the Senate rushed this into the budget with zero public participation — and stated plainly that no other state has enacted such a punitive tax on digital asset activity.

Unlike capital gains or income taxes, Illinois’ new levy does not wait for a profit. It fires on the act of transacting itself — regardless of whether the user made money. No comparable state financial transaction tax exists anywhere in the country for stocks, bonds, or derivatives.

Miles Jennings, Head of Policy and General Counsel at a16z Crypto, put it bluntly: this law singles out the technology used to deliver a transaction rather than the substance of the transaction itself. An investor holding a stock, bond, or derivative on paper faces no equivalent levy — but the moment that same instrument moves on a blockchain, the tax fires.

Compliance Burden and Criminal Penalties

The law places collection duties on digital asset brokers: exchanges, custodians, wallet providers, and firms that transmit assets between accounts. Out-of-state brokers are pulled in once their annual receipts from Illinois customers reach $100,000.

Brokers must register with the Illinois Department of Revenue before January 1, 2027, file monthly reports, and list the tax as a separate line item on customer bills.

Failure to register is no administrative slip. Unregistered brokers face Class 3 felony charges — prison sentences of two to five years and fines up to $25,000.

Chicago’s Bitcoin Ecosystem at Risk

Chicago is home to prominent Bitcoin and trading firms, including Bitnomial — operator of the first U.S. leveraged retail spot Bitcoin exchange — and Jump Crypto. Industry groups fear firms will relocate to more hospitable states, draining Illinois of the investment and talent the sector has built in the city.

The Crypto Council for Innovation argued the law arrived at the worst possible moment, as digital asset businesses are already navigating disruptions from Illinois’ own Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act.

The Bitcoin tax is not the only provision in SB 3019 inviting a courtroom challenge. There was also uproar over accompanying social media and digital advertising taxes in the same bill, citing federal preemption and First Amendment concerns.

The Midwest Fights Back

The backlash is already reaching beyond the courtroom. Midwest Bitcoin Summit, taking place September 23–24 in Columbus, OH, has made holding politicians accountable a centerpiece of this year’s event:

“Taxing Freedom Itself: Illinois’ Tyrannical War on Bitcoin & Why Every Bitcoiner Must Fight Back Now — They came for your sats. Now the Midwest fights back. This September we hold states and politicians accountable on stage.” — @MWBTCSummit

🎟️ Tickets for MBS 2026 are available with a 21% discount (code BTCHQ) for the Bitcoin community.

What Comes Next

Illinois’ Digital Asset Privilege Tax now stands as a test case — both legally and politically. If industry challenges fail to block or amend the law before January 2027, every Bitcoin holder, exchange, and custodian serving Illinois residents will face a compliance decision: absorb the cost, pass it to customers, or leave the state entirely. The broader stakes are higher still. Should Illinois’ approach survive legal scrutiny and generate revenue without triggering mass exodus, other deficit-strained states will be watching closely. For Bitcoiners, the message is clear: what happens in Springfield doesn’t stay in Springfield.

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Canada Crypto Week returns July 20–26, 2026, for its sixth year, bringing together dozens of events across Canada focused on cryptocurrency, digital assets, and artificial intelligence. The week connects entrepreneurs, builders, investors, and institutions through a diverse lineup of events taking place across the country.

The flagship event of Canada Crypto Week is Blockchain Futurist Conference, Canada’s largest Web3 and AI event. Taking place July 21–22 at Rebel Entertainment Complex and Cabana Pool Bar in Toronto, the conference attracts thousands of attendees and serves as the hub for many of the week’s featured events and experiences.

Canada Crypto Week kicks off with Web3TO Toronto Conference 2026. Taking place on July 20, 2026, the event brings together the Web3 community for a full day of insights on the future of the industry.

Returning to Canada Crypto Week, Cayman Finance will host its annual Rum Bar Cayman Experience in the VIP Cabana Area on July 21 and 22. The activation gives VIP attendees an opportunity to experience Cayman hospitality, connect with companies from the Cayman Islands, and learn more about doing business in one of the world’s leading financial jurisdictions.

A key addition to this year’s conference is the Compliance Breakfast on July 22, 2026. Presented by VerifyVASP, Inca Digital, XReg Consulting, Crystal Intelligence, and Cloudburst Technologies, the invite-only event brings together regulators, policymakers, compliance leaders, and industry executives for meaningful discussions on digital assets, AI, regulation, and the future of innovation.

Another popular event is Agentic Day presented by Hello Agentic on July 21, 2026. The dedicated afternoon program explores the future of AI agents and autonomous intelligence, bringing together innovators building the next generation of agentic AI.

This year’s lineup includes:

• Agentic Day presented by Hello Agentic

• Cayman Finance Rum Bar Experience

• Compliance Breakfast by VerifyVASP, Inca Digital, XReg Consulting, Crystal Intelligence, & Cloudburst

• Invest Hong Kong Workshop: The Global Hub for Digital Assets

• Pudgy Penguins Vibes Card Game Event

• SheFi Morning Social at ETHWomen

• House of Intelligence: Where Institutions Meet Web3 by House of ZK

• AWIC Facilitated Networking presented by the Association for Women in Cryptocurrency

• Whitepaper Reading Sessions by Whitepaper Reading Club

• Book Signings with Amanda Wick, Audrey Nesbitt, and Annelise Osborne

• ETHToronto presented by Autheo

• The 5th Annual ETHWomen

• Bored Ape Meetup

• Doginal Dogs VibeZone

• Solana VibeStation

To view the full schedule of events, register for activities, or submit your own event, visit CanadaCryptoWeek.com

For additional event listings and registrations, visit luma.com/canadacryptoweek.

Apply promo code CRYPTOEVENTS25 to save 25% on the Blockchain Futurist Conference tickets!

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Arthur Hayes Says Three Forces Are About to Pop the AI Bubble — and Bitcoin Won’t Escape

In his latest essay, Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX and CIO of crypto family office Maelstrom, argues that the AI investment supercycle is approaching a breaking point, and that the fallout will drag Bitcoin down before any recovery is possible.

The core of his argument centers on what he calls “three darts” aimed squarely at the AI bubble.

1. Rising energy costs. AI data centers run on electricity, and that electricity increasingly comes from natural gas. With US-Iran tensions choking supply through the Strait of Hormuz and hydrocarbon inventories at multi-year lows, Hayes sees an energy price spike as increasingly inevitable. This energy spike, he argues, would compress AI company margins, slow token usage growth, and ultimately put a question mark over the entire data center buildout thesis.

2. An IPO market that can’t absorb what’s coming. SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI are all eyeing public listings at trillion-dollar-plus valuations, and Hayes argues the combined capital raise would exceed the total value of all dot-com IPOs combined. SpaceX alone is priced at roughly 100x sales with a tiny initial float and a vesting schedule that will expand supply fivefold by September, right as the other two are also expected to list. Hayes’s conclusion: the market is priced for an explosion higher; anything less will be read as a top.

3. Political risk. If energy inflation bites and voters feel the squeeze, Hayes believes the Trump administration will turn on the AI industry for electoral reasons. Data centers—power-hungry, capital-intensive, and associated with concentrated tech wealth—are an easy political target heading into the November midterms.

Taken together, Hayes sees these three pressures forming what he calls a “toxic cocktail” for risk assets. He argues that AI debt issuance has absorbed essentially all new dollar liquidity created since 2022—roughly $1.5 trillion in each case—leaving Bitcoin starved of the capital inflows his liquidity model would normally predict. If AI equities crack, he warns, a credit contraction follows, margin capital dries up, and crypto has nowhere to hide in the short term.

Hayes has already acted on the thesis, exiting positions in HYPE, NEAR, WLD, and ZEC while holding Bitcoin and Ether as core long-term positions. His longer-term view remains bullish though: he expects the eventual bust to trigger a large monetary response that ultimately benefits Bitcoin. For now, he’s focused on capital preservation though.

Hayes has a track record of calling macro turning points early, sometimes uncomfortably so. Whether or not his timeline proves accurate, the structural argument here deserves serious attention from anyone active in crypto markets right now. The overlap between AI capital flows and Bitcoin’s underperformance is not a coincidence, and the IPO pipeline he describes is real and imminent. As ever, we’re not here to give financial advice, but when Hayes moves his portfolio and explains exactly why in public, it’s worth reading twice.

Read more in our latest blog post

Mark you calendars for July 23-24: Energy Investors Forum

The energy and compute convergence is one of the most capital-intensive stories in the market right now, and the Energy Investors Forum in Dallas is where the serious players convene to talk about it.

Brought to you by the team behind TheEnergyMag (formerly TheMinerMag), IEF brings together executives, investors, miners, data center operators, utilities, and infrastructure providers for two days of high-signal discussion at the intersection of power, AI infrastructure, and energy-intensive computing.

If you’re tracking where the next wave of value creation is emerging across this space, this is the room to be in.

🎟️ Use code CryptoEventsHQ at checkout to save 20% on your tickets.

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Berlin has always done things differently. It turned a divided city into a creative capital. It made techno a cultural export. And now, in June 2026, it’s doing the same thing to blockchain.

Meet the Berlin Blockchain Festival 2026—seven days, one city, and a convergence of builders, founders, artists, and curious minds that has been years in the making.

What started n 2018 as EthBerlin— a scrappy, hacker-spirited gathering—has evolved into something the crypto world hasn’t seen at this scale in Europe. Berlin Blockchain Festival is now a full citywide festival, doubling in size and ambition for 2026.

The mission is clear: stop talking about Web3 in abstract terms. Start solving real problems—in fashion, finance, art, logistics—and bring mainstream audiences into the conversation alongside the builders who are already doing it.

The Venue: w3.hub

The festival’s home base is the w3.hub Möckernstrasse 120 in Berlin—3,000 sqm of raw industrial space spread across 6 floors in the heart of the city’s developer district. The Ethereum Foundation, Bitvavo, Ledger, Solana, and Cardano have all left their mark here. The building has the bones of a factory and the energy of a movement.

Who’s Speaking

BBF has already announced the first four speakers, with the lineup reflecting exactly where the industry is heading:

• Chloe White, Senior Advisor at Chainflip Labs, on the rise of AI in Web3 and how it connects Berlin’s builder community with the AI wave

• Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands, on AI, agentic rails, and real-world assets — the next chapter of digital ownership

• Akin Båmstedt, CEO of 1b-insurance, on Insurance and MiCAR Art. 67 — the regulatory and institutional angle that the industry can no longer ignore

• Xen Baynham-Herd, Director of Growth at Base, on scaling Ethereum L2s and the onchain economy

Berlin Blockchain Week: The Full Picture

BBF doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s the flagship of a sprawling week-long ecosystem of events—what Berlin Blockchain Week has become in 2026. Here’s what’s happening across the city:

• June 13 — Solana Summit Germany

• June 14 — Neocypherpunk Summit

• June 15 — Berlin Ethereum Day

• June 16 — The Raven Day

• June 16–17 — DappCon 26

• June 16–19 — Blockspäti Berlin 2026 Powered by Zcash

• June 17 — OKX Alpha Summit

• June 18–19 — Web3 Summit 2026

• June 18–19 — DeSci.Berlin 2026

• June 18–21 — AI Agents Summit 2026

The full Berlin Blockchain Week schedule lives at https://blockchainweek.berlin/

Why This Moment Matters

Web3 has always had the community. The question has been whether it can cross the gap to the people who aren’t already inside the tent. Berlin Blockchain Festival 2026 is the most deliberate attempt yet to answer that question—by placing builders next to artists, regulators next to founders, and Ethereum developers next to fashion technologists, all in a city that has never been afraid to experiment.

If you’re anywhere near serious about where blockchain goes from here, June in Berlin is now a fixed anchor on the global Web3 calendar. Developers, founders, and infrastructure teams fly in from around the world specifically for this week, so this is where you need to be too.

Official festival site: https://blockchainfestival.berlin/

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Today we mark Bitcoin Pizza Day: a humble purchase that turned into a legend. On May 22, 2010 Laszlo Hanyecz, a Florida-based Bitcoin early adopter traded 10,000 BTC for two pizzas—a simple act that helped prove Bitcoin could be used as money and inspired the community that followed.

Why this matters

• Proof of concept: The pizza trade showed Bitcoin could buy real goods.

• Community catalyst: Early transactions helped form the social infrastructure—meetups, forums, and projects—that scaled Bitcoin beyond code.

• A lesson in conviction: Those who believed when it was experimental helped create today’s ecosystem.

Spotlight: Early adopters

Early adopters weren’t just users; they were builders and evangelists who tolerated technical risk, long confirmation times, and volatility. Their willingness to use Bitcoin for everyday transactions created demand, documentation, and memorable stories that keep the culture alive.

How people celebrate

• Local meetups and pizza parties.

• NFT and art drops inspired by the pizzas.

• Educational talks and panels on monetary history and decentralization.

• Fundraisers and giveaways to support developers, open-source projects, and community organizers.

Ways to mark the day

• Host or attend a local meetup — bring pizza and conversation.

• Share an appreciation post for early adopters and builders.

• Donate or contribute to open-source Bitcoin projects.

• Organize a small panel or livestream about monetary history and decentralization.

How to join a meetup near you

Find local Bitcoin meetups across the world at https://bitcoinonly.events/meetups/ or https://cryptoevents.global/meetups-workshops-networking-crypto-web3-events/

A simple pizza purchase became a cultural milestone because people were willing to try something new. On Bitcoin Pizza Day we thank the pioneers whose faith turned code into a movement — and we invite new participants to learn, build, and share.

🌸 That’s all for today!

🔔 Want to stay in the loop? Follow CryptoEvents on Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Telegram to be updated on the latest news and insights.