Bitcoin Unleashed London: Community Review

This Hallows Eve, as we wrap up the month of October, we reflect on our time at Bitcoin Unleashed London, the talks are over, the alpha has been shared, and many great IRL connections made.

Instead of talk-by-talk coverage or a deep dive into speaker sessions, we are calling here in London for celebration, for on the 18th of October 2023, Bitcoin Unleashed made it to London, at the same time making history as one of the largest Bitcoin-focused conferences, bringing L1 & L2 Bitcoiners together to discuss the various ways in which the power of Bitcoin, not only as an asset, can be unleashed and it all happened right here in the bustling city capital!

Not only did we attend to do our facilitation duties as the UK’s leading Stacks community, but our community friends over at Coinscrum — the UK’s longest-running and leading Bitcoin & Crypto community, also worked with us to cover footage and speaker interviews, which you’ll soon find across both STX:LDN and Coinscrum YouTube channels respectively, so subscribe to both to get the real alpha notifications! 👀

We touched base with community builders BenRicherCrypto and Nat Nye (be sure to follow them too!), who joined the team at the event and the following EasyA X Stacks Hackathon to connect with the great speakers, organisers and Bitcoiners in attendance over 5 days of non-stop Bitcoin.

I’ve Ben Richer…

“Bitcoin Unleashed was the first ‘big’ event/conference I’ve attended as a Community Builder with STX LDN. One of the things I was repeatedly struck by, from the welcome reception through to the final day of the hackathon, was just how many big-name organisations from the Stacks and Bitcoin ecosystems and beyond had turned out for Unleashed! Between speakers, staff and attendees, billion-dollar enterprises like Coinbase, Outlier Ventures and KPMG, long-standing Bitcoin-associated organisations such as BitRefill, Casa and Bitcoin Magazine and Stacks ecosystem giants like Leather, Hiro and Trust Machines were all represented at Unleashed!

Time and again I’m surprised by how open, friendly and accessible people within the Stacks and Bitcoin ecosystems are. As a Community Builder with STX LDN, even some of the biggest name guests and speakers in attendance were kind enough to give me some of their time and answer a few questions and there was a genuine atmosphere of openness and co-operation throughout the whole event. Special shout out to the people from the Stacks Foundation itself, who I saw chatting to everyone from students at their first ever crypto event, to legal professionals in touch with UK regulatory bodies, over the few days.

It was great to see the venue sold out for the conference and to see over 100 people at the hackathon. The talks by the various speakers seemed to be really well received; I heard several talks finish to huge rounds of applause as I was running around! Another thing myself and others commented on was how professional and up-market everything felt at Unleashed, from businesses’ branding and marketing materials, to the layout and interior decoration of the venue, to the catering staff and refreshments provided.

From a Community Builder’s perspective, I’ll definitely do what I can to be more organised going into any large conferences or events in future, so I can make the best use possible of any access I have to people doing cool things in the space and create the most useful content that I can from any time such people are kind enough to give me. Finally, from a conference attendee’s perspective, it was excellent to see the place packed, see businesses from startups to NASDAQ-listed companies representing and to feel the atmosphere of optimism, co-operation and innovation at Bitcoin Unleashed London! Bullish for Bitcoin’s returning buidl culture, Stacks and the Stacks ecosystem!” — @BenRicherCrypto

The Bitcoin Alkhemist

“Bitcoin Unleashed was a top quality event at wonderful venue, where we well-fed with delicious canapes, meals and fresh juices/smoothies, this created a great environment for the gathering of among Bitcoin & Stacks very best minds coming together to discuss a wide range of topics pertaining to the growth, development and impact of Bitcoin and how layer 2's such as Stacks can harness such potential.

As a STX LDN Community Builder, I enjoyed inter-mingling and interviewing the very friendly and open titans such as the one who began it all for Stacks, Muneeb Ali, within the vibrant space, absorbing the abundant knowledge shared. I left the conference invigorated and excited to be a part of something that will change the world for the better. I look forward to the upcoming events and playing a similar role as an interviewer and above all buidling a Bitcoin and Stacks near future.” — Nat Nye, The Lyrikal Alkhemist

Bitcoin Unleashed is Stacks’ flagship event, championing Bitcoin innovation and bringing wider Bitcoin ecosystem innovators and participants together, in the name of building massive L2 infrastructure for Bitcoin.

Ecosystem partners included big names such as Bitcoin Magazine, Rootstock, Babylon Chain, Lightning Labs and more…

Hacking for good!

As mentioned, the follow-up to the main event was the Stacks and EasyA Hackathon, which for the first time ever brought a large-scale bitcoin-focused hackathon to Stacks in the UK.

Some of you may have seen the video doing the rounds of participants lining up and rushing through the main entrance in excitement. Albeit, early on a Saturday, the hackathon was certainly packed and buzzing with excitement from various teams and solo developers getting themselves involved in the action!

The Hackathon was also well complimented by the EasyA app, which periodically dropped out bitesize lessons in Bitcoin and Stacks development in the run-up to the two-day-long event, attended by a slew of young developers eager to build on Bitcoin.

That’s a wrap…or is it??

Overall Bitcoin Unleashed was attended and enjoyed by Bitcoiners young and old, new and OG, maxi or not, and became the absolute highlight of October in London for Bitcoin and Crypto events. Will it be back though?

Well, we certainly hope so. The reception for the conference was great and it was amazing to see 350+ people attending to find out what is going on in the wider Bitcoin ecosystem. We’ve been speaking to the Stacks Foundation directly and currently, all feedback is great, so we certainly hope that Bitcoin Unleashed will return again sometime in the near future, although at this stage we can’t give you that much alpha.

With the UK being touted as the possible next crypto hub, who knows, maybe there will be another major Stacks-hosted, Bitcoin-focused event in 2024…but, until further notice keep on following and subscribe to our Newsletter, or join our Telegram community if you want to be the first to know about Stacks and Bitcoin events happening in the UK. 😉😉

About STX:LDN 

STX:LDN is a London-based, community-led group, working to educate community members and all interested parties about the Stacks, as well as expand the wider Stacks community and Bitcoin ecosystem.

STX:LDN hosts a series of events in and around London, UK, on topics related to both Stacks and Bitcoin in addition to organizing workshops & courses that focus on building on Bitcoin using Stacks. 

The community also provides consultancy services for both individual founders and developer organizations looking to launch a new product within the Stacks ecosystem.

To learn more about what STX:LDN provides or to get involved in the community, visit the STX:LDN website below.

About Stacks

While building on the security of the Bitcoin network, Stacks combines attributes of Layer 1 blockchains and Layer 2 scaling solutions into one hybrid design.

Leveraging the robust decentralization of Bitcoin, Stacks functions as a Layer 2-like framework but with some of the autonomy of a Layer 1 chain. -- Learn More