More than Just Plebs: The Evolution of Bitcoin Culture & Community | Bitcoin 2026

Thanks for coming everyone. Hey, see some familiar phrases in the crowd. All right, folks. So, we're going to talk about Bitcoin culture today and I have two folks with me on stage who know a lot more about culture than most. We have Thomas uh from PKI. He the fastest growing physical Bitcoin space 100% growth between 2025 and 2026 uh opened his uh new location in Washington DC to go with the one in New York. And then Matt Peter from Axiom and the Philadelphia the Bitcoin John meet up in Philadelphia. Gentlemen, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, let's talk about Bitcoin culture because there is a case to be made that we're all sovereign individuals here. People say that in Bitcoin and culture could be a collectivist concept. So, can there be such a thing as Bitcoin culture? Does that sit with the sovereign individual thesis thumbs? >> Yeah, I think so. I mean, I know there are folks like Shinobi and Mr. huddle on Twitter that say there's no such thing as Bitcoin culture and community and they're correct. It's a bit uh technical. I think it's a bit literal in terms of uh their perspective, but um of course there's a culture, you know, and it expresses differently. So a Bitcoiner in Germany is not going to look a lot like a Bitcoiner in Texas or San Francisco. So we think the way we approach it at PubK is um there's hyper locality and we want each pub key to reflect that you know that city that we pop up in because it's going to be completely different. Um so there's no one homogeneous Bitcoin culture uh in my opinion but there's absolutely you know culture therein. We get together for these conferences we have our little rituals. It's a bit of a cult or religion in some cases but um yeah I think so. >> Yeah. I mean, there's you've got inside jokes. You've got a whole group of people who are like-minded in certain ways, who laugh or joke about certain things that you don't get outside of that culture. And then within it, there's kind of subcultures there. you know, whether it's the art, there's Bitcoin running, there's there's a bunch of different things that they have a commonality of Bitcoin and the the ethos of it, but it branches out into kind of more niche uh subjects, which is fantastic. >> You know, Bitcoin started with this cipher punk ethos around privacy, around sovereignty, self-custody, those sort of things. And then you know recently with the I suppose it started with the ETFs in when was that early 2025 uh where we saw a lot more Trafi come into into Bitcoin and perhaps they don't share the same cipher punk values they come from more of a Wall Street background trapfi background. Thomas, do you see a sort of schism happening now in between those cipher punk values and some of the more Trafi values? >> Yeah, I think schism is a perfect word for it. Um, it's a lot like there's a core set of values in early Bitcoin and it fractures over time. So, it's kind of like how religions evolve, Judeo-Christian values and you have Protestants and you know, lots of different facets. Um, and you know, I would say that the the suit coiners are, you know, a little bit more like the uh Book of Mormon Bitcoiners with the tie. They they have their uniform out there. It's fantastic. Um, so it it changes and evolves over time. It's not to say that the suit coiners are wrong. They're interested in Bitcoin. They have a certain perspective and that's what brings them, you know, to the community. Um, but Bitcoin touches so many different aspects of anyone's life. if you have the technical aspects, the financial aspects, the social political and what brings you in, but the social political side is what brought me in in the first place. So, a little bit more of the Silk Road, Wikileaks, um, cippher punk values in the early days. But, um, sorry, my voice is already shot day one of the conf. Um, it really depends on the perspective and what draws somebody into Bitcoin and there's so many different things that can do that. >> Yeah. I mean, it it's nice to uh everybody dresses in their uniform, so you know how to approach a conversation with someone. Someone wearing t-shirts, you know, covering their face uh and and jeans as opposed to a black suit, a tie and having a conversation, it's going to go in a different way how whether it's the true financialization or like Thomas mentioned the the freedom aspect or or the sovereignty aspect. So, you know, I think uh right now there's a schism, but I think there's a a hope, at least I have a hope that that some of those people dig in beyond just the the ATFs, the financialization to those other qualities or the other aspects of Bitcoin that brought a lot of people in from the first uh originally, you know, from 20 anytime up to 2017 before the ICOs and everything. So, I think uh it's it's it's there's hope for them. We can we can hope for the new coiners. >> Look, it's going to be really sad if people just come to, you know, hold an ETF and let Coinbase amass, you know, all the Bitcoin um that become ledger entries, right? In a Fidelity or Roth IRA or something like that. That's not what, you know, Bitcoin was formed for. But if that allows the broader community to grow um and get uh more folks access to join the community, hopefully they don't stop there and they're able to progress, you know, through their their Bitcoin journey. >> Welcome to Predict. The world is a market. Everything is a market. Get a 100% cash back up to $100 on your first predict bet if it loses. predict where everything is a market. So actually let me uh press on that point a little bit. Uh if I was there there is this notion that there is an immune system within Bitcoin, right? the the hardcore uh I guess people who hardcore Bitcoiners act as a as a white blood cell immune response having these purity tests which have it's fair to say I think some of these purity tests have reached a level of absurdity where it's it's like where the no true Scotsman phase but I I still think the immune system serves a purpose. Do you think that with these more let's just say diverse views coming in where maybe someone with from a trapfi background would not be interested in Bitcoin as a medium of exchange but rather as a speculative asset where you can build derivatives on you know do all the financial engineering that we're seeing uh can those two actually live together? Can can the cipher punk ethos of Bitcoin survive uh the the infiltration of uh this type of thinking? >> Um that's a good question. You know, we see a lot more policy makers getting interested in Bitcoin. Um obviously Coinbase and some of the large banks, the financial institutions, they have a tremendous amount of money that they can throw at policy problems. they can influence, you know, uh the regulatory environment to to fit their, you know, incentives. Uh Bitcoin, the technology, doesn't care about these things, but in the real world, there are some risks of it going in the wrong direction. Look at what happened to New York City and New York State with the Bit License. Um, so I do think that they're at odds and if you're just going to stop at that level and not progress to self-custody and understanding how, you know, Bitcoin actually works, energy policy, mining, these can affect Bitcoin, um, you know, pretty dramatically. So, I do think that they matter and, um, we're going to have to go through some some difficult years to figure out if the core ethos is going to survive. Matt, what are you seeing on that front in the Bitcoin John meet up in Philadelphia? >> We've had a pretty core group. We we we've we've made outreach to kind of the sue pointers to the the non, you know, OGs or the non cipher punk to try to get people in to have the conversations. Um I think engage trying to get them to engage beyond just the investment or promoting is is difficult. Uh they don't really care to have the conversations beyond that of of learning the history, the background, the why, how, all of those. It's really just I can sell a product. Uh but I think again maybe I'm maybe I'm overly optimistic that with time even some there will be a spark that they will start digging into that cippher punk beginnings or the cy cippher punk beginnings and and get curious. I mean if if you're doing if you're in finance you're not doing your diligence you're not really doing your job. Now, right now it could just be from a security standpoint, but maybe who knows what that trickles down to from uh to Thomas' point, the philosophical or political or you know the the social aspects of it. So, um it doesn't really exist there. There still remains a wall in between. But I think with each, you know, hopefully conferences like this, there are conversations that somebody sees uh someone on stage talking about the the the the origins or what have you and it opens their mind a little bit. So it's again, like I said, it's trying to engage even if it seems helpless or feudal. >> And Matt, you know, you have a unique or actually two unique perspectives. one is you see me on the ground with the uh Bitcoin John meetup, but you're also a a co-founder at Axiom who who and Axiom invests actively in the ecosystem. Are you seeing in the last year year and a half a difference in um the types of companies that uh you're investing in? Is are they more uh on the on the privacy side? maybe some Nostra companies uh you know companies that would that would be more aligned with the cipher punk ethos or are you seeing it drift more towards the financialization of Bitcoin? They're both out there. I think the ones that are actively raising in most cases are a little bit more financialized because there's, you know, in Bitcoin VC there's only so much money available. It's it's a drop. It's a very small amount. And so to go after larger checks, to go after larger funds, you have to appeal to their, let's be, let's be honest, they're kind of like shitcoiner mentalities and having liquidity or token or things of that nature. And so there are a lot of founders that are trying to bridge that gap or try to balance between the two. Uh, I think any that are going out trying to raise for larger amounts are are a little bit less privacy focused because there just isn't an appreciation from the larger funds of what that means of of why it's needed to Thomas' point of you know what could happen if we don't maintain privacy if we we we aren't properly securing the Bitcoin. So, it's they're in a tough spot. It's a very it's very hard to be a founder of Bitcoin just because there's a small pool that you can get funded through if if you do need funding and how do you balance maintaining your kind of core values with what institutions are looking for if they're looking to write a check and it's it's I I it's it's very hard and they have to make a decision at some point. >> So Thomas, let me ask you this. you you've hosted several events both at Paky New York and Paky DC these days and you get to talk to a lot of folks in the industry. Just riffing off of what Matt just said, is there any money to be made if as if you're doing honest Bitcoin work or do you have to pivot to some kind of leveragebased I guess shitcoin for lack of a better term um to make meaningful money? Otherwise, it's like being a Bitcoin almost seems like being an artist. There's no guarantee of making money. >> I mean, we sell burgers and beer for Bitcoin. I think that works. It's working so far. Um, it's always been a very very difficult industry, you know, to invest in. Um, there's also a fundraising a funding uh problem I would say for core development. Most of core development is funded by philanthropists. There's a couple of organizations like Spiral and um chain uh which one >> chain code >> chain code and brank um which do a good job but effectively relying on philanthropy because it's not really an investable class um before pub I was in Bitcoin mining which might be the most masochistic industry on the planet very difficult uh to be balancing sort of the energy side and the equipment and um you know growing your operation super competitive Um, and I think it stays that way. I think it's the nature of the uh of the technology makes it really difficult to um find ways to extract value. You have exchanges that have to go into shitcoins and prediction markets. Um, and we're seeing the pivot in Bitcoin mining to AI and uh HBC. So, um, I think it stays that way. It's, you know, what Matt is doing at Axium, I have a ton of respect for because it's not easy. >> Anything to add to that, Matt? >> Well, before actually I I I worked at Bitco and I I use Bitco as kind of an example of you know it started with Bitcoin but if you want to grow if you want to build a business if you want to get funding but also to have a broader uh c customer base they had to expand to every other coin that's ever been created and and I think knowing Mike and knowing most of the team there's still a core ethos of Bitcoin but you have to kind of balance it of if you want to reach a certain you have to make sacrifices and that's being called a sellout or a shitcoin casino or whatever the case may be. And some make that, you know, you have everything's balance. Everything's a choice. Bitcoin is a trade-off. You're always trading something for something else and that nothing's ever going to be perfect. And so it's it's difficult. I I I go back to I I feel I feel for the founders because at some point they have to make a decision of do we continue to try to bootstrap and we're only going to grow at a certain rate or do we take money from someone who wants to to do something that we may not be comfortable with or we have to make a concession and so I think that's business and if if Bitcoin is to become more mainstream or or larger in approach and people want number to go up or whatever you know then there are going to have to be more and more founders that make those concessions or they will stay smaller companies and they won't have the reach. And hopefully there's a period in which they can make certain concessions but maybe dial it back or find again a trade-off for something else that maintains the to bring it back kind of the culture and the ethos of Bitcoin while making it available to more people which you really have the trade-off. want to stay small and be very niche to a certain amount of people or offer something new to a larger group but it may not be as you know quote unquote pure. So the name of our panel has the word pleb in it and I want to talk about that word a little bit Thomas the the to me the word pleb used to mean something maybe three or four years ago maybe earlier perhaps it had a connotation of humility maybe it stemmed from the rallying cry we're all Satoshi sort of commoners right it's no one's elevated from the protocol's perspective that is true objectively true it doesn't see any difference uh in in people? Uh has the word evolved in the last few years? Does it mean uh what it used to mean a few years back? >> Yeah, I think so. Just normal Bitcoiners, folks that are going to dive in, um not do it for the podcasts, not do it for the conference. Um people that are doing it, excuse me, people that are doing it for themselves and their family effectively. They want to take more ownership of the value that they're able to create and accumulate and um keep that safe for future generations. Um I think the plebs are look, they're still at Pub Key, they're at John, they're they're they're ever present, but um I do hope we see them take a little bit more of a front, you know, a front and center um uh relationship with bringing people into into Bitcoin, right? It shouldn't go to Black Rockck. Black Rockck shouldn't be your single source of information. It should be, you know, the pled. It's much more of like a a church-like community almost congregation. Matt, you know, the name of a meetup is Bitcoin John J Aw. So for people who are not from Philadelphia, could you explain what John is because it means something very specific and I think it ties into the concept of pleb. Well, really quick just hands. Does anybody actually know the word John? We got one that two. Okay, that's >> Let's go. So, uh, if you're not familiar, John is a very Philly centric term that means pretty much everything and anything. It can be a person, it can be a thing, it can be a place. I'm going to eat that John. I'm going to that John. Did you hear that, John? And it has a very specific connotation. So if you're from Pennsylvania or the Philadelphia area and you hear John, you immediately know where you're located. And so when we when we started John, it was really to you and we we wanted Bitcoin to grow out of Philadelphia. Uh you know, the home of independence, if you will. Uh and so John felt very specific, but also right like Bitcoin can really apply to anything. It's very It's very broad, but it's also very specific. And so I think uh I don't know if I answered your question. I went on a little tangent just talking about John, but >> I don't think anybody understands what John actually means. >> Yeah. I mean, if if you know what John is, then you're lying. So no, that's great. And I do think it ties into the concept of pleb because I don't think pleb actually means anything either, at least today. Uh it maybe meant something, but uh but it's honorific, right? If you compare it to like um in Ethereum, you have thought leaders, you have people that are uh certainly more important than others. They can effectuate change with the protocol itself. So I think it is an important rallying cry for Bitcoiners to have that sense of humility and refer to yourself as just one of the plebs just part of the protocol. Have you seen a difference in attitudes o over the years at at the meetup? The core group, the the the plebs are there month in month out. We meet once a month and they're they're always there and they're they're they're strong and they are very supportive. where you see the fluctuations and the the larger uh showings or the smaller groups. It's it's very price dependent still, which I think is kind of the broader issue of people lose interest when the price goes down. It's the the meme of buying, you know, uh 50,000 Bitcoin, nobody in line to buy it. 120,000 Bitcoin, everybody in line to buy it. it happens with being active in the space whether it's building a company or it's coming to a meetup or or anything like that. And so, you know, we we do it we try to make a strong effort to have big names come through to motivate people to come learn even when there are bare markets when it when the price is down. It's it's difficult because we want to reach people who aren't already kind of Bitcoiners themselves, clubs, but there's there's headwinds in every direction, whether it's some other token or the price or fear of quantum or AI or whatever the case. There's a million things that people will always bring up as to why they haven't come. When the price goes up, more people show up. So, it's it's it's a matter of getting everybody to kind of look at one bitcoin equals one bitcoin as opposed to all of the noise surrounding it. You know, I want to go to something. Um, some you some of you know Roger 9000, uh, Bitcoin musician, and he had a great line. Uh, he he says, "Everyone thinks Bitcoin is online, but where Bitcoin lives is with the living." And both both of you are uh involved in physical spaces. Thomas, you with with both PUBG locations uh you Matt with the meetup. How do you see these physical outposts, physical embassies, if you will, right, for Bitcoin as gathering together um as as I guess perpetuating the culture? I I obviously think they're super important. Creating Pub Key and making it as accessible and light-hearted as possible as a as a gateway. Most people don't even know it's a Bitcoin bar. So about 80% of our customers just like it because they're in good locations and it's a it's a good pub. They like being in that space. But then when they see people in the back, they're having our, you know, comedy club for nerds and talking about Bitcoin. They see somebody pay with Bitcoin at the bar. they ask the first question, which is completely different. Most Bitcoiners are going to push the information onto people, kind of like a Jehovah Witness walking around knocking on doors. But if somebody asks the first question, if they come to the bar and they're like, "What are you guys talking about in the back? Looks like fun." It's a completely different caliber of a conversation. And making it as light-hearted and accessible has been sort of our northstar for the brand since day one. Um, we're a small community and Bitcoin's still pretty small. We think it's big and it's important to us, but for most people it still is sort of irrelevant. But if Bitcoin does what we think it can do and the community is still really small, that typically doesn't work out so well. They end up killing those people. We need to make it a bigger tent. We need to invite people in um and continue to um save some lives. Well, I was going to say one of the things I'm most proud of with John is is people getting more involved in Bitcoin, whether it be from a working capacity. We've got people who have started companies in the Bitcoin space because they kind of got the uh the the courage via coming to the meetup and meeting other people who who said told them that's a great idea. Things you you don't get if you're just on Twitter or you're doing a Zoom call or whatever. you can't get the same kind of body feedback that you do in in in place or in person. So between starting companies or people leaving traditionally fiat jobs to go to Bitcoin companies of somebody that they came that came and spoke at John and they met them and they had a conversation. That conversation started in person it then went to email phone calls but then they met again in person. I I we had co it killed in person things. So I think what Thomas is doing is, you know, it sounds bad, like make America drink again in a sense. Like let's get people back together. Let's get people drinking again where they can have conversations and it's a lot easier to orange pill someone when they're there and they're meeting nice people and they see that they're smart and they have good intentions and that it's more than just trying to make, you know, a couple bucks and turning around. They get interested in that. And that's it's it's you have to do that in person. You can't do that in in in the on the internet. It's just you need the the meat space in order to get that done. >> And I think that's the distinction I'm I'm trying to make for people who might have only experienced quote unquote Bitcoin culture through Twitter X where it can be incredibly nasty to a lesser extent on Nost um but there is a real distinction between how people behave how Bitcoiners behave online and how they behave at Paki. I mean, I'm sure you could talk about that, Thomas. >> Look, you can solve a lot of problems with two beers. If you get in if you get into a room with somebody, you can understand where they're coming from. It's really easy to Excuse me. Day one, my voice is already gone. It's uh it's a lot easier to connect with somebody and meet them where they are when you're not behind a screen. It's easy to just lob grenades from from a keyboard. Um, and we've solved a lot of problems at PUBK, just seeing developers get together and hash things out, having a panel. Um, it's it's been special and I think it's going to come back. The whole Gen Z doesn't drink thing I think is uh temporary. When they when they really understand just how bad it is out there, they're going to have a beer. >> Yeah. I mean, we we start off every every John we it's traditionally 3 hours and the first hour is exclusively for social and networking for that exact reason. somebody new comes in, we've got a very great core group that will introduce them, you know, or introduce himself, introduce them to other people. And it's really it's it's we're growing, maybe slow. Uh if the price went up, we' we'd grow a lot faster, which would be great, but uh it's we're we need the meat space. And again, I I I have started structuring things off of how Thomas handles stuff at PUBG because I think it's it's it's killing it. It's going to continue to kill it and it's it's just it's important to be with people. Uh it's just it is. >> So we just have about a minute left. 30 seconds. Thomas, where do you see Bitcoin culture in 5 years? We have this influx of track five. Maybe there's going to be quantum bros next or AI bros. Who knows? So where do you see it in five years? >> Um I don't know. It that's a really hard question. Um, I I do think that there's going to be an acceleration of some of the financial products and that building its own, I would say, subculture within Bitcoin. Um, I'm cautiously optimistic that the privacy advocates um are going to make a comeback here. Let's get a free samurai going. Um, we got to get get our boys out of jail. Um, so I'm Yeah. Um, I'm cautiously optimistic, but it's not going to be easy. We're trying the best that we can to help uh foster culture and community building one city at a time, a pub key in every city except for Boston. And um you know, it really comes down to the people like you know a pub key can just be a vessel. It it we rely on the Bitcoiners to use it and to grow it. Yeah. >> Unfortunately, we're at time folks. Thank you Thomas. Thank you Matt. Thank you for great panel. I'm Avi Bora, author, podcaster, filmmaker, technologist. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Every year, this community comes together to celebrate, to debate, to build what comes next. And every year, the stage gets bigger. Sound money, center stage. So, where do you go to celebrate the next chapter in Bitcoin history? You come home. Nashville, July 2027.