Paul Rosenberg

Bitcoin was born from cypherpunk ideals: privacy, decentralization, and peer-to-peer freedom. But as nation-states and institutions start stacking sats, many are asking—is the original vision slipping away?

This panel brings together early builders and privacy advocates to explore what cypherpunk philosophy still means in 2025—and how it can be preserved in a world of KYC, surveillance, and corporate co-option.

Led by OG cypherpunk Juraj Bednár, the conversation features:

Is Bitcoin more a social or technological revolution?

Why P2P, non-KYC Bitcoin still matters


How individuals can take practical steps to protect privacy, sovereignty, and signal in an increasingly centralized world

This isn’t nostalgia—it’s a reminder of why we’re here, how to use the tools, and what’s at stake if we forget.

At BTC Prague VIP stage, Max Hillebrand sits down with legendary cypherpunk Paul Rosenberg—author, entrepreneur, and OG freedom tech builder. They will unravel the ideological and technical threads of his decades-long work to build parallel systems. This fireside chat merges his foundational role in Bitcoin’s early ecosystem with philosophical musings on power, privacy, and human agency. Rosenberg will dissect the failures of compromised systems, share guerrilla strategies for building resilient decentralized tools, and challenge attendees to confront the ethical imperatives of tech sovereignty. From the early days of the cypheprunks to Bitcoin’s existential stakes, this is a masterclass in engineering autonomy for a post-state world.