Sixteen years after its launch, Bitcoin is no longer just a cypherpunk experience or an anti-establishment asset. In 2025, he rubbed more and more shoulders with politicians, institutions and titans of Wall Street.
This quarter of work was fully exposed during the recent Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, where Cointelegraph was on the ground to capture the atmosphere.
In the episode of this week of Size of the size of an byteGareth Jenkinson de Cointelegraph explores if politics and institutions have captured Bitcoin (BTC) or if it has become too important to ignore.
Bitcoin 2025 Shift
Once a bitcoin gathering only for hardcore believers, the conference now offers eminent political figures such as US vice-president JD Vance, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and a multitude of institutional investors. Their presence indicates a seismic change: Bitcoin is now firmly for the political and financial elite.
One of the most striking trends to emerge is the rise of Bitcoin cash companies. Inspired by Michael Saylor from Microstrategy, companies like Metaplanet, Twenty One and Nakamoto are now putting bitcoin on their balance sheets and providing public investors an indicator of the BTC exhibition through stock markets.
In relation: American military leadership to support the Bitcoin – Senator Lummis Strategic Reserve
Gareth sat with Dylan Leclair, director of Bitcoin strategy at Metaplanet, who recently became the most rated stock in Japan in volume and in value. Said Leclair:
“We are going to everything. We will sell our equity, our debt, our chairs, everything to buy more bitcoin and we will not stop. Many people have said that these guys were crazy … but there is the Bitcoin base in Japan [which] was super excited because there was nothing like them. »»
Institutional adoption of Bitcoin
Jack Mallers, the CEO struck by Strike and founder of Twenty One, a new Bitcoin cash company supported by Tether, SoftBank and Cantor Fitzgerald.
Deposits have greeted increasing political and institutional attention, but stressed that cases of use of Bitcoin are naturally evolving, payments to the long -term storage of value.
To acquire a historical perspective, Gareth also spoke with Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream and creator of Hashcash, the system of proof of work referenced in the white Bitcoin paper.
Back offered a long opinion on the way in which Bitcoin’s technical and social evolution reflects its growing global relevance. He offered the idea that institutional adoption is only another user case.
“I think these are just new use cases for Bitcoin. This is not what they do for Bitcoin, but that’s what Bitcoin does for them that motivates them.”
Listen to the complete episode of Insight the size of an byte for the full interview on the page of Cintelelegraph podcasts, Apple or Spotify podcasts. And don’t forget to consult the full range of Cointelegraph of other shows!
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