Bitcoin is the central focus at every event BTC Inc runs, Justin Doochin told me at Bitcoin Amsterdam, and in the same breath he added that “it’s naive for us to think that that’s the only focus”. Justin is head of events at BTC Inc, the company that organises the conference, and he was my first interview on the morning of day one at the SugarFactory in Halfweg, just outside Amsterdam. Over the next ten minutes, nearly every answer he gave came back to the people in the room.
| What you need to know |
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| 1Justin Doochin is head of events at BTC Inc, which organises Bitcoin Amsterdam and The Bitcoin Conference series. I interviewed him on the morning of 5 November 2026, day one of Bitcoin Amsterdam. |
| 2Justin says bitcoin is the central focus across all of BTC Inc's events, but that it is naive to think it is the only one: he expects AI, DeFi and trade to come up on stage and in conversations. |
| 3Justin says people come to the event "whether Bitcoin's at $40,000 or whether it's at $120,000", and that the main stage will carry a lot of conversations on regulation and policy this year. |
| 4My read: his most useful line was "the overlap is Bitcoin", because it explains why a bitcoin conference makes room for AI and markets at all. |
The full conversation runs just under ten minutes.
Bitcoin is the common ground
I put it to him that other events in the Netherlands try to bring traditional finance and DeFi together, while this one feels focused, and asked whether keeping bitcoin at the centre was the plan. It is, across the whole calendar. BTC Inc’s Bitcoin Conference series has a flagship event in Las Vegas and international editions in Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi, according to the Bitcoin Hong Kong 2026 announcement on Bitcoin Magazine, which BTC Inc also publishes. His answer had a second half, though.
across all of our events, Bitcoin is the central focus. However, it’s naive for us to think that that’s the only focus
Justin Doochin, head of events, BTC Inc
He was specific about what else will come up.
On the stage, in conversations, you’re going to have people talking about AI, DeFi, trade, everything. Healthcare, people are interested in a lot of different things.
Justin Doochin
He called that mix part of the beauty of the conference. It brings together different demographics and people from different fields and industries, he said, and “the overlap is Bitcoin”: the one subject they can all find common ground on. He described the same pull in that Hong Kong announcement in August 2025, when his title was director of global events, saying the conversation expands every year.
When I asked him to sum up this year’s edition in one sentence, he needed two words, “a community”, and then told me what to expect from the main stage.
there’s going to be a lot of conversations around regulation and policies, and everything that’s happening in the market today. But again, at its core, this is about bringing together the European community and everyone who’s interested in Bitcoin.
Justin Doochin
Read the thread on X
Where AI fits at a bitcoin conference
AI came up in his list before I raised it, so I asked whether it would change the way BTC Inc organises its events. He did not oversell it.
AI is the shiny object right now. Everyone’s talking about it. Everyone’s interested in it.
Justin Doochin
Whatever industry you are in, he said, AI is affecting it. “So it’s just another layer.” He still expects it to run through both days: “I imagine that over the next two days AI is going to be a heavy talking point”, from AI trading to the hacks that have happened recently to everyday use. He counts himself among the daily users, and assumes the room does too: “I’m sure every single person at this conference is using AI”.
Calling it a layer fits the rest of his answers. AI sits on top of whatever industry you work in, and in this building that industry is bitcoin, the same overlap he had described just before.
Whether bitcoin is at $40,000 or $120,000
I told him the market had pushed us around in the two or three weeks before the event, and asked how a conference still pulls people in when they are losing trust in crypto. His answer started with what years in this industry do to you: “you become a little desensitized to the prices and the ups and downs.”
You come to the event, whether Bitcoin’s at $40,000 or whether it’s at $120,000. Sure, the vibes might be different. The topics might be different.
Justin Doochin
What people come for, in his telling, is a community, opportunities, networking, investment opportunities and learning. “But at the end of the day, events are about bringing people together.” From someone whose job is to fill a venue every year, that is also a planning statement. He made the same point to Coin Edition in September, saying BTC Inc’s events need to be ready for a low bitcoin price or a high one. The venue and the dates are booked long before anyone knows where the price will stand in November.
Coffee first, then the people
Bitcoin Amsterdam moved to the SugarFactory last year, and before I could ask about this year’s plans, he turned the question around and asked whether I liked it better than the Westergas, where earlier editions ran. I did: the old venue packed people so tightly that there was hardly space to stand and talk. He agreed, and described the trade-off the move made.
It’s a little bit further out from the city, maybe an extra 10-minute drive, but the layout of this event, there’s levels to it.
Justin Doochin
The expo hall, the stages and the media room are all walkable from one another, he said. “You don’t have to walk outside. And it just flows better.” When I asked whether it had been easy to get the big Dutch names back on the floor with their booths, he gave the most candid answer of the morning: “I want to say it’s always easy, but no.” It takes the whole team, he said, “Everything from programming to sales to media to partnerships to marketing.”
His advice for a visitor’s first hours is simple. “First thing is you stop to get coffee.” Then walk the expo hall and the stages, and sit in on a panel if a topic grabs you. “But more importantly than that, it’s about networking.” He means meeting people face to face: “It’s about shaking hands and having conversations that you could have in real life”, away from X and the rest of the internet. His hope for what people take home is just as plain: “I’m just hoping that people come here, they have fun, they learn a little bit, and they network, and they just build a community.”
I also asked what he was looking forward to most, on the stages or at the booths. “I’m always looking forward to Jack Mallers’ talk”, he said, because “he really resonates with the audience”. On the live programme as I write this on day one, the Strike founder appears twice on Friday 6 November: in a fireside with Robert Breedlove in The Deep at 13:00, and in a keynote on the Treasury Stage at 16:15.
Read next
- All our Bitcoin Amsterdam 2026 interviews and coverage, updated as each conversation goes live.
- Fred Forsberg of Bitcoinist on why a mining app shows up in person, our other day-one interview, and a good example of the face-to-face networking Justin describes.
- In Dutch, on the cycle behind those price swings: Ik hou rekening met een kortere bitcoincyclus dan vier jaar.
- Bitcoin Amsterdam is at bitcoin.amsterdam, with the speakers and @bitcoinconfams on X, and BTC Inc is at b.tc.
I recorded the interview with Justin Doochin at Bitcoin Amsterdam 2026, at the SugarFactory in Halfweg, on 5 November 2026. Quotes are verbatim, with filler removed. Cryptofocus is a media partner of Bitcoin Amsterdam 2026; I sit on a panel there on 5 November and am the MC of the Orange Stage on 6 November. Nothing here is financial advice.
