BUIP047: The Future of Bitcoin - Development & Scaling Conference
Proposer: Antony Zegers (@mengerian)
Submitted on: 2017-02-23
Stauss: ??

Summary

This is an Operational BUIP requesting BU membership approval for the
allocation of $40,000 of BU funds to sponsor a medium sized
conference.

The purpose of the conference is to bring together noted Bitcoin
figures, developers, academics, miners and enthusiasts to overview,
discuss, critique and prioritize many of the leading enhancements to
develop Bitcoin into the future, including improvements which enable a
far higher capacity for transactional throughput on-chain.

BU would be the primary sponsor, but the conference is under the banner
of the “The Future of Bitcoin” group, formerly known as OnChain Scaling.
BU will assist by sponsoring and helping to organize the conference, but
the intent is for the conference not to be BU specific, and open and
welcoming to other groups.
**
Objectives**

Goals for the conference include:

1. This conference will build on the work of earlier Bitcoin
   development conferences, including the online On-Chain Scaling
   conferences and Bitcoin Unlimited’s Satoshi’s Vision conference, and
   will be extended to roughly 2-4 times the size (~50-100 attendees)
   of the latter as a two-day, rather than a one-day, event.
2. Provide a platform for diverse technical topics and approaches to
   future development of Bitcoin.
3. Intend to issue an open “call for proposals” to allot a portion of
   the sp
4. eaking slots.
5. Funding to pay expenses for key-note speakers/attendees. Partial
   expenses may be offered on a case-by-case basis.
6. Reaffirmation of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer sound money, along with
   other potential use cases.
7. Make the case for multiple implementations, i.e. decentralized
   development, resolving the last major centralizing force within the
   Bitcoin ecosystem.
8. Presentations: Selected items drawn from the roadmaps of Bitcoin
   Unlimited, Bitcoin
   Classic, BTCD,
   and Bitcoin
   Core, and
   any others as appropriate.
9. Panel and breakout discussions to debate specific on-chain scaling
   changes
10. Networking: CTOs from Bitcoin ecosystem businesses will be invited
    to participate.
11. Continue the process of attracting paid developers to enhance BU
    full-node software on a per-project basis which are approved by
    technical BUIPs.
12. Publicity for BU itself as a growing centre of development
    excellence for Bitcoin full-node software.
13. Intent is to provide high-quality video recordings of the
    presentations and panel discussions available after the event.
    Possible live-streaming if deemed suitable.

**
Location and Date**

Arnhem, Netherlands (Provisional, subject to change).

June 9-10 2017 (provisional date, may be re-scheduled if needed)