BUIP068: The Future of Bitcoin 2 Conference
Proposer: Antony Zegers (@Mengerian)
Submitted on: 2017-11-01
Status: Draft

Summary

This is an Operational BUIP requesting Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) membership
approve the allocation of USD $50,000 of BU funds, plus an additional
USD $10,000 contingency, to sponsor the next “The Future of Bitcoin”
conference.

The conference will build on the success of the last The Future of
Bitcoin Conference, which was sponsored by Bitcoin Unlimited by BUIP
047 [1], and was held in Arnhem June 29 -
July 1 2017 [2].

Location and Date

Proposed location: Tokyo, Japan

Proposed date: 23-25 March 2018

Both of these particulars may be subject to change if deemed necessary
by conference organizers.

Objectives

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 and Bitcoin Cash into the future, including improvements
which enable a far higher capacity for transactional throughput
on-chain.

Goals for the conference include:

1. 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.

1. One of the themes of the prior conference was Bitcoin’s multiple
   implementations. This was very successful and provided a technical
   focus for the conference. This conference will broaden to include
   other topics, but the intention is to keep a primarily technical and
   research focus.

1. Attendance will be targeted to be around 1-2 times the size of the
   Arnhem conference (ie, 140-280 attendees). The duration of the
   conference will be extended to three days (Arnhem conference was two
   days).

1. Intent is to provide high-quality video recordings and
   live-streaming
   of the presentations and panel discussions, similar to the last
   conference [3].

1. There will be an open “call for proposals” for presentations. The
   conference will do its best to make the program be inclusive and
   representative of various groups in the Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and
   wider cryptocurrency community.

1. Funding to pay expenses for key-note speakers/attendees. Partial
   expenses may be offered on a case-by-case basis.

1. Publicity for Bitcoin Unlimited itself as a growing center of
   excellence for Bitcoin research and full-node software development.

References

[1] BUIP 047:
https://bitco.in/forum/threads/buip047-the-future-of-bitcoin-development-scaling-conference.1848/

[2] The Future of Bitcoin website:
https://www.thefutureofbitcoin.com/

[3] Videos of talks from Arnhem conference:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW5YLgBF2qh_1NKB3hW24cg26KSTCsTjY