Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl used a Bitcoin industry stage in Las Vegas to defend a reserve strategy that mixes strict inflation control with measured exposure to digital assets.

 He described the bank’s move to add a small Bitcoin allocation as a way to raise expected returns without increasing overall portfolio risk.

Michl said that when he became governor in mid‑2022, inflation in the Czech Republic was near 20%. He told the audience that the central bank pledged to bring inflation back to 2% within two years and met that goal through discipline, not “magic.” 

He said money had been too cheap for too long, the currency had weakened, and there was too…

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David Marcus, CEO of Lightspark, used a Tuesday morning session at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference to announce Grid Global Accounts, a product he described as a dollar account that works everywhere, backed by a new partnership with Visa that extends spending access across many countries worldwide.

Marcus opened by framing the problem at scale. Roughly 400 billion emails travel across the internet each day, and consumers rely on a handful of platforms like Gmail to manage that volume. The global payments system moves 10 billion transactions a day, yet lacks an equivalent universal layer, Marcus said.

Marcus said there is no form of payment that works everywhere without friction, and…

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Bitcoin 2026 speaker Alex Leishman used his Nakamoto Stage talk, titled “We’re Not Fixing Money to Build More Casinos,” to deliver a sharp warning that modern finance is drifting toward a gambling model and away from basic banking. 

Leishman, CEO of River, said the American dream feels out of reach for many people as housing costs rise, student debt lingers, and wages lag, and argued that this pressure helps explain why prediction markets and betting features are spreading through mainstream financial apps. 

In his view, a system that once promised stable savings now pushes people toward risk if they want a shot at financial freedom.

Leishman opened by describing a…

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Block’s Bitcoin Product Lead Miles Suter took the Nakamoto Stage at Bitcoin 2026 in Las Vegas Tuesday morning with a clear message: bitcoin must circulate, not just sit still. 

“If Bitcoin doesn’t function as peer-to-peer cash, it loses the quality that makes it transformational,” Suter said, framing Block’s entire product push around the idea that Satoshi built the network so “the entire world could operate on a freer, fairer financial system.”

The presentation came one day after Block rolled out a wave of bitcoin-focused product announcements on April 27, making it one of the most aggressive product offensives the company has staged at a single… Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Blockstream has introduced Jade Core, a new hardware wallet designed to expand access to Bitcoin self-custody through a simplified user experience. 

The device builds on the company’s existing Jade lineup and retains its open-source security model while targeting a broader base of users.

The launch reflects a shift in hardware wallet design as providers seek to reduce barriers tied to self-custody. Many existing solutions have focused on experienced users, with complex setup processes and technical requirements. 

Jade Core addresses this gap through guided onboarding and tighter integration with Blockstream’s mobile and desktop applications.

The device supports…

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Amboss has activated RailsX, a Lightning-native exchange layer that allows users to trade bitcoin against stablecoins without relinquishing custody, marking a shift in how dollar-denominated liquidity can move across Bitcoin infrastructure.

The launch introduces two trading pairs, USDT-L and USDC-L, issued by Speed Wallet, and opens them to peer-to-peer trading across the Lightning Network. Trades route through existing Lightning channels and settle atomically within seconds, with no centralized order book or intermediary holding user funds.

The release moves stablecoin functionality on Lightning beyond experimentation. While the concept of dollar-pegged assets on Bitcoin’s…

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Speaking on the Nakamoto Stage, Tim Draper told attendees that bitcoin has entered the financial mainstream and that governments now roll out “the red carpet” for the industry. He said the community is “starting to feel like something is happening” as adoption grows, and he cast that shift as the early phase of a larger transition in the money system.

In his view, people will move in stages: first from dollars to stablecoins, then from stablecoins to bitcoin as the final store of value and unit of account.

Draper praised Satoshi Nakamoto’s design of BTC as a system with no government control, no middleman banks, and no traditional account records. He described his own…

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Three members of Congress positioned digital asset regulation as a matter of national security and economic competition during a panel discussion at The Bitcoin 2026 Conference in Las Vegas on Monday.

Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) spoke on “The Bitcoin Bloc: A New Force in American Politics,” moderated by Faryar Shirzad, Chief Policy Officer at Coinbase.

Miller-Meeks described Bitcoin as “financial democracy” and linked cryptocurrency adoption to America’s 250th anniversary, framing support for digital assets as patriotic. She cited the Chinese Communist Party as a threat and characterized crypto policy as a…

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