Bitcoin 2026 is a wrap. Plenty of white pills to go around. Ignore the noise. There has never been a better time to contribute to bitcoin, open source, and freedom tech. Don't listen to the doomers.

Go build something. Help someone take custody of their coins for the first time. There is no shortage of meaningful work to do.

And if you can't build, back the people who are. Some of them are sitting in prison right now for doing exactly what the rest of us came into bitcoin for.

We're going to win.

Support the effort to free the Samourai developers at http://freesamourai.com.

Musk is still testifying on day 4 of the trial in Oakland. Altman has been sitting in the courtroom listening from about 25 feet away.

Musk told the jury "it is not OK to steal a charity" and said a win for OpenAI would "give license to looting every charity in America." He called the equity OpenAI offered him after Microsoft's investment "a bribe" and said he refused it. He also told OpenAI's lawyer his questions were "definitionally complex, not simple" and accused him of trying to trick him.

The judge told both Musk and Altman to "start with a clean slate" and keep social media posts "to a minimum" after OpenAI's lawyers raised concerns about Musk's posts during the trial.

Jurors have been shown text messages between Musk and Altman exchanged after Microsoft's investment became public. Trial continues.

Sen. Thom Tillis tells reporters the CLARITY Act could see Senate Banking Committee markup in May and a floor vote by June or July.

Claude Security is now in public beta for Claude Enterprise customers.

It scans GitHub repositories for vulnerabilities, validates findings to reduce false positives, and suggests patches you can review and approve.

Fiat buyers pay 6-8x EBITDA in a depreciating currency.

Your exit proceeds buy more bitcoin today than tomorrow.

The Bitcoin Treasury & Exit Playbook:
https://www.tftc.io/download-the-playbook-here/

Canada's $195 billion Alberta pension fund just made its first bitcoin allocation. $219 million in Strategy stock.

Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), which manages $195 billion in assets for Alberta's pension plans, endowments, and the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, just bought 1.38 million shares of Strategy worth $219 million. It's the fund's first bitcoin-linked allocation ever.

AIMCo joins a growing list of Canadian institutional money flowing into bitcoin exposure through Strategy's stock. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) opened a position in MSTR last year. RBC and HOOPP are also holders.

These are not hedge funds or venture capital firms chasing upside. These are pension managers responsible for the retirement savings of teachers, firefighters, and public workers choosing to allocate to bitcoin through the most liquid institutional vehicle available.

Strategy now holds 815,061 BTC worth over $63 billion. The stock has become the default regulated proxy for institutions that want bitcoin exposure without the operational complexity of direct custody.

The trend is accelerating. When pension funds with multi-decade time horizons start allocating, it signals something fundamentally different than speculative retail interest. This is long-duration capital entering the market with no intention of selling anytime soon.

Daniel Batten launches “The Bitcoin Evidence Base.”

A new open-source tool at that counters common Bitcoin FUD claims (energy use, environment, quantum threats, bubbles, etc.) with peer-reviewed research and data from Cambridge University, ERCOT, and 22+ studies.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed to Rep. Lance Gooden that the Department of Defense is actively using bitcoin in classified operations to counter "China's digital authoritarianism."

His exact words: "I am a long enthusiast of bitcoin and crypto potential, and a lot of the things we are doing, enabling it or defeating it, are classified efforts that are ongoing inside our department, which do provide us a lot of leverage in a lot of different scenarios."

This follows last week's revelation that the US military is already running a Bitcoin node. Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, told the same committee: "We have a node on the Bitcoin network right now. Bitcoin has direct implications for power projection."

Meanwhile, Rep. Gooden laid out the case that bitcoin has become a geopolitical weapon being used by multiple adversaries simultaneously. Iran is demanding bitcoin as a toll for transit through the Strait of Hormuz. North Korea-linked hackers are leveraging it in ransomware campaigns. And China is "believed to be stockpiling substantial holdings as part of its strategic reserve."

The Bitcoin Policy Institute estimates China holds approximately 194,000 BTC. The United States holds approximately 328,000 BTC.

Gooden's framing was direct: "Over the past decade, bitcoin has evolved from a fringe asset into a matter of national security."

The era of bitcoin as a speculative curiosity discussed by finance committees is over. It's now being discussed in armed services hearings as an instrument of power projection, a tool of economic warfare, and a strategic reserve asset that nation-states are quietly racing to accumulate.

AI Will Push Bitcoin Off the Grid

"AI is going to be a forcing function to push Bitcoin mining off the grid. Stranded gas, mining at home. It's going to distribute hashrate naturally." - @MartyBent

Closing out @The Bitcoin Conference talking about what bitcoin looks like in an agentic world.

Hands-on look at the Block Proto Rig.

Tether Investments just proposed a series of mergers that would combine Twenty-One Capital (XXI), Strike, and Elektron Energy into a single publicly traded entity.

Strike, founded by Jack Mallers, brings a profitable Bitcoin financial services platform available in 100+ countries. Elektron, led by Raphael Zagury, operates roughly 50 EH/s of Bitcoin mining capacity, approximately 5% of the global network, with all-in production costs below $60,000 per bitcoin. Elektron has mined over 5,500 BTC and runs cash-flow positive.

Tether intends to vote its XXI shares in favor of both mergers and is recommending Zagury serve as President alongside Mallers.

If completed, the combined company would integrate Bitcoin treasury, mining, financial services, lending, and capital markets into one public platform. Tether is calling it the "premier listed Bitcoin company in the world."

Transaction terms and timelines are still being worked out.