The international Bitcoin conference Bitcoin Beyond 66 takes place above the Arctic Circle in Bodø on 14 August — a pure Bitcoin conference inspired by North Norwegian culture and the belief that nothing is impossible. Bitcoin Policy Institute Norway (BPI Norge) is co-host under a three-year partnership agreement.
Above the Arctic Circle, at 66 degrees latitude, the Stormen Concert Hall in Bodø will host an international Bitcoin conference on 14 August. Bitcoin Beyond 66 is the initiative of Glenn Håvar Brottveit. The conference targets an international audience of entrepreneurs, developers, investors — and according to Brottveit: "everyone who wants to learn more about Bitcoin as a financial and technological phenomenon. You don't need to own bitcoin to attend, just to be curious," he says.
Image: The BB66 conference in Bodø and Bitcoin Policy Institute Norway have now entered into a partnership. On the left, the founder behind the conference, Glenn Håvar Brottveit, and on the right Morten Søberg, Secretary General of BPI Norge.
The choice of Bodø is no coincidence. Brottveit points to North Norwegian culture as his inspiration — the belief that nothing is impossible, and that great things can happen far from the established centres. It is a mindset that Bodø/Glimt has demonstrated to the world. The same thinking is meant to define the conference: that Bodø is as natural a venue for international Bitcoin debate as Prague, Oslo or Nashville.
— I didn't immerse myself in bitcoin until 2024, and — like so many others — I felt an irresistible urge to tell everyone about it. That ended up becoming a conference. I also want to make things happen in Bodø — so here we are, organising an international conference without any prior experience of doing so, says Brottveit.
After the idea took shape, he reached out to, among others, Ed Juline, who runs Bitcoin Treasuries Media together with Tim Kotzman. They organise an international Bitcoin conference series with stops in Las Vegas, New York, Madrid and Bristol — and now Bodø as the first Nordic destination. Ed Juline summed up his initial reaction: "It's so crazy that it might actually work."
— The fact that a global conference series is looking to Bodø — not Stockholm or Copenhagen — says something about what is happening up here right now. We have received a massively positive response from everyone we have spoken to: that Norway needs a conference like this, and that our profile is something many have been missing, says Brottveit.
"The BB66 Conference is not your typical 'number go up' event. We believe the Bitcoin community deserves more than price speculation and hype. This is a pure Bitcoin conference — no altcoins, no token projects, no ICOs," says Brottveit.
The conference will cover the intersections of Bitcoin with Norwegian energy infrastructure and mining, monetary policy and macroeconomics, and artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The ambition is a destination conference where the Arctic landscape and the character of Bodø are part of the experience — not merely a backdrop. Around the main conference day, Brottveit is building a full programme including a Bitcoin trail run on Bodøryggen, a RIB safari to Saltstraumen — the world's strongest tidal current — and an official club party.
— In mid-August, the midnight sun still hangs low over the Saltfjord, he says with a smile.
Bitcoin Policy Institute Norway (BPI Norge) has entered into a three-year partnership agreement with the conference and joins as co-host. BPI Norge was founded in January 2025 following repeated proposals by Norwegian politicians to investigate a ban on Bitcoin mining, and works to promote knowledge-based public debate about Bitcoin.
— Bitcoin is a technological and monetary, political and cultural phenomenon, and it therefore fits very well with our values to join as a co-organiser of an initiative like Bitcoin Beyond 66, says Morten Søberg, Secretary General of BPI Norge.
Morten Søberg is among the confirmed speakers. The conference is organised with BPI Norge as co-host and in partnership with Bitcoin Treasuries Media, led by Tim Kotzman and Ed Juline. The organisers are targeting 400 attendees and hope that Norwegian politicians will also make the journey to Bodø. With Norway's vast hydropower resources, an ongoing political debate about mining and a crypto regulatory framework under development, the organisers believe Norway has a unique window to take a clear position in the international Bitcoin conversation — and that Bodø is the right place to do it from. For BPI Norge, the partnership is about more than a single conference — a three-year agreement signals that the organisation views Bitcoin Beyond 66 as a lasting platform for reaching decision-makers.
Confirmed speakers include Martin Bech Holte, Christopher Bendiksen (CoinShares), Peder Østbye (Norges Bank), Torbjørn Bull Jenssen (K33), Rebecka Nakamoto (BTCX), Madeleine Bjørnestad Røed (Stackby.me), Magnus Jones (Nordic Blockchain Association), Zarina Björklund Rehn (Blockchain Sweden), Marco Poblete (Bitwise Nordic), Torkel Rogstad (Bare Bitcoin), Kaja Vagle (CryptoClarity) and Johannes Schmitt (Orange Wheel). A total of 19 speakers have been confirmed, with a target of around 40.
— We have built this for people who are curious but don't have an obvious entry point into Bitcoin. You don't need to own bitcoin to come — you just need to want to understand why this isn't going away, says Brottveit.
Tickets and more information are available at bitcoinbeyond66.com.
