SEPTEMBER 9, 2026
The Word
Nobody Expected
Was 'Lonely'
Words by
Madeleine, Bram & Tim
Reading time
12 minutes
A month ago, 30 of us sat in a circle in the Colorado mountains and did the thing we'd been talking about for the past year and a half. We want to recap what actually happened, the real & raw version.
30
BITCOINERS
11
ONE-OF-A-KIND TALKS
1
CIRCLE, 0 STAGES
8,300
FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL
Chapter One
The Unexpected
Some of you were in that room. Most of you weren't. You applied, and there were only 30 seats out of 111 applicants. We thoughtfully curated the group and let the magic begin.
Here's what we didn't see coming: on the final night, we passed the mic around the circle. One minute each. What was your intention coming here, and what are you leaving with.
The word that kept coming up was lonely.
Not from the people you'd expect. From founders. From doctors. From engineers with real conviction, full lives, and enormous networks.
I've felt lonely for quite some time, like no one understands me as a Bitcoiner & consciousness explorer. It's really heartwarming to be in a circle full of people who just get it.
“I was yet another person in their basement next to their node exploring consciousness with psychedelics, increasingly feeling more and more alone. Are there other people like me? Is this a thing? Could it be a thing?” - Participant
“My clients are Bitcoiners. My neighbors are Bitcoiners. But I never thought I'd find the connection that I found here.” - Participant
Bram had planned to go last, because he wanted to say something about loneliness, and then everyone else said it first. He closed the whole circle with a line from Ram Dass.
You don't need loneliness, because you couldn't possibly be alone.
— RAM DASS
Chapter Two
The Memories Etched in our Hearts
- 01Singing in the wilderness on a microdose hike, badly, at 8,300 feet.
- 02River plunges cold enough to reset your nervous system, followed immediately by three hours of the best conversation of the year.
- 03A San Pedro tea ceremony where we drifted table to table all morning and not one person knew what time it was.
- 04The conversations that started at dinner and ended hours later, lying under the stars. The deep ones, the kind you can't plan and can't quite retell.
- 05One participant quietly handing out rose quartz until every single person had a piece.
- 06Somebody's baby calling mid-circle, and thirty adults dropping everything to coo with him.
- 07Someone reporting, entirely sincerely, that they'd been visited by the Galactic Federation and that the Federation had thoughts about Bitcoin.
- 08Two people who had never compared notes discovering they'd both spent the week with stained glass in their heads, one in a dream before he arrived, one in the visuals of her ceremony.
- 09Ten minutes at the final session, where we walked the room, locked eyes with one person at a time, and said out loud what we were grateful for about them.
- 10Signing yearbooks on the backs of the photos, like the last day of camp.
Chapter Three
The Talks
You will not hear these at a Bitcoin conference. We specifically asked for topics that may be too out there for a typical conference, but perfect for a gathering like this. Together, we learned about:
- How money made us human.
- The frequency of Bitcoin.
- The kind of abundance that's already in our lives because of Bitcoin.
- The wonders of Bitcoin.
- What it actually feels like to embody the spirit and ethos of Bitcoin.
- Stone Money: the original Blockchain.
- And why liberation was never just about the money.
Not one keynote stayed a keynote. Every single one turned into a circle-wide conversation, because nobody was performing, and nobody was just watching.
Chapter Four
The First Ceremony
Somewhere past the peak, with the music holding the whole room, a voice came in reading poetry, words written by an OG Bitcoiner, woven into a custom-made soundtrack made for that exact moment of the journey.
"Hello. I am Bitcoin."
A room full of people deep in the medicine, listening to Bitcoin introduce itself. The poetry acted as a declaration of peace. None of us will hear those words the same way again.
“I thought I understood Bitcoin but this experience really took it to a new level. It is so much more than just a very clever piece of software, but something that has the ability to realign the trajectory of humanity, akin to discovering fire.”
Chapter Five
Bitcoin Got... Smaller
Some people came expecting to leave more convicted about Bitcoin. Others came with the intention of meeting Bitcoin. And in a room where Bitcoin had just introduced itself, some did. But the thing more people said afterward was stranger and better than that: Bitcoin got smaller for them.
It's paradoxical that it is so deeply transformative and can change the world, but it's also nothing at the same time. I've realized I've made it too big a part of my identity and my ego, to a detriment.
“I don't have to be obligated to Bitcoin. I don't have a duty to Bitcoin. It doesn't need me. It can all come from the heart rather than from fear or loneliness.” - Participant
An event that makes you more convicted is a conference. A gathering where you can set down the identity of Bitcoin while keeping the truth of it... that's a different thing entirely. That's what earns the name.
Chapter Six
What People Said When They Got Home
“The base layer of Bitcoin is not the blockchain. It is us. And just like the nodes in the network are constantly talking to each other, calibrating against each other, that's what we are doing too.”
“I hope this is the start of something that continues to grow in the future, and reaches more people around the world.”
“What surprised me most was how easy it was to get to know people and realize we are all on the same wavelength. I think that's something quite special and hard to find just anywhere else.”
“I was truly blown away by how well organised and thought through the whole event was, how carefully each piece was structured and complemented the overall arc, and the careful attention to the details which makes all the difference.”
“I'm still riding the magic high. I've concluded it's a top three life experience — insanely impactful across a broad range. Literally magic.”
“My thinking around Bitcoin has definitely shifted towards something deeper and I feel much more aligned with the bigger picture around this revolution and how it can positively impact humanity.”
Chapter Seven
The Second Edition
There will be one in 2027. We don't have dates yet, or a location. And we are deliberately not rushing this as someone in the circle said it better than we could.
Bitcoin is going to be around for thousands of years. We have no rush. We have all the time in the world to do this right.
What we can tell you for now is that it will stay intimate, it will stay a circle and not a stage, and it will not be mass advertised. Every person in that room got there through a referral or found us on their own. That's the filter, and it worked beautifully.
In the meantime, two things. If you want to be notified when the dates land, when applications open, when the small stuff in between starts happening, please sign up for updates below.
And if you have questions, about what it was like, about the next edition, about whether it's for you, just write to us via email or on X. One of us will receive and reply to every single response.
If someone came to mind while you were reading this, perhaps someone who should have been in that room as well, consider passing on this recap about our gathering. Not to convince them of anything, but just so they know it exists if and when they feel ready to experience it.
With love
Madeleine, Bram & Tim
@goingbeyondbtc · @bramk · @timsaekoo
The second edition for 2027 is being planned now.
Be notified when we announce it by clicking below.
Questions? Email hello@goingbeyondbitcoin.com or message us on X @goingbeyondbtc