Plan ₿ Forum 2026 in Lugano: what to watch on 23–24 October
121 speakers (official agenda, 20 October) and 92 sessions over two days. The talks that matter for Bitcoin, with times in Lugano and Moscow, and a clear line between facts and expectations.
The fifth Plan ₿ Forum takes place on 23 and 24 October 2026 at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Lugano, Switzerland. We read the official agenda session by session. Below is what is confirmed, which talks matter for Bitcoin, and what we only expect. Dates, venue and the full event page: Plan B Forum 2026: dates, schedule and speakers · all Bitcoin conferences.
The event in numbers
| Dates | 23–24 October 2026 (Friday and Saturday) |
| Venue | Palazzo dei Congressi, Piazza Indipendenza 4, Lugano |
| Stages and rooms | 3 stages: WAGMI Stage (main), P2P Stage, Mempool Stage (in the tent); 2 rooms: UTXO Room, Hal Finney Room; plus 1:1 matched networking |
| Sessions | 92: 39 keynotes, 34 masterclasses, 11 panels, 4 fireside chats, 2 debates, 2 without a format |
| Speakers | 121 (official agenda feed, checked 20 October 2026) |
| Not announced yet | 9 slots still say "TBD" |
| Language | English, with live Italian translation for main keynotes and panels |
We counted the sessions from the official agenda feed on 10 October 2026 and re-checked the speaker count there on 20 October 2026. Organisers can still change the programme.
Times below are Lugano (CEST, UTC+2) and Moscow (MSK, UTC+3), which is one hour later.
Who is speaking
The forum's featured speakers are Paolo Ardoino (CEO, Tether), Elizabeth Stark (CEO, Lightning Labs), Adam Back (CEO, Blockstream), Jimmy Song and Olaoluwa Osuntokun (CTO, Lightning Labs). Joe Nakamoto hosts the main stage.
- Michael Saylor is not on the agenda or the speaker list.
- No national government officials are listed. The public officials on the programme are Lugano's mayor Michele Foletti, the city's head of economic development Pietro Poretti, and Samuel Kullmann, a member of the cantonal parliament of Bern.
- People from Tether appear in 12 of the 92 sessions, and Paolo Ardoino alone is in 5.
The full speaker list with session times is on our Plan ₿ Forum 2026 event page.
Sessions worth your time
| Lugano / MSK | Session | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct, 09:15 / 10:15 | Lugano's Plan B Update | Mayor Foletti, Poretti, Ardoino |
| 23 Oct, 10:15 / 11:15 | Bitcoin Security Is a Spectrum: Lessons from the ColdCard Hack | BTC Sessions, Nathan Fitzsimmons |
| 23 Oct, 10:30 / 11:30 | From Hashcash to Bitcoin: Adam Back's Cypherpunk Journey | Adam Back, Aaron van Wirdum |
| 23 Oct, 14:30 / 15:30 | The next soft fork – BIP 110 Post Mortem | Jimmy Song, Samson Mow, Knut Svanholm, Chris Seedor |
| 23 Oct, 16:00 / 17:00 | Funding Bitcoin: Independence, Incentives, and Influence (debate) | Mike Schmidt (Brink), Knut Svanholm |
| 23 Oct, 17:30 / 18:30 | Agents Need Money: Bitcoin, Lightning and A2A Payment Rails | Osuntokun, Sheinfeld, Kaminski, Kaufman |
| 24 Oct, 09:30 / 10:30 | Breaking New Ground: Bitcoin in a Swiss Pension Fund | Serge Kaulitz (Luzerner Kantonalbank) |
| 24 Oct, 11:45 / 12:45 | Twenty One Capital: Building the Bitcoin Operating Company | Rapha Zagury |
| 24 Oct, 15:30 / 16:30 | Post-Quantum Signatures for Bitcoin | Jonas Nick (Blockstream) |
| 24 Oct, 18:00 / 19:00 | Treasury Companies during the next Bull Market (debate) | Jimmy Song, Alexandre Laizet (Capital B) |
We wrote a separate explainer for most of these: BIP-110, the Coldcard bug, quantum signatures, treasury companies, Lugano's Plan ₿, Lightning for AI agents and Hashcash.
Around the forum
- Plan ₿ Week, 19–28 October: ten days of meetups, workshops and parties around the city.
- The Future of Capital Markets, 22 October, 09:00–19:30 (10:00–20:30 MSK), Piazza Bernardino Luini 6.
- Run For Hal, 23 October, 07:00 (08:00 MSK): a free 5 km run that supports the Hal Finney ALS research fund.
- Cypher Tank, 26–27 October: five Bitcoin startups pitch for funding, according to the organisers.
What we expect
Tether has a heavy presence: a fireside chat with the CEOs of two humanoid-robot companies (23 Oct, 15:00 / 16:00) and talks on brain–computer interfaces and local AI. Announcements are possible, but none appear on the agenda. We will cover only what matters for Bitcoin.
Elizabeth Stark's keynote (23 Oct, 16:30 / 17:30) has no title yet. Anything about its content is a guess until it is announced.
The pension-fund talk could be news, but we found no public details on which fund is involved or how much bitcoin it holds.
How to follow
As of 22 October the organiser's Rumble channel, which planb.lugano.ch links to, has scheduled livestreams of the main WAGMI Stage for 23 October and 24 October, both from 09:00 Lugano time (10:00 Moscow). On 20 October @LuganoPlanB said the Mempool Stage, just outside the venue, will have live interviews "streamed around the world"; it did not say on which platform. We found no stream listed for the P2P Stage or the rooms. Official channels, the day-by-day schedule and the stream links are on the Plan B Forum 2026 event page: how to follow. Add the dates to your Bitcoin calendar, and see other conferences on Events. We will update these articles after each session with what was actually said, with links.
Sources
- Plan ₿ Forum — official agenda planb.lugano.ch
- Plan ₿ Forum — speakers 2026 planb.lugano.ch
- Plan ₿ Forum — tickets and satellite events planb.lugano.ch
- Agenda data feed (Brella, event PlanBLugano2026) api.brella.io
- @LuganoPlanB: fifth edition, new faces of the forum (9 Oct 2026) x.com
- @LuganoPlanB: Cypher Tank, 26–27 October x.com
- Plan ₿ Forum on Rumble: scheduled livestreams (linked from planb.lugano.ch) rumble.com
- @LuganoPlanB: Mempool Stage interviews streamed (20 Oct 2026) x.com
Times are Lugano (CEST, UTC+2) and Moscow (UTC+3). Not investment advice.
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