Is Bitcoin subject to political influence and takeover by organizations?

Sixteen years after its launch, Bitcoin has transcended its role as a cryptographic experiment or an asset against the establishment. By 2025, Bitcoin is becoming increasingly familiar to politicians, organizations, and Wall Street tycoons. This transformation was clearly evident at the Bitcoin 2025 conference recently held in Las Vegas.

In this week’s episode of Byte-Sized Insight, Gareth Jenkinson from Cointelegraph explored whether politics and organizations have truly dominated Bitcoin or if Bitcoin has become too important to ignore.

The Transformation of Bitcoin 2025

Previously, the Bitcoin conference was only for hardcore enthusiasts, but now, the event has attracted the participation of many prominent political figures, including U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Eric Trump, and Donald Trump Jr., along with a number of institutional investors. Their presence signals a strong shift: Bitcoin is now firmly in the sights of political and financial elites.

One of the most prominent trends right now is the rise of Bitcoin fund management companies. Inspired by Michael Saylor of Strategy, companies like Metaplanet, Twenty One, and Nakamoto are adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets while providing public investors with access to BTC through the stock market.

Gareth had a conversation with Dylan LeClair, the Bitcoin strategy director at Metaplanet, a company that has just become the most traded stock in Japan by volume and value. LeClair stated:

“We will invest everything. We are ready to sell our shares, debts, seats, everything to buy more Bitcoin and we will not stop. Many people think we are crazy… but the Bitcoin community in Japan is very excited because there has never been anything like this before.”

The acceptance of Bitcoin by organizations

In this episode, Jack Mallers, CEO of Strike and founder of Twenty One, a new Bitcoin fund management company backed by Tether, Softbank, and Cantor Fitzgerald, was also interviewed.

Mallers welcomes the increasing attention from politics and organizations but emphasizes that the use cases for Bitcoin are developing naturally, from payments to long-term value storage.

To gain a historical perspective, Gareth also spoke with Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream and founder of Hashcash, the proof-of-work system mentioned in the Bitcoin white paper.

Back has provided a long-term perspective on how the technical and social evolution of Bitcoin reflects its increasing relevance globally. He argues that acceptance from institutions is just one of the new use cases.

“I think these are just new use cases for Bitcoin. It’s not about what they are doing for Bitcoin, but what Bitcoin is doing for them that has driven them.”

Mr. Teacher