Francis Mars
Francis is a software engineer passionate about building practical tools with real-world impact. His projects include Chain Duel, a Lightning-powered videogame that gamifies Bitcoin payments, and PubPay, a simple way to split payments or receive donations via Nostr. He focuses on creating open-source projects that are both useful and accessible to the wider community.
Beyond code, he actively contributes to Bitcoin adoption and education, often traveling to conferences and communities worldwide. Whether on stage, or in casual conversations, he brings a positive energy to Bitcoin, Lightning, and Nostr education. As both a builder and an ambassador of permissionless tech, he works to make complex ideas tangible, exciting, and fun—showing that Bitcoin is not only powerful, but practical for everyday life.
nevent1qqsqe8ga4shy35cg97uj9cfyhle9vyvm03xruek59eh93wjtn6lpfccndjdul
btcfrancis
Chain Duel & PubPay
Sesiones
This presentation, explores Francis' personal journey with Bitcoin adoption and his experience with Chain Duel and PubPay, two projects built to bring Bitcoin and Lightning into real-world events and communities. Francis explains how sharing these tools across conferences and countries helped onboard thousands of people, demonstrating Bitcoin’s power as a permissionless, global system.
The talk then shifts to the recent hack of the Chain Duel infrastructure. The use of privacy tools like submarine swaps and coinjoins made the stolen funds untraceable, highlighting a core truth: Bitcoin adoption benefits everyone, including adversaries.
Francis finishes by reflecting on whether teaching people about Lightning, privacy, and self-sovereignty contributed to his own attack.