There is no obvious reason why a post-industrial city of 240,000 people, better known for its beer, its architecture, and its proximity to Belgium, should become a quiet centre of gravity for monetary sovereignty. And yet, every first Wednesday of the month, people walk into a bar in Lille and talk seriously about money.
Nobody paid them to show up. Nobody is selling them anything. Since 2014, a small group of volunteers has been building something patient and unglamorous: the human infrastructure that technical infrastructure alone can never provide.
ProfEduStream, maths teacher and Vice-President of the Bitcoin Lille association, sat with us to explain why communities are the actual foundation of Bitcoin — and what it looks like to build one, school by school, handshake by handshake. He is also a btcmap.org open-source contributor and works for planb.academy.
On vous demande souvent: “C’est quoi Bitcoin? Et à quoi ça sert?” et vous ne savez pas quoi répondre?
👉 J’ai publié la version courte de ma présentation “Qu’est-ce que Bitcoin ?”https://t.co/NoRlfpSPG7
Bitcoin communities tend to sprout first in the obvious capitals — Paris, London, Berlin. Someone chose to plant this flag in Lille instead. Who were the people in that founding room, what made them decide this city needed its own Bitcoin association, and what did the very first meeting feel like?
This is indeed what happened in France, as the very first Bitcoin meet-up appeared in April 2013 in Paris, the capital city. Lille, meanwhile, is one of the 10 largest cities in the country. It also has a particular advantage: it is located only 250 km from Paris, making it very easy to reach by train (about 1 hour).
However, this geographical proximity is not the main reason why meet-ups started to grow in Lille in February 2014. The primary reason is that many developers work in the city, particularly within a major start-up hub called “Euratechnologies.”
This is how the first “Bitcoin Talks Lille” meet-up was born in 2014. The meet-up continued for several years, gathering dozens of enthusiasts and experts every month, until the COVID period.
After COVID, together with the remaining Bitcoin enthusiasts in Lille, we decided to revive the momentum – but this time with a more serious and long-lasting structure: a non-profit association under the French 1901 law framework.
Since then, thousands of people have been educated about Bitcoin free of charge, and we are proud of our proof of work.
France has a fairly complicated relationship with money, the state, and financial sovereignty — there’s a deep cultural scepticism of institutions but also a strong attachment to them. How does Bitcoin land in that contradiction, and what makes a French person in Lille ready to hear it differently than someone elsewhere?
What we observe is that the members of our association who are interested in Bitcoin value three intrinsic properties above all: censorship resistance, sovereignty and decentralization.
In this sense, at a time when banks and the French State are taking an increasingly important place in our lives – to the point of having control over our bank accounts (and even our digital use of websites ou VPNs) – it seems important to us to be prepared.
This is why many people turn to Bitcoin: because they know they can remain sovereign over their bitcoins, that the network is decentralized and that their funds cannot be censored. It represents a genuine evolution in the very functions of money itself.
Is there really a different vision for someone “from Lille, France” compared to others French cities? I do not think so. Perhaps in Brittany there might be some distinctions; but in the north of France, I do not believe there is any major difference.
Every first Wednesday of the month, strangers walk into the Australian Bar in Lille and something happens — a conversation, a connection, a moment where Bitcoin stops being abstract. Tell me about the most unexpected person who ever walked through that door, and what they took away with them.
During our monthly meet-ups, which usually gather between 20 to 40 people, we encounter particularly cosmopolitan profiles: the local from Lille living under a Bitcoin standard in El Salvador part of the year, the student looking to invest, the retiree who has been saving for years for his children, the mother who drives two hours each way to attend the meetings, the maths teacher happy to talk about Bitcoin for hours, and even the 14-year-old teenager deeply interested in mining.
I would not say we have had a truly “unexpected profile,” but it is true that seeing people from all walks of life, from different religions and with completely different political views, all agreeing that Bitcoin is a monetary revolution for individuals, is something profoundly beautiful.
Most people think of Bitcoin infrastructure as nodes, wallets, and Lightning channels. You’re building something different — human infrastructure, trust networks, local knowledge. How do you think about what Bitcoin Lille actually is, and why does that kind of community matter as much as the technical stack?
Bitcoin is a decentralized network and payment system built upon a truly remarkable infrastructure. But we should not forget that behind every hardware wallet, behind the vast majority of nodes, there is an individual.
In a very simple way, communities are the very foundation of Bitcoin because they are the ones who talk about it, educate others about it; but above all, use it. And if, tomorrow, nobody used Bitcoin anymore, then Bitcoin would no longer serve any purpose.
This is why we, at Bitcoin Lille, believe it is essential to continue organizing our monthly meet-ups free of charge, while also offering conferences within other associations across the Lille metropolitan area and building partnerships with post-secondary schools and colleges.
It is truly fascinating to see how very different communities around the world have come to use Bitcoin in their daily lives. From the circular economy developed by Bitcoin Ekasi to the incredible community of Rolante in Brazil, one thing is certain: even on the other side of the world, Bitcoin creates consensus.
You’re not just orange-pilling individuals — you’re trying to shift the culture of an entire city. What does that actually look like on the ground in Lille? Are there local businesses accepting Bitcoin, conversations happening in schools or city hall, and where do you feel the momentum most right now?
With the Bitcoin Lille association, we focus on developing three main pillars: first, educating individuals about Bitcoin; second, building partnerships with schools and universities in order to reach more people and expand our workshops; and finally, working with local businesses.
So far, we have already organized conferences in several major schools, such as EPITECH Lille and the post-secondary group JUNIA (HEI, ISEN, ISA). We would like to go further and reach more schools and students, particularly by organizing conferences at the University of Lille and workshops within computer science schools.
For now, we are progressing step by step, school by school and association by association, but we are absolutely convinced that one day we will establish much stronger partnerships across the Lille metropolitan area and with other schools throughout the region.
In fact, if any teachers are reading this article, feel free to contact us. We would be delighted to discuss the possibility of organizing a conference or workshop with you: bitcoinlille.fr
As for local businesses, the situation is more complex in Lille. Our members come from many surrounding cities, ranging from Calais to Valenciennes. In this sense, having dozens of businesses accepting Bitcoin in the city while very few people actually spend their satoshis there is not something we want. That is why, for now, we are not pursuing an overly aggressive strategy.
At the moment, therefore, we have around ten businesses accepting Bitcoin in the region, from a Welsh restaurant in Calais to a B&B in Mouscron and a pizza restaurant in Quesnoy-sur-Deûle.
It is worth noting that, at present, no bar in Lille itself accepts Bitcoin; and as great beer enthusiasts, this makes us a little sad. But we are not pessimistic: we are waiting for adoption to grow further and, as Bitcoin becomes increasingly mainstream in France, we will gladly support willing businesses free of charge to accept Bitcoin.
Close your eyes and imagine Lille ten years from now, shaped by everything Bitcoin Lille has been quietly building. What does that city feel like for an ordinary person living in it — and what is the single thing you hope future Lillois never have to go through because your association existed?
Lille is a major city (240,000 inhabitants), the Lille metropolitan area is one of the largest in France (1.2 million inhabitants) and the departments of northern France are densely populated (4.1 million inhabitants). In this sense, we can only remain humble: the vast majority of people in the region will probably still not know us ten years from now.
However, what we have been building since 2014 is driven by a vision; one that goes far beyond simply organizing meet-ups around a beer. We genuinely want to actively develop Bitcoin education, regularly offer conferences and workshops to interested individuals, and continue expanding our initiatives.
Therefore, within the next ten years, we would like to:
establish partnerships with at least three post-secondary schools, where we would organize conferences and workshops;
organize at least ten conferences or afterwork events with student associations (BDEs) across the region;
establish a presence at the University of Lille and the University of the Opal Coast in order to deliver annual conferences or even teach courses about Bitcoin;
see a larger proportion of our members become actively involved in our activities (creating presentations, helping local businesses, organizing inter-association events);
have around forty businesses accepting Bitcoin;
publish articles in the local press two or three times per year;
and finally, organize two additional conference weekends for bitcoiners, inspired by the “B on Lille” event we launched in September 2025 (100 bitcoiners gathered for three days on a farm in the region).
These goals seem achievable to us; and personally, I am very bullish on the development of Bitcoin both in France and internationally.
Unfortunately, we are growing within a particularly difficult French context: the media tends to reduce Bitcoin to “crypto-assets” and Trump, often discussing the topic without truly studying it; kidnappings and wrench attacks are increasing rapidly and are rarely punished, fueling a growing sense of insecurity; and lawmakers are seeking to implement significant surveillance over Bitcoin ownership through hardware wallets.
So we move forward with our strengths, our resources and our energy. Everything is not perfect, and we would love to have built a circular economy as developed as those created by the friendly communities of Arnhem Bitcoinstad or Bitcoin Indonesia; but that does not mean we are losing faith.
Quite the opposite: what we are building in Lille is a foundation that will allow Bitcoin to develop significantly across the region, for the decades to come.
Gradually, then suddenly.
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