My First Bitcoin is restructuring around its Education Network: a smaller team, lower costs, and a single focus—empowering those who empower others.
In keeping with the organization’s commitment to transparency, here is the full picture: the mission, the money, and the people.
The mission
Bitcoin education is the means, not the end. The end is a world where individuals have more control over their lives. After teaching tens of thousands of students, we’ve seen how that plays out: once empowered, people become better members of their communities.
Now we scale the mission–and this restructure is a big part of how. We will make it easier for bitcoin educators to get started, and likelier for them to succeed, by building the materials, infrastructure and community a global movement needs. This is the final step in a years-long transition from direct educator to global infrastructure.
The plan was always for that network to become the teacher, and this year it happened. In the first half of 2026, the independent educators of the Education Network ran 28 Bitcoin courses; the organization ran 23. The students became the teachers.
“The handoff already happened in practice. This month the organization catches up to it,” said John Dennehy, the organization’s founder.
My First Bitcoin becomes what the movement needs its center to be: lean, focused, and in service of 213 independent educators and 80+ education projects across 48 countries, each teaching or preparing to teach their own community, in their own language, on their own terms.
The money and the people
As part of the restructure, our team size and monthly budget were both reduced by roughly 40 percent. Seven team members finished their time with the organization on September 11.
These are their stories.
Reyna started by teaching the Bitcoin Diploma in Guatemala, went on to manage our teachers and mentored the educators coming through the Educator Training Program.
Gerardo walked into a Bitcoin Diploma class as an 18-year-old student and ended up teaching that same Diploma in Spanish and in English, learning English along the way.
Daniel came to us the same way, an 18-year-old student, and ended up on the other side of the classroom too, teaching the Diploma in both languages.
Marjorie was a star student in our Teacher Training program and then joined as a teacher. Dedicated, passionate, and curious, she taught people in Colombia, El Salvador, Uruguay, and beyond.
Emilio started hosting local Bitcoin meetups in San Salvador and more recently has been planning and running Unconferences around the world. The Medellin Unconference this month was his work, end to end.
Vera quickly got up to speed with our processes and improved our overall social media strategy which enabled us to increase our reach and engagement with the bitcoin community.
Roberto started keeping our books and ended up building the rails this organization runs on: a nonprofit operating on a Bitcoin standard, with self-custody and hardware-signed payments.
Thank you. What you built is the ground the rest of us stand on.
The team going forward
- John Dennehy, our founder and Executive Director.
- Quentin Ehrenmann, Managing Director.
- Pablo Saxtron, Director of Education.
- Trey Walsh, Director of Finance and Administration.
- Patrick Koerting, Director of Communications and Events.
- Arnold Hubach, Director of Community Growth.
- Benoit Berenger, Director of Technology.
- Gabriel Palma, Educator Training Lead.
- Luis Lei, Community Growth Lead.
Nine people, all in.
What’s coming, starting in late October
- An updated and improved Educator Training Program
- Updated and improved curriculum (Bitcoin Diploma, Intro to Bitcoin, Bitcoin for Juniors)
- The MFB companion app for students and educators
- A brand-new reputation system for educators and communities, based on proof of impact
- Episode 2 of the Bigger than Bitcoin documentary premieres at PubKey in New York on October 22
- Applications open all month for new members of our Board of Directors
- An innovative fundraising campaign–not for My First Bitcoin, but for all the projects that make up this emerging movement
With this restructuring, My First Bitcoin achieves two major goals:
- Focus on serving the educators and communities of the Education Network
- Ensure the sustainability of both the organization and the independent Bitcoin education movement
My First Bitcoin is a non-profit, open source Bitcoin education project. We empower independent educators worldwide with open source resources, community infrastructure, and a decentralized education network.
Fiercely independent: zero government funding, no sponsor influence on content.
Press contact: Patrick Koerting — [email protected]
