Bitcoin miner and AI infrastructure provider Bit Digital is preparing to bridge the gap between the worlds of traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi) as part of this week's EthCC conference with a networking event in Brussels.

Billed as a “a strategic platform to discuss and explore the future of finance,” the 'TradFi Meets DeFi Mixer' event at Bozar Rooftop aims to foster discussion between industry leaders, investors and the Ethereum community around how the synergies between TradFi and DeFi can create a more robust financial ecosystem.

“Bit Digital wants to support the Ethereum ecosystem,” said the firm’s CEO Sam Tabar. He added that the event will enable Bit Digital to, “bring TradFi and DeFi together, explain this unique position that we’re in in capital markets and how we’ve become this accidental bridge.”

Alongside a networking mixer, the event will feature a panel discussion on ‘Integrating TradFi and DeFi’ with Tabar and Everstake Head of Staking Alina Tielnova, Ozan Polat, Partner at Dialectic, moderated by MatterblockVC partner and Rug Radio creator Gianina “Gigi” Skarlett.

The panel will explore topics including how Bit Digital leverages its position as one of the largest holders of Ethereum among Nasdaq-listed companies to enhance its business model through Ethereum staking, and how staking can act as a bridge between traditional and decentralized finance.

Bit Digital, a publicly traded company, recently used profits from its 40,000 Bitcoin miners to acquire over $100 million in Ethereum.

“We stake the Ethereum we acquire,” Tabar told Decrypt, adding that “Capital markets have no access points to gain exposure to ETH staking. Even the ETH ETFs that are coming out can't stake or offer exposure to ETH staking.”

That, he explained, means that Bit Digital represents a leveraged play on Ethereum in the same way that Microstrategy represents a leveraged play on Bitcoin.  “We’re using the Microstrategy playbook to become the Microstrategy of Ethereum,” he said.

Tabar anticipates that the imminent approval of U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs will have a similar impact to that of spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year. “A lot of institutions are trying to get exposure to Ethereum, and staking as a service is not permissible in the United States,” he said. But publicly listed companies can stake for themselves, and “We’re the only publicly listed company doing this,” he added.

With the majority of its miners running on carbon-free geothermal power, Bit Digital will also explore how its use of sustainable energy impacts on its operations and the wider DeFi ecosystem, and how it has leveraged  Bitcoin mining to support the Ethereum network through staking. Crypto staking service Everstake will also showcase its integration of DeFi technologies such as liquid staking.

“We want to talk not just to institutions, but to the Ethereum community,” Tabar told Decrypt. “I want to make sure developers understand the problem we’re solving for capital markets.”