Aaron Koenig animated Bitcoin before it was cool

Pirate dragons. Satirical rap songs. Crypto cartoons. For Aaron Koenig, explaining Bitcoin has always meant bending the rules slightly – of media, of storytelling, and of format.

He's spent more than a decade turning decentralized technology into something human and occasionally absurd – whether through animated explainer series, humorous voiceovers, or, more recently, a Bitcoin-themed hip hop single that hit number one on the decentralized music platform Wavlake.

From Bitfilm to Bitcoin

Koenig founded Bitfilm in the early 2000s, a studio initially focused on internet culture and experimental digital visuals.

“We called it Bitfilm, just because of digital film, you know, it was simple,” he said. But everything changed when he discovered Bitcoin – a technology that aligned perfectly with his creative instincts and independent ethos.

“I always try to make the client happy – but never make any kind of foul compromise,” he told The Crypto Radio at Bitcoin FilmFest. That philosophy shaped his early work with blockchain companies – and still drives his creative experiments today.

One of his earliest Bitcoin commissions was a film for Bitcoin Germany, which leaned heavily into national stereotypes to make the content memorable. “They had this slogan 'Bitcoin made in Germany'. So we made lots of fun about Germans. We played with all these German stereotypes,” he said.

Even as he found creative ways to explain Bitcoin, Koenig admits he didn’t immediately fit into the community’s early culture. “It was very weird for me, because it was super nerdy, and everybody's so into tech, and I felt a little bit out of place, I think. But it was fun, and it opened many doors.”

Decentralizing cinema

Koenig’s interest in decentralization wasn’t just theoretical – it shaped how he distributed his films. In 2014, he transformed his long-running Berlin-based digital film festival into a decentralized global event dedicated to Bitcoin.

“We started in Berlin, and then the second edition, we had this idea that we gathered the films, and we had the branding and everything, and we gave it away to Bitcoin, and threw this all over the world,” he said.

Cities like London, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, and Bali hosted screenings using shared branding, but without any central organiser. It was, in spirit and practice, a cultural experiment in decentralization.

Animation and pragmatism

Still available on YouTube, Captain Drakins’ Bitcoin Show makes Bitcoin fun and accessible. Photo: Bitfilm

One of the more ambitious projects Koenig’s company supported was Captain Drakins’ Bitcoin Show, a 12-part animated series designed to explain Bitcoin basics through a fictional TV studio setup. Each episode featured a pirate-dragon host and a genetically engineered sidekick – “a crossover of a rat and a parrot” – who helped introduce concepts like wallets, mining, and blockchain.

“He had a big screen, and on the screen, the things he would talk about – 'What's mining?' 'How does a wallet work?' 'What is a blockchain?'”

To bring it to life, Koenig coordinated four separate animation teams in countries like Poland, Serbia, Argentina and India. “We learn to make, I think, quite high quality with relatively low budgets,” he said. “When you're in a gold rush, it's a good idea to do that. And all our film budgets were quite small.”

Voice talent mattered too. “We had some good American voice actors from the Bitcoin space. We worked a lot with Stephanie Murphy. She's amazing. A super sexy voice, and she's libertarian in the Bitcoin space – also adds somewhat to credibility.”

Koenig’s client work during this time wasn’t limited to Bitcoin. “We did make films and series for Dash and Steam, even some ICOs,” he said. “We just made the tools, the shovels and these big axes. And when you're in a gold rush, it's a good idea to do that.”

Creative independence and cultural expression

Aaron Koenig spoke with The Crypto Radio's Bo Jablonski at Bitcoin FilmFest 2025 about creative freedom and Bitcoin culture

Koenig’s recent projects mark a shift from commissioned education to personal storytelling. He’s currently pitching Satoshi’s Last Will, an adult animated sci-fi crime thriller set in the year 2049. The story imagines a future where warring microstates and authoritarian regimes fight to control the cryptographic keys to Satoshi Nakamoto’s hidden Bitcoin fortune.

It’s fiction – but completely in line with his creative trajectory, from humorous explainer films to rap songs, books, and decentralized media.

His latest single, Honey Badger Don’t Care, is a satirical tribute to Bitcoin’s perceived resilience, delivered through a playful rap format.

Loving the process

When asked about his favourite projects, Koenig doesn’t name a specific film or festival. Instead, he points to something more enduring.

“I had lots of fun with everything. That's the main thing that I had. I really could or can do what I love.”

From animated dragons to decentralized screenings, sci-fi thrillers to Bitcoin rap, Koenig’s creative output defies categories. In a space often dominated by speculation and tribalism, he’s built something more sustainable: a voice, a style, and a joyful approach to explaining the most radical money of our time.