This year’s Defcon badges are no ordinary plastic and rubber. They come packed with the Baochip-1x, a mostly open source microcontroller designed by legendary hacker Andrew “bunnie” Huang. The chip is a milestone in transparency and security, allowing users to inspect its inner workings under infrared light.

Unlike traditional chips encased in opaque plastic, the Baochip’s silicon can be visually inspected, ensuring that its security is verifiable. Huang’s project aims to advance trustworthiness in computing by making the chip's components available on GitHub for inspection and use.

The badge doesn’t end at the conference; the core module can be removed and used as a hardware security token. This dual-purpose design gives Defcon attendees an extra layer of security that lives beyond the event.

Defcon founder Jeff Moss chose this chip to align with the agency theme of the conference, which focuses on technologies that increase self-determination. The Baochip’s potential extends beyond hacking circles—Moss envisions it as a more secure alternative to existing hardware security tokens and crypto wallets.