Like Bitcoin, the conference is still growing.
The convention was full of high energy. Multi stages, tons of speakers, big name keynote speakers. Knowing there is still a learning curve, experts were on hand to explain to basically anyone who wanted to listen what Bitcoin is, how it’s mined and why it matters or why it should matter.
Unlike Coachella, Burning Man and SXSW, this is still gaining momentum and hasn’t jumped the shark into one giant cash grab. The irony isn’t lost on me, since we’re talking about cryptocurrency. But for every large shady tech company there that couldn’t really explain what they did without resorting to word salad, there were actual mom and pop vendors. One called Farrow sold skincare products made from lard. Another sold t-shirts that read Ketamine. There were silly Bitcoin trading cards, crappy jewelry. There were tons of t-shirts, too. The section of the conference was called the Bitcoin Bazaar which was an apt name.
The most ubiquitous t-shirt was one that was given away for free. And it said Free Ross.This was a plea to the U.S. government to commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence. Ulbricht is a first-time offender who is serving a double life sentence for starting the first “darknet” market Silk Road.
There was also an actual art gallery featuring some very good pieces as well as schlock.For every artist using AR to bring their canvases to life, there were Pepe the Frog goofs. The good outweighed the mediocre which was nice to see.
If I were writing a brief for this event and wanted to describe “Who we are talking to,” I would be hard-pressed to narrow it down beyond the “freedom lovers,” category. I spoke with retirees in their late 60’s from America who had moved to El Salvador, cattle ranchers who were seeking bitcoin investments to support their farms, a middle-aged guy from Mexico who had just arrived. In the media room I hung out with locals in Nashville and a camera man from China. There were tons of Gen Z and Millennials. There were the inevitable crypto influencers, too.