Less upbeat: Attendees play cornhole at the expo hall during the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Florida. The event was more sober than last year as many people have lost a lot of money in the virtual currency. — Bloomberg
NEW YORK: It turns out that the bitcoin faithful still like to party even after the annus horribilis (a year of misfortune) that shook the digital-asset world in 2022.
They’re just a little more subdued this year.
Devotees of the largest digital token gathered in Miami Beach last week for the Bitcoin 2023 conference – to commiserate, but also to celebrate getting past last year’s string of calamities, including the blowup of the FTX exchange.
Though that period was painful, crypto prices have managed to recover this year, with bitcoin adding 60% to trade around US$26,800 (RM121,631), from US$16,600 (RM75,339) at the start of 2023.
This was a development that was hard to miss at the conference’s expo floor, where the price of bitcoin was plastered everywhere. Absent were reminders that it traded at almost US$69,000 (RM313,156) in late 2021.
More than 12,000 attended this year’s confab, down from over 25,000 in 2022, according to Brandon Green, director of the conference.
“People here have lost money, they have friends who lost so much money they’re out of business, so there’s no more ‘to-the-moon’ talk – everyone here is more sober than they were last year,” said Dominic Ward, chief operating officer of Samara Alpha Management.
“But we were going to send some people here one way or the other because we are investing in this space.
“So, from that perspective, this is still a great place to come see everybody that we want to work with – but it is on a scaled-down basis.”
The conference had all the markings of a hyped-up crypto event, including a large speakers’ stage whose lights were perpetually dimmed to a level that would typically be found at a late-night Miami club.
Upbeat music – think lots of techno –played all day long. Special cushy seats were reserved for “whales” – a group that includes conference speakers.
Some potential presidential hopefuls also milled around.
The exhibit floor hosted a string of booths, including a “mining village” where companies like CleanSpark Inc camped out. The mechanical bull featured at last year’s event made a comeback.
Bitcoin ATMs also could be found, as could a 25-foot inflatable bitcoin “B”. In the games area, attendees could play chess or cornhole.
Erik Meltzer, co-founder of Plutus Properties, a crypto-friendly real estate investing firm, was auctioning off a “Back to the Future” DeLorean – a copy of the famed movie’s futuristic car, but with a bitcoin twist. Travel dates on the “time machine” were set to January 2009, when the first bitcoin block was created. — Bloomberg
