Since last year’s Bitcoin 2021 we’ve seen the world change in so many ways that if we had to list them here I’m confident we could give Gladstein or Breedlove a run for their money over the life of the read only. Hardly anything comes closer to an accurate description of what’s going on in the world than a “phase transition.” I am fully convinced that we are living through the rumblings of the Bitcoin transition state.
Bitcoin 2023 was confirmation of this.
Arriving at Miami International Airport and seeing the advertisements for all things bitcoin (seemingly) around every corner was enough to really send shock and awe home – the excitement was real. After arriving at my temporary home on South Beach, I went on a brief reconnaissance (i.e., walked around to find the cafes). Even a few days before the official opening of the festivities, I was hearing conversations scattered throughout the area around Bitcoin, and yes, plenty of “crypto” projects as well – the point being that Vice City, or at the very least, South Beach, has been completely absorbed in the revolution that Bitcoin has been at the forefront of for the past 13 years.
But what should not be neglected, nor lost, is the nature of this revolution; the implications of what happened and how Bitcoin 2023 was achieved.
It was all love and fun. Not for the excitement of Number Augmenting Technology (NgU) or the overthrow of a government, but a congregation of our favorite online personalities that we have been unconditionally glued to. Also, there wasn’t some sort of public spectacle around the personalities that were arriving (at least, from what I could personally observe). What I observed was an appropriate sense of normalcy, a lack of a pedestal. There was no red carpet to greet the wealthy, no paparazzi – just as it should be.
The day before
Before Industry Day, I took advantage of the time in South Beach to meet some of my favorite people at Bitcoin Magazine as they gathered before a long day of meetings and event preparation.
I’m sure that doesn’t seem like a lot to those who were most interested in the festivities, but let me tell you, the 24-36 hours before kick-off are the most important. These are the times when leadership and preparation really start to shine. And from my point of view, the young team of Bitcoin Magazine were cool and collected – a great sign for the follow-up that will be needed during the days of the event.
I mean, when I met them, they were all immersed in their work! You can rest assured that I provided a healthy break from the silence of keyboards and muted conversations around logistics, with my mouth motoring on the excitement of seeing everyone in one place.
industry day
Bitcoin Industry Day 2023 not only allowed companies to arrive and establish themselves for their presence during the following days of chaos and unbridled energy, but also allowed a few speakers to speak with their colleagues. The only downside I would list for industry day was that the general chaos of dozens of teams arriving to situate resulted in a loss of energy and excitement. The general consensus I inferred among industry participants was that the whole day (usually) was focused on setup.
Bitcoin 2023 main stage being set up.
General admission days
Now, for the content hosted during Bitcoin General Admission Days 2023, I’ll just cover a few that I attended, as the chaos was at its peak, the excitement was at its peak, and my attention was redlined. for 16-20 hours each day – brought on by a concoction of coffee, espresso, sunshine and an average of 10 miles of walking each day.
Jeff Ross unleashed
Also known as the “Macroeconomic Landscape” panel, an onstage piece of content included industry favorites Mark Moss, Preston Pysh and the Jeffs – Jeff Booth and Jeff Ross. If you’ve read a handful of my articles for this magazine, or even just skimmed the headlines, you know without a doubt that I’ll be there for this panel.
What the live broadcast and recording fails viewers to experience is the feeling of electricity in the audience as this Macro Council fuels the respective topics of expertise.
The takeaways from the panel were really kicked off by what Moss had to say regarding the cyclical nature of technological advancements through the ages, while Booth had the opportunity to discuss network transfer and the events that must occur simultaneously to support an upgrade (whether a software update or a hardware replacement).
Following this line of conversation, Pysh got me really excited when he started poking holes in all the other “crypto” and central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects that are rallying under the guise of “ decentralization” in what I would say is the biggest scam campaign in human history.
Cynthia Lummis: A politician you can trust?
I love this senator. I may end up regretting saying I like a politician in the future, but I rather doubt it with Cynthia Lummis.
Senator Lummis wasted no time in providing some much needed clarification on the problematic policy environment. Admitting the likelihood that Congress could really “mess this up,” Lummis broke the surface tension around the topic by not suggesting that the US Senate is omniscient or omnipotent, and outlining his vision for Bitcoin legislation that would encourage and promote innovation in the US
Lummis continued to provide responsible insight into the way forward for bitcoin in the policy and regulatory environment with simple admissions of expecting pushback and the general back-and-forth between government agencies around policy formulation processes. bills, to receive feedback on bills before introduction, and then the exchanges that follow to continue to refine the policy to the best of their abilities.
Ultimately, Lummis instilled confidence in the future of bitcoin as fast (and slow) as needed to ensure the best possible future for the fledgling technology and industry.
Jordan Peterson: calm and cool
One of the newest inductees into the Bitcoin herd, Jordan Peterson has taken over the same space in a vastly different way than any of the other speakers.
Where the Four Horsemen of Macro supercharged the space explaining why the gloom of the near future pales in comparison to the drastic improvements predicted for decades to come, Peterson provided a sense of calm, taking the opposite side of the same medal. As is his method, Peterson delivered a very cool and collected discussion in an approach similar to the many Bitcoin discussions heard on apps such as Clubhouse and Spaces since 2020, while adding his own jabs with the precision his trademark is on. was so heavily built. .
Jack Mallers, Above the Crowd’s Head
Strike’s Jack Mallers makes an announcement at Bitcoin 2023
J. Mall is naturally a favorite face in Bitcoin. With the charisma of a rebel leader and the energy that only seems comparable to the Energizer Bunny, it’s nearly impossible to imagine how this guy accomplishes what he does. Jack Mallers’ announcement was my favorite of Bitcoin 2023 by far and above all others for a very simple reason: it was undervalued.
The announcement went completely over the heads of the crowd.
You could feel the anticipation, temptation and thrill of the massive crowd hanging on to every word…just chomping at the bit to hear the utterance of “Apple.” When in reality, his official announcement of Strike’s partnership with Blackhawk Network and NCR was an order of magnitude bigger than working on something strictly with Apple, if not more.
In the grand scheme of things, that’s arguably better than partnering directly with something like Apple right now. What Mallers has done with Strike in this latest development provides the opportunity for a much wider variety of citizens to experience the improvements first-hand, without restricting the network effect to just Apple customers.
Mallers continues to stick to the Bitcoin philosophy of onboarding as many people as quickly and responsibly as possible before the curtain falls on the petrodollar spectacle.
A revolutionary success
This year’s conference was a success for a multitude of reasons. But ultimately the success was that, amidst a sea of question mark projects, the scope of the event was still true to the trends of the Bitcoin community: high signal and high spirits.
I’m sure you won’t find that level of excitement around something that’s financial in nature for a very, very long time. If you weren’t there this year, you missed something that was a show. Not because of the venue, or the speakers, or the musicians, but because of the collection of people who were there. I’m very confident that, if the community chose to do so, an event could be held in a manner similar to a Woodstock – not being located in a downtown urban environment – and it would be a success.
The plebs made the event this year. The speakers did very little – as they should.
This is a guest post by Mike Hobart. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.