As the bear market rages on, the die-hards, evangelists and Bitcoin believers just keep building. In this week’s episode of Decentralize with Cointelegraph, reporter Joe Hall spoke to CEOs, key opinion leaders and cryptographic visionaries at two of the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) conferences: Bitcoin 2023 in Miami, Florida, and BTC Prague in the Czech Republic.
While BTC’s price has remained stubbornly under $30,000 in 2023, the Bitcoin 2023 conference welcomed 15,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts through its doors just off Miami Beach. In June, the first edition of BTC Prague set records as more than 7,000 attendees hit the Czech capital to learn about and interact with Bitcoin.
Despite taking place on different continents roughly two weeks apart, the themes and discussion points overlapped. Bitcoiners compared notes on the future of Bitcoin inscriptions known as ordinals, and some lamented the rise in “toxic” Bitcoin maximalism, but both conferences set out to achieve the goal of greater Bitcoin adoption.
While Bitcoin and crypto remain a niche interest for the general public, United States presidential candidates, massive companies like eToro, and even Stanford professors participating in the discussion at Bitcoin 2023 could indicate the “mainstream-ification” of the Bitcoin and crypto space.
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As Christian Anders, CEO of BTC.X explained, “It’s so nice to attend a Bitcoin conference because it’s not just a conference. It’s like a big Christmas dinner.”
Ultimately, while the discussions centered around how to change the world using arguably better money in the form of Bitcoin, most Bitcoin advocates were simply enthused to rub shoulders with like-minded entrepreneurs. Obi Nwosu, CEO of Fedimint, told Cointelegraph:
“Everybody is really high energy, but also slightly exhausted. And the reason they’re exhausted is because they’re so busy because so much building is happening; so much stuff is coming back to Bitcoin or extending on Bitcoin.”
Indeed, from CEOs of companies building on Bitcoin with their own tokens, such as Muneeb Ali, CEO of Trust Machines and co-creator of Stacks, to Daniel Fogg of IOV Labs and Rootstock, the Bitcoin economy is a big tent in 2023.
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Listen to this week’s episode of Decentralize with Cointelegraph for an on-the-ground investigation of the brightest minds in Bitcoin.
