There are times when I am struggling. This is one of them. Sometimes words fail me.
The conference is gigantic. Can I be honest? Unnecessarily gigantic.
It spans the entire area of the Miami Beach Convention Center, which is a remarkable conference venue. Brand new. In typical American style. Between you and me, I don’t find it very well organized. You walk for hours. Miles and miles of walking to find some specific areas. The signs are almost non-existent, the interactive map on the app works poorly and poorly, the staff is often confused and can’t give directions. Organizing something of this size is by no means easy, we shouldn’t underestimate it, but clearly the Bitcoin Magazine staff, responsible for organizing this event, still has huge room for improvement.
The industry day was the day dedicated to companies and industry professionals. Lots of friendly faces and many well-wishing speeches. The atmosphere is full of excitement but there’s something that doesn’t quite convince me. Everything is rather corporate. Full of entrepreneurs, investors, jackets and ties. It lacks that punk element that I would have expected from a conference so focused on Bitcoin.
I’m not the only one who had this feeling. Jimmy Song, a very important Bitcoin developer, came by to be interviewed and on the sidelines of the interview I found him looking around a bit bewildered. At one point he looks at me smiling and asks me: << Where are the Bitcoiners? >>
To be totally honest during the first day I already heard the words “crypto” and “NFT” uttered more times than I would have expected all week. But maybe that’s not surprising. We’re in the first world after all and it’s inevitable. Here our favorite technology is business opportunity, it’s work, it’s enterprise. We are light years away from El Salvador, the developing world and all those aspects of Bitcoin that I love so much and enjoy covering.
The conference is proving to be difficult to manage. There are dozens of simultaneous events spread out over a huge area. It would take a staff of 5 people to follow everything and we are just a small independent podcast. We are doing our best but sometimes we find ourselves running empty miles without being able to finish anything or go as deep as we would like to. We have, however, managed to bring home some interesting interviews, which, with any luck, you’ll finally get to see over the next few days. I try to focus on the political aspect, that’s what our listeners have come to expect. And we’ve picked up some not inconsiderable tidbits.
Tomorrow will be general admission day. The most important speakers are coming. Who knows if they will get caught up in the general mood and act like stars or if they will remember that they are mostly Bitcoiners. We’ll find out only by surviving this first day and continuing to tell you what’s going on around us.
As they say in these parts: stay tuned.