Tens of thousands of visitors came to Wynwood for the 2021 Bitcoin Conference this past weekend. It was initially set for Los Angeles but was moved due to California鈥檚 continued state of emergency. Masks were not required at the conference and neither was proof of vaccination.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez opened the event; he鈥檚 been a huge proponent of the city鈥檚 emergence as a tech hub. Suarez brought a allowing residents to pay taxes in bitcoin and city of Miami employees could be paid in the digital currency. The conference was held at the Mana Wynwood Convention Center, owned by billionaire real estate developer Moishe Mana.
鈥淵ou see it鈥檚 not a wham bam thank you ma'am [event]. It鈥檚 a process, we have been building in Wynwood day by day, event by event. It鈥檚 progress. It鈥檚 evolution. It鈥檚 not that we did one event and everyone is going to come. We have been working on it for 12 years, what you see here,鈥� he told Sundial senior producer Chris Remington.
Among the main speakers at the event was Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who discussed the potential for Bitcoin to be used as a more stable currency in the developing world. He and rapper Jay Z recently launched an endowment with 500 Bitcoin to grow the digital currency in Africa and China.
鈥淕o to Nigeria for one day and see the struggle that people have to put up with their government and with their money,鈥� said Dorsey during a panel with Joni Madison, the Chief Operations Officer for the Human Rights Foundation.
James Blackburn was among the conference attendees who saw Dorsey鈥檚 speech and was inspired. He鈥檚 a visiting college student from Chicago interested in the potential for cryptocurrency.
鈥淢ost people at this conference believe Bitcoin is monetary freedom for the world,鈥� he said, while catching some fresh air outside the busy conference auditorium.
While the conference was mostly filled with investors, politicians and celebrities bullish about Bitcoin鈥檚 future, a number of the panel conversations addressed the criticisms that the cryptocurrency faces. Bitcoin mining, the computational process by which new bitcoin is uncovered and made available, is a high intensive energy process that鈥檚 being done primarily out of industrial-sized server farms in China.
Steve Lee, Google鈥檚 former project manager, discussed how Bitcoin could help lead a move towards renewable energy, given that the demand on power grids is specific to certain times of day. Bitcoin mining doesn鈥檛 need to be done during peak hours and could use excess energy from wind and solar during the evening and early morning hours.
It鈥檚 unclear whether the Bitcoin Conference will be held in Miami again in the future. Conference attendees waited for hours the first day to get in, with a line stretching into the complex for more than a dozen city blocks.
Many on Twitter , given the high cost of admission and sleek social media advertising. But given the move of Blockchain.com鈥檚 headquarters to Miami, the renaming of the AmericanAirlines Arena to FTX Arena and the interest of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, it鈥檚 clear that enthusiasm around cryptocurrency in the Magic City will remain for a while.
