At Bitcoin 2022, the Bitcoin Bulls took on some of the Titans of Traditional Finance, and in this crowd it was no contest. With about 30,000 in attendance, the conference at Miami Beach Convention Center was a celebration of all things Bitcoin, a pilgrimage for devotees, a masterclass for newbies, and a call to action to the crowd to continue to push for Bitcoin adoption.
The conference was the second one in the Miami area after last year’s conference that attracted 12,000 to Wynwood, and the “world’s largest Bitcoin conference” was much bigger in every way, with some 400 speakers and exhibitions and activations spanning several massive spaces – even a few in the nearby Miami Beach Botanical Garden. Outside was a festival atmosphere with music and food trucks — not to mention selfies with the Miami Bull. The conference was also expanded to four days – Wednesday was the “industry day” (for the whales) and then there were two general conference days all ending with after-parties. An all-day music festival on Saturday concludes the conference.
On the main stage, billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and Founders Fund, took on some of those titans of finance when he called them out for their negative positions on the cryptocurrency. He led off with who he called his “Enemy No. 1,” none other than Warren Buffet, who he called a “sociopathic grandpa from Omaha,” and he followed that up with JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who he said were part of the “finance gerontocracy” that was looking to lock Bitcoin out of the mainstream.
“When they choose not to allocate to Bitcoin, that is a deeply political choice, and we need to be pushing back against them,” said Thiel, who started his talk by tossing a couple of $100 bills to the audience.
Thiel lashed out at ESG investing, putting that on his Enemies List. He compared the focus on environmental, social and governance issues to the way the Chinese Communist Party operates and called environmental investing “sort of fake.”
“This is what we have to fight for bitcoin to go 10x or 100x from here,” Thiel said.
Thiel, now a Miami Beach resident, said it would be the youth that would power the movement forward and overturn traditional finance. To illustrate “youth” he flashed a colorful aerial of Miami and Miami Beach to a cheering audience. “We have to go out from this conference and take over the world.”
While Thiel was among the most fiery in his remarks, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, who has led his company to invest in bitcoin currently worth about $6 billion, and acclaimed tech investor Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark, made the case that Bitcoin adoption has come a long way, with previous skeptics starting to come around.
“Bitcoin is the first global private digital rules based monetary system in the history of the world,” said Wood, whose firm has predicted that Bitcoin will be worth over $1 million by 2030 (during the conference it was trading above $43,000). Both see bitcoin as the ultimate hedge against inflation.
Saylor sees President Biden’s recent executive order telling government agencies to study digital assets and assess their potential as the green light to Bitcoin and worth a victory lap. “The President of the U.S. has never directed the government to embrace a new asset class,” he said. “This is a nonpartisan issue – it is bringing our country together,” Wood added. Saylor’s advice to the crowd: “Do not sell your bitcoin.”
The momentum is clearly behind Bitcoin now, Wood said. “Follow the developers. We are going to see an explosion of innovation built on the Lightning Network.” Indeed, a number of new Lightning integrations were announced at the conference or earlier this week, including for Strike, Square, Cash App, BitPay and Robinhood.
Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary defended bitcoin mining, often admonished for environmental detriment. In contrast, O’Leary said bitcoin mining will “save the world.” That’s because many Bitcoin miners are looking for sustainable energy sources, he said and the demand for nuclear and hydroelectric power – not carbon offsets — will spur further innovation and sustainable energy adoption. “I’ll install the turbines,” O’Leary said.
O’Leary also spoke in favor of crypto regulation, and said that in the next 10 years, “crypto will be the twelfth sector of the S&P. … Regulation is coming, and that is a good thing.”
Billionaire investors Marcelo Claure and Orlando Bravo said they came late to the “Bitcoin Revolution,” as Claure called it. Claure said it was his son who convinced him to start learning about cryptocurrencies and last year’s conference was an eye opener. “I left my job at SoftBank 9where he was CEO of SoftBank International) in order to start learning more and put all that knowledge toward this new revolution we’re seeing.” While just 2-3% of the world is investing in bitcoin now, this is like the Internet of 1994. Now, he said 10% of his wealth is in crypto, and about 90% of that is Bitcoin.
“I’m fired up to be here. I feel the energy,” said Bravo, founder of private equity firm Thoma Bravo. For Bravo, it took a pandemic for him to come to the realization, but he’s making up for lost time, adding that “you don’t have to be an economist to see what is going on with inflation.”
Bravo said he’s been starting to field calls from the $30 trillion pension world, with firms wanting to start investing in bitcoin with a small bucket. “Once they start making money, the flood gates will come down.”
Ricardo Salinas Pliego, Mexico’s third wealthiest individual who runs media and retailing companies, told the crowd that living through Mexico’s hyper inflation turned him into a Bitcoin believer. He now has 60% of his liquid assets in Bitcoin or Bitcoin equities and the rest in assets like oil and gas, he said.
New use cases for Bitcoiin were on display in the Expo area, particularly in emerging markets such as in Africa. But a recurring one brought up by Claure and others was getting funds to Ukraine lightning fast and efficiently, and that’s happening in real time, they said.
For Bitcoin to get to mass adoption, it starts with education, particularly to draw in more women and people of color, said tennis legend Serena Williams, who shared the stage with the NFL’s Aaron Rodgers and Odell Beckham Jr. She noted that many people don’t know that they can buy a small fraction of a bitcoin and build generational wealth over time. “It’s important that it is built for everyone.”
For Miami, Bitcoin 2022 was a massive stage and photo opp to show the world that the Magic City is aiming to stake its claim as a capital of crypto and web3 capital, just as Silicon Valley did with Web 1.0 and 2.0. Said Miami Mayor Francis Suarez: “It may sound dramatic to some, it may sound unrealistic to others, and they may not understand it, and that’s OK. We do.”
Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg and email her at [email protected]
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