The Bitcoin 2021 main conference day featured mayor Francis Suarez, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and many others.
Bitcoin 2021, the biggest Bitcoin event in history with a sold-out crowd of at least 12,000 attendees in Miami, is kicking off with some of the world’s biggest industry players.
The conference is one of the largest crypto gatherings to emerge following the COVID-19 pandemic, with organizers expecting more than 50,000 attendees. An unofficial part of the conference kicked off Thursday with a “Whale Day” featuring Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz and BitGO CEO Mike Belshe.
The event is positioned to be something “more like a music festival,” featuring multiple stages, including the main “Nakamoto Stage” as well as side stages like “Stacking Sats Stage” and “End Of Fiat Stage.”
Can confirm. Went backstage today and got a little tour. Imagine something more like a music festival. It's insane. I'm glad to be a part of it. @BitcoinMagazine fucking rocks I'm such a huge fan. https://t.co/gxaH7zZk0S
— FRANCIS – BULLBITCOIN.COM (@francispouliot_) June 2, 2021
Bitcoin 2021 relocated to Miami to Establish It As “Bitcoin capital”
The conference is hosted by Bitcoin Magazine, a crypto publication co-founded by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin back in 2012. Initially set to take place in Los Angeles, California, Bitcoin 2021 was relocated to Miami earlier this year as mayor Francis Suarez began campaigning to establish Miami as the “world’s cryptocurrency capital.”
The event organizers said in March:
“Mayor Francis Suarez is making a play to establish Miami as the Bitcoin capital of the world, so naturally he’s asked us to bring the largest Bitcoin conference in history to his city, as soon as it’s safe for attendees and residents.”
Day one of Bitcoin 2021
The first official day of the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami, Florida yielded no shortage of newsworthy events. Thousands of conference-goers came together to take in speeches, interviews and panels from a wide array of guests, such as Miami mayor Francis Suarez, who spoke about the city’s efforts “to create the Bitcoin, blockchain and mining capital of the world.” Suarez’s track record is filled with various forms of involvement in the crypto and blockchain space, as he noted in his speech.
“The days of a currency being tethered to a central bank are coming to an end,” Suarez said after expressing several favorable views about Bitcoin, including: “The U.S. will become a powerhouse for clean energy Bitcoin mining.”
Other speakers, panelists and interviewees included Kraken head of growth Dan Held, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and Draper Fisher Jurvetson founder Tim Draper, among many others. Peter McCormack, the host of the What Bitcoin Did podcast, maintained one of the conference stages for some of the day’s action, introducing guests.
During Michael Saylor’s time on stage, he was asked about his experience in the crypto space so far. “I realized that I first bought Bitcoin one year ago yesterday, and so this is the end of my rookie year,” Saylor said.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also spoke at the conference today on the topic of the bankless population. “Internet needs a native currency,” he said during his interview. “We need to be able to transact with it every single day.”
During a later on-stage discussion, Binance US CEO Brian Brooks said: “If you’ve never worked in a big bank, you have no idea how bad the problem is.” Brooks previously served with the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Before joining the regulatory body, he had several career stops, including spending years with OneWest Bank N.A.
