People who attended the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami Beach told FOX Business that Bitcoin is about economic freedom, and many people are still learning about the virtual currency.
FIRST ON FOX: The Bitcoin 2022 conference attracted around 25,000 attendees, some of whom told FOX Business why they traveled to Miami Beach to talk cryptocurrency.
The conference attracted all walks of life. Although mainly young men, this year there were many middle-aged and older participants and significantly more female participants compared to last year’s conference. Many work in the fintech industry, while others work for more traditional financial companies, nonprofits, or even for themselves.
The themes of this year’s conference were similar to last year’s: an agreed need for a universal, decentralized currency; the importance of diversifying one’s investment portfolio; and a willingness to use bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in general, as a link in an increasingly divided world — even if the discussion of bitcoin gets political at times.
Entrance to the Bitcoin 2022 conference. (Audrey Conklin/FOX Business/Fox News)
Many attendees told FOX Business that they are at the conference to educate themselves about Bitcoin as new investors or even skeptics of the cryptocurrency world. Others were industry experts or early investors who participated in educating others about Bitcoin.
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One participant said Bitcoin is about “democratizing money as we know it” and “de-powering central banks,” particularly in countries with authoritarian leaders and skyrocketing inflation.
Jordan Peterson addresses a crowd at the Bitcoin 2022 conference. (Audrey Conklin/FOX Business/Fox News)
With no fixed dress code, attendees wore a mix of business and casual attire, as well as costumes – some of which included masks. Graphic t-shirts were a popular theme, featuring the names of cryptocurrency and fintech companies or groups with slogans such as “get rich or die mining,” “guns and bitcoin,” and “communities save one bitcoin at a time.” .
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The event took place at the Miami Beach Convention Center, where attendees were greeted at the entrance by the “Bitcoin Bull,” a more tech-friendly version of the Wall Street bull; a giant makeshift volcano; skee ball machines; a mechanical bull; bitcoin themed artwork; QR codes promise free bitcoin and more.
Bitcoin Bull at the entrance of the Bitcoin 2022 conference. (Audrey Conklin/FOX Business/Fox News)
Speakers included PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel; NFL players Aaron Rodgers and Odell Beckham Jr.; tennis superstar Serena Williams; former University of Toronto professor and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson; Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; journalist Glenn Greenwald; former presidential candidate Andrew Yang; and many others.
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Telegram, a messaging app that enables end-to-end encryption, was another big topic at the event. Many participants shared contact information via Telegram rather than Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or other more mainstream social apps.
Miami has been dubbed the “crypto capital” of the United States, and even the world, in recent years as rowdy but successful tech investors and entrepreneurs flock to the coastal city to expand their ideas.