For four exciting days last week from April 6–9, more than 25,000 Bitcoin enthusiasts from all over the world (including an all-star list of leaders and innovators from in- and outside the Bitcoin mining industry) flocked to Miami, Florida for the world’s largest-ever Bitcoin conference, Bitcoin 2022. The yearly event, which is organized by BTC Inc (owner of Bitcoin Magazine), brought together an estimated 3k+ companies, 450+ speakers, 400+ sponsors, and 100+ artists to discuss none other than the future of Bitcoin.
The Miami Beach Convention Center offered an ideal venue for the conference; Miami is a rich, vibrant city, and Florida on the whole has become a crypto hub as of late (especially with Bitcoin mining rapidly migrating to the US). After the 2020 conference was canceled and the 2021 conference relocated from Los Angeles to Miami due to the pandemic, organizers decided to host the 2022 event in South Florida yet again, opting for a larger venue to accommodate a gathering that ended up being over twice the size of last year’s.
In addition to industry leaders, avid crypto miners, longtime investors, and other Bitcoin bulls, the conference drew many looking to educate themselves on investing in Bitcoin for the very first time. Outside of the convention center, a chain link gate surrounding the event was lined with passersby attempting to catch a glimpse of the newly installed 11-foot-tall, 3,000-pound Miami Bull statue, which had been unveiled by Mayor Francis X. Suarez.
Billed as a “four-day pilgrimage for those seeking greater freedom and individual sovereignty,” the Bitcoin 2022 schedule kicked off on Wednesday, April 6, with Industry Day (which also included a Pitch Day competition), followed by the Main Conference itself on Thursday, April 7, and Friday, April 8. The extensive list of notable speakers included Yeonmi Park, Saifedean Ammous, Michael Saylor, Jack Mallers, Elizabeth Stark, Alex Gladstein, Cathie Wood, Cynthia Lummis, Kevin O’Leary, Peter Thiel, Jordan Peterson, Anthony Pompliano, and Mike Novogratz, among hundreds of others.
With so many prominent voices in the air and so much currently happening with Bitcoin, our hopes were high for some bullish announcements, as when Nayib Bukele had announced his intention to make Bitcoin legal tender in El Salvador at Bitcoin 2021 (Bukele had been scheduled to speak again this year, but was forced to cancel shortly before the event). Thankfully, the ever-evolving DeFi ecosystem did receive a host of new announcements, including new Lightning Network payment systems announced by BitPay and Strike; a new Texas-based, solar-powered mining partnership revealed between Blockstream, Block, and Tesla; and new ASIC mining hardware introduced by MicroBT and Canaan.
Across the more than 20 presentations featured on the Mining Stage, topics ranged from “Mining Strategies” and “State of the ASIC Market,” to “Public Policy and Bitcoin Mining” and “Mining Bitcoin with Renewables,” and everything mining-related in between. We were fortunate to absorb perspectives from everyone ranging from large industry influencers to small independent miners throughout the week, and were thrilled to get to reconnect with some of our fantastic customers in person.
We particularly enjoyed hearing about renewable mining technologies and practices within the context of ESG-related concerns; these issues carry major implications for miners and mining companies moving forward because they can help make mining more sustainable and more politically viable as well. We were also excited by the announcement of MicroBT’s M50 series and Canaan’s Avalon 1266 model of ASICs, which are both more powerful and efficient than their predecessors.
Bitcoin 2022 wrapped up on Saturday, April 9 with the Sound Money Fest, with performances by CL, Deadmau5, Logic, and Steve Aoki, to name a few. The event had been advertised as the largest physical gathering in the history of cryptocurrency, though chances are high that this will become an unofficial record that the conference will continue to set year after year.
As large of an event as Bitcoin 2022 turned out to be, it represents just one part of a much larger seismic shift that we are witnessing all across the globe, and it’s exciting to think of the announcements and developments that will take place leading up to next year’s event. It was an incredible experience connecting with such a diverse and talented crowd, and we look forward to innovating in the Bitcoin mining industry and helping take it wherever it heads next.
Want to join us at the next major Bitcoin event for even more excitement? Get your tickets to CoinDesk’s Consensus 2022 and join Wattum at Booth 264 in Austin, TX from June 9–12. Sign up for our newsletter or speak to your sales representative for more details.
