This is an op-ed by Joachim Bok, research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and contributor to HumanProgress.org and the Mises Institute.
The first thing that met the audience upon entering the venue at the inaugural conference of BTC Prague was the smell: a strong new smell of rubber that permeated most of the main stage area. The second was light — or the absence of it: it was dark, with huge screens at regular intervals and neon lights shining elegantly across the ceiling.
The dim purple haze and those comfy white VIP sofas at the front (paying for VIP tickets has its perks!) will likely remain etched in participants’ memories. A large BTC logo and slowly swaying lamps hanging above the panelists on the main stage brought a somewhat eerie sense of nausea – as if the entire stage was slowly revolving. As if I wasn’t already so giddy from my travels, endless conversations and lack of sleep that I blame wholeheartedly on the many befores, sides and afters that take place in Prague’s thriving nightlife.
When I had it all figured out, I pulled out my notepad and wrote, “The techno cheer of my teenage years called and I want its vibe back.”
For the first few sessions of the three days, it was empty in the main hall. Strange, even. where is everybody?
slalom tracks
the exhibition hall It seems to be where most of the cool kids hang out; The rest maybe enjoying the morning sun along the river in downtown Prague.
The exhibition hall was filled with hundreds of bitcoin companies and thousands of participants, and was dominated by a pivotal two-story booth operated by SatoshiLabs. It has, symbolically, reached the four corners of the space with each section dedicated to its four brands, one of which, Vexl’s KYC-free bitcoin app, launched during the conference. Around the edges of the football field-sized hall were miners, makers of hardware wallets, a dozen or so steel backup products, book publishers, and lots of commodities and consumables. There were plenty of stalls hidden behind something else, in fact, after several wandering rounds Still I found new companies or conference booths that I hadn’t noticed before. I live and breathe the bitcoin space, yet I didn’t know half of these companies or their products: bitcoins are really prolific, and new products and companies pop up like mushrooms after rain (to tease that Czech saying).
By the way, the official language of the conference was broken English of that comical and vaguely European kind. It was a nice change from the otherwise Americanesque Avalanche It dominates the Bitcoin space Bitcoin conferences.
What was no different about this event was that the audience was mostly made up of very fit men in their prime. Some brought their wives and children as well, which gave the place a somewhat family-friendly atmosphere. It is palatable that self-responsibility in money also translates into self-responsibility in other areas. In the age of Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, and Ben Shapiro, it’s no surprise that this message resonates most strongly with young men.
Somewhere between the spot and the stop at the end of the red subway line, there has been a clear transition from the world of fiat currencies to the world of bitcoin. As I traveled toward the conference each day, I began to see colorful bracelets, bitcoin-themed clothing, and the kind of fit, confident, and extravagant clientele outweighing us as bitcoins. Upon entering the place, I turned off my Google Pay app for the Lightning wallet because everyone accepted Lightning. Occasionally, a merchant would politely ask if I wanted to pay by card or telegraph, but most of the time, they presented me with an invoice. Exchanging monetary energy can be precisely that simple; The difference between the Bitcoin world and the outside world has never been more obvious.
The barista at the grand El Salvador booth made the best coffee at the convention, all day, every day—for anyone who had the patience to stand around and watch him carefully prepare it, anyway. Then again, if you like He buys Coffee from one of the food trucks outside, enjoy being in line for 20 minutes. But the food was great, as were the benches and beanbags for socializing and soaking in the heat of the Prague summer—until humid summertime waterfalls pushed thousands of participants inside, jamming everything into festival-like proportions.
Among the many impromptu meetings and get-togethers, scheduled or serendipitous, some stood out: a selfie with an idol, thanking a podcaster or author for their valuable work, connecting in real life with characters or personalities who before were nothing but words, sounds, or profile countries. Pacific islands.
In the middle of the exhibition hall, I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see a tall, sleek, dark-haired man my age. The face was familiar – very Familiar – but from another time, another place. “do you remember me?” Brain work like an overclocked ASIC to find a solution to this cryptographic puzzle; In the five seconds expected for this kind of interaction, I totally couldn’t do it. He reminded me that we had studied economics together at university in what felt like a long time ago; We were on the same study abroad program in the same city but we haven’t kept in touch since. He was back there for a few years after we graduated but is now back in his hometown of Prague. He told me he found the money broken, and the wild prices ridiculous. He’s a newcomer to Bitcoin, having won a ticket to the conference at his first Bitcoin event just a few months ago.
“I’m learning a lot,” he said.
Two winding roads, united by Bitcoin: everyone comes here eventually, in their own way, in their own time. It’s beautiful.
Rock star moment
Until the massive main stage is filled, we’ll have to wait for Michael Saylor to show up twice. Saylor, who is fast approaching rock star status in the bitcoin world, gave a very glamorous appearance keyword On the third day, but the hall was also clogged to have a conversation with him Eric Weiss yesterday. The overflow room that had reverberated rather empty at so many previous sessions was so packed with spectators that the air conditioners running at full capacity could not keep up. In its distinctive capacity “Bitc-EwingEchoing across the hall, Saylor’s words literally took our breath away.
He noted that bitcoin is a morally good thing, it is a moral imperative. Bitcoin and Bitcoin carry a superior ideology that we “don’t have to apologize for”.
The Power Round which was the keynote speaker dealt with the collapse of the US dollar against fixed assets. This isn’t a revolutionary idea in these circles, but the way Saylor packaged the message might be: By keeping money, you’re “on the wrong side of the economic war.”
There is an endless economic war raging all over the world that has been raging since the beginning of time and is continuing now. That war is about the redistribution of economic energy, we call it that Wealth…
“No amount of hard work will solve the problem of getting on the wrong side of that economic war.”
Technology is an order of magnitude more important than hard work; It doesn’t matter how hard you dig or how well you work with a shovel when the next guy shows up with a backhoe. What Saylor added is that government policy It is an order of magnitude more important than technology. In a decadal or centennial time frame, the gains from technology—always competing with the next thing that makes it obsolete—are reduced, drowning in the shadow of endless financial expansion at the root of society’s many problems.
The energy in the room was as hot as it had been during Satoshi Rokamoto’s concert the night before. An uncomfortable realization began to set in: “Maybe your business doesn’t matter as much as government policy.” I can’t get over the harmful effects of a money crash that is magnifying my economic contributions.
The conclusion, starkly obvious to most involved, is that you need to get out—both physically and financially. Eric Dale, Norwegian influencer and podcast hostBitcoin for breakfastAs he tells us in his book Introductory lecture The day before: Conference Week, “It was probably the first time we saw a net migration of Bitcoin customers to He said “Europe”. Normally, we Europeans take our “FU money” and walk out of our crumbling museum of bureaucrats and overburdened public Ponzi schemes.
But we may have overlooked the Bitcoin hub that Prague is – home to Satoshi Labsl Brianto The company behind the Bitcoin ATM. Martin Kuchar, Conference co-founderHe continued to praise the Czech Bitcoin scene every chance he got: “I see BTC Prague as another Czech project that underscores the importance of the Czech Republic to Bitcoin,” he said in a post. Pre-conference interview.
Things are already brewing in Prague. Perhaps all is not lost in Europe.
This is a guest post by Joakim Book. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.