The first day of the 2023 conference in Miami Beach was different from previous years, with less excitement and empty seats.
According to the website for the event, the conference dedicated to crypto’s dominant coin attracted about 35,000 people in 2018. Speakers included NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and tennis legend Serena Williams.
Attendance has been affected by a sharp decline in the price of digital assets and a wave crypto-native explosions. The organizers of the conference expect 15,000 attendees to attend what they refer to as “the world’s biggest Bitcoin gathering.”
Andre Hicks is a traveling nurse from upstate New York who has attended the Miami Bitcoin conference every year for the last two years. I’ve never been to a Bitcoin conference where the market was dead like it is right now.
He said that the low attendance was due to the fact that the average person’s disposable income has declined, and cited factors such as high inflation. He said that most people would rather attend a Bitcoin conference when its price was high than one when it was low.
Hicks stated that ‘everyone wants to win’. But nobody wants to learn about cryptocurrency by stacking.
Tickets for Bitcoin 2023 are priced at nearly $1,000. However, the cheapest ticket option only allows attendees to attend two of the three conference days. Conference attendees who paid an additional $1,300 received an Industry Pass that gave them access to yesterday’s events reserved for Bitcoin-related business.
Sam Miyakawa is an open-source programmer who contributes to Snort Social – a nostr based project. He’s interested decentralized social media. I didn’t think so many people would be here.
He said that, in comparison to Bitcoin 2022 (which Miyakawa attended), it was only natural for fewer people to attend this year. He said that Bitcoin 2022 was held in April last year, just as crypto was coming off of a bull run.
Will Laurent, contract worker at DFINITY said that the press room felt empty compared to last years’ conference, where influencers, reporters and speakers mixed.
Laurent stated that the Bitcoin 2022 press room was crowded with people who wanted to interview Kevin O’Leary, a Canadian entrepreneur, and star of ‘Shark Tank’, or Brock Pierce, Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation.
Laurent said that the two former speakers could still come. But where are the others?