The Bitcoin 2024 conference kicked off on July 25 in Nashville, Tennessee with high profile speakers like Donald Trump, Michael Saylor, Cathie Wood, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Russell Brand and Edward Snowden set to draw record crowds.
The Trump factor
11:26 UTC: Cointelegraph's US news editor Sam Bourgi and journalist Ana-Paula Pereira are on the ground covering the event with the latest insights, pictures and video from panels and interviews.
The conference has garnered significant attention in the preceding weeks as prominent politicians joined the lineup of speakers set to feature at the event in Nashville.
Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr are two major drawcards along other notable speakers like Michael Saylor, Cathie Wood, senators Marsha Blackburn, Cynthia Lummis
Related: Trump reelection campaign raised $3M in crypto for Q2 2024
Bitcoin and Lightning still hold promise for retail banking
15:26 UTC: Lightspark chief strategy officer Christian Catalini and Xapo Bank director of public affairs, policy and regulation Joey Garcia unpack the promise that Bitcoin and the Lightning Network will still significantly impact retail banking.
Catalini emphasized the ability of Bitcoin from its inception to seamlessly allow its users to transfer value globally across "more than 200 countries, every day, 24/7 with deep liquidity':
"There's only one asset and that asset is Bitcoin. It has regulatory clarity. It has on and off ramps in pretty much every country around the globe."
Related: VanEck says Bitcoin could hit $2.9 million per coin by 2050
BlackRock' clients are mainly interested in BTC, ETH
17:38 UTC: BlackRock head of digital assets Michael Mitchnick unpacked the global asset manager's move into cryptocurrencies through Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange traded-fund products in 2024 in conversation with Bloomberg's James Seyffart.
"I would say that our client phase today, their interest overwhelmingly is in Bitcoin first. There's definitely interest in Ethereum too but there's very little interest today beyond those two."
Mitchnick added that direct investors led demand when the ETF was introduced. BlackRock wealth advisory and institutional investors are still gathering momentum, according to the digital assets lead.
None of the large wealth advisory platforms, like Morgan Stanley, UBS and Merrill Lynch, have begun offering Bitcoin ETFs on a solicited basis yet, meaning that they will only offer the ETFs at the request of the client.
Jimmy Song criticizes conference, focus on TradFi and ETFs
19:26 UTC: Bitcoin developer and advocate Jimmy Song took a firm line during a panel featuring MMA fighter Ben Askren aptly titled Make Bitcoin in America Great Again.
The author criticized the presence of traditional finance institutions like BlackRock and the focus on banking, trading and exchange-traded funds.
Bitcoin developer and advocate @jimmysong pulled no punches, criticizing the presence of TradFi players like BlackRock and a focus on BTC and ETH ETFs:
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) July 25, 2024
"I hate that this is what the Bitcoin conferences are talking about - banking, ETFs, BlackRock." pic.twitter.com/2f3ihYTE94
“What makes Bitcoin great is liberty, freedom, self sovereignty. Those are the things that this country was founded on. Unfortunately because of the money, because of the power of the money printing press, what we've gotten is an administrative state that rules over us that thinks that they're better than us,” Song said.
He added that these undertones represent the interests of the rent-seeking class and the administrative state, which are contrary to the ideals of liberty, freedom, and self-sovereignty.
“I hate that this is what the Bitcoin conference are talking about. Banking, ETFs, BlackRock. Those aren't my values, those aren't Bitcoin values, those aren't American values.”
2024: year one of mainstream Bitcoin adoption - Michael Saylor
20:32 UST: As day one drew to a close, Microstrategy founder Michael Saylor joined the event livestream ahead of his keynote speech scheduled at 19h00 UST on July 26.
The Bitcoin advocate said that the 2024 will go down as “year one of mainstream institutional adoption of Bitcoin”. Saylor’s business intelligence firm owns over 200,000 BTC since it announced Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset in August 2020.
Saylor said he continues to receive calls from public company CEOs and institutions that are interested in the Bitcoin-first investment approach which Saylor has in part pioneered.
Meanwhile Saylor intimated that the presence of two presidential candidates and other prominent US senators could be a positive boon for Bitcoin.
“I think there's a fair wind blowing for Bitcoin regardless. I really can't see any administration in the future not embracing bitcoin.”
Saylor added that it's not a question of future governments being “pro-Bitcoin” but how “aggressively they’ll move” and whether “they move with alacrity or whether they move a bit more deliberately.”
The MicroStrategy CEO said the industry had passed an inflection point in January 2024, when it became clear that Bitcoin had become an institutional-grade digital asset.
“As Larry Fink has said, it has a place in every portfolio. It’s got enormous global appeal. It's something that is unique and the world needs more of it.”
Related: Jimmy Song criticizes BTC 2024 speakers—'Not what makes Bitcoin great'
Disclaimer: This article is being actively updated on 25 July.
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