This is an editorial opinion by Brandon Green, chief of staff for BTC Inc and organizer of the Bitcoin 2023 conference. Bitcoin 2023 and Bitcoin Magazine are both operated by BTC Inc.
If you are reading this, congratulations, you have now experienced a true bitcoin bear market. Yes, it’s winter, and it can’t be warm for a while, but at this time, when the frozen air fills the lungs and the ringing in the ears from the sound of two years ago begins to disappear. , in which the whole mission comes back into focus and the signal begins to shine the way in front of you again.
It really is a winter wonderland. And when, somehow, it continues to amaze everyone that winter follows summer, do not forget that spring will also come, and it is better to start preparing properly.
We have experienced some of this season in Bitcoin Magazine, and it seems like after each cycle, we get a little closer to figuring out how hyperbitcoinization will really progress, and what we need to do as a society and industry to help get us there. Unfortunately, the mechanisms we understand tend to be through painful and violent lessons.
In 2013 to 2014, we learned “not your key, not your coin” as the largest exchange in all of Bitcoin (by far) collapsed. In 2017 to 2018, we learned how governance should be done in a system without governance determined through bitter fork wars. Now, in 2021 to 2023, we are studying the impact of credit and debt cycles and disrupting the market, as well as the various attack vectors introduced by paper bitcoins and IOUs, especially in systems with near-instant settlement.
Indeed, Bitcoin took us through a crash course in the last 2,000 years of financial innovation. Anyone who follows Bitcoin’s trajectory closely can be considered a monetary theorist, among other things.
However, it is not enough to just learn these lessons.
In the cold of winter, we do not hibernate; we build. It is time to take these lessons from the past decade and apply them to the future of the global financial system. Many companies and projects that help us do that are already here, setting up our offers and building a strong infrastructure for us to use. Many more are yet to be imagined.
Bitcoin 2019 was founded four years ago, in the heart of the 2018 bear market on the heels of a bitter civil war. Our goal is to “Make Bitcoin Fun Again”, heal the wounds and help create a path forward for this industry.
The industry around Bitcoin has grown tremendously over the past four years, and our conference is designed to be a driving force behind that growth. Many of today’s Bitcoin focused companies are founded at our events. Startups are created and funded. The company meets and hires key employees. Business partnerships are made in our meeting rooms. Our products and services (and more!) are announced on our stage. You’d be hard-pressed to find a company in our space that hasn’t changed the trajectory of their business by attending or sponsoring our conference.
In 2019, the community is divided and Bitcoin has not been properly prioritized in the wider discourse. In 2023, the community is stronger than ever, but the industry around Bitcoin has taken its toll. The grave of companies that are overextended, overleveraged or outright fraudulent is huge. There is a huge gap in the products and services that companies create, and a huge opportunity to build new products and services with the core principles of Bitcoin as a focus. We have a unique opportunity to reimagine what the financial system could look like with Bitcoin at its center, and the Bitcoin 2023 conference will be our first opportunity to come together as a community and do just that.
Bitcoin 2023 is coming up on May 18, 2023. The companies and builders that attend have the opportunity to be leaders that shape the future of our industry for years to come. The ideas generated between attendees and speakers can be the foundation for the next stage of industry growth. We will rebuild with Bitcoin at the core of every product and service on the market. And we will prove to the world that the ideas that have come cannot be stopped.
This next epoch may be the most important for Bitcoin’s success. Bitcoin “proves” the moment is upon us, and the whole world is watching. The future of Bitcoin awaits.
Don’t sit on the sidelines. Enter the arena.