Source: DL News, The Block
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
On July 27, local time, the 2024 Bitcoin Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee closed. The participation of Trump and a large number of other well-known speakers not only made the conference a hot topic of discussion in recent days, but also made cryptocurrency the focus of attention in the United States again.
In particular, Trump's speech declared that if elected, he would establish a national strategic Bitcoin reserve, and that he would dismiss SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on the day he took office. These remarks gave crypto investors hope that the current government would end its hostility toward cryptocurrencies, boosting market confidence. In addition, who else made wonderful speeches at the conference, and what phenomena are worth noting?
Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The most active person at this Bitcoin conference was the US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy pledged at the Bitcoin 2024 conference to issue three Bitcoin-related executive orders if elected president.
Instructed the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Marshals Service to transfer approximately 200,000 bitcoins held by the U.S. government to the Treasury Department to be held as a "strategic asset."
Plans to sign a separate executive order instructing the U.S. Treasury to purchase 550 bitcoins per day until the U.S. reserves reach 4 million BTC. "Our country holds about 19% of the world's gold reserves. This policy will allow us to acquire about the same proportion of Bitcoin. This chain reaction and these actions will ultimately value Bitcoin at hundreds of trillions of dollars."
Plans to issue guidelines declaring all transactions between Bitcoin and U.S. dollars as non-reportable and tax-exempt transactions.
As a competitor, Kennedy also launched an offensive against Trump's cryptocurrency-related stance at the conference. He criticized, "I welcome Trump's new enthusiasm for BTC, but it has only been a few weeks since he started talking about BTC in general. Moreover, Trump said in 2021 that BTC is nothing more than a scam. Bitcoin is closely related to our values. Trump needs to explain how his personal values are consistent with the values of Bitcoin holders."
Senator Cynthia Lummis
In addition to Trump, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis also announced good news at the conference. Lummis said she will introduce a proposal this week to instruct the U.S. Treasury to purchase 1 million bitcoins (worth about $68 billion at current prices) over five years. She said the move is to offset the impact of the depreciation of the U.S. dollar.
"Bitcoin is a great store of value. It's been growing about 55% per year over the last four years or so. Over that same period, the dollar has depreciated and we've seen inflation rise. So I think there's value in having a hard asset that's backed by the dollar and is growing in value rather than falling."
The bill would require the U.S. Treasury to self-custody Bitcoin in “multiple geographic locations.” The government would hold the coins for at least 20 years unless it sold them to “reduce its debt.”
Lummis said: "Through digital modeling and past experience with Bitcoin, we know that it can completely change the debt and deficit dilemma the United States is in." In addition, the U.S. Treasury should also keep the approximately 210,000 BTC accumulated by the Department of Justice and other agencies through criminal seizures.
Lummis has long been a supporter of Bitcoin. She bought her first batch of Bitcoins in 2013 and has been at the forefront of pushing for cryptocurrency legislation.
Edward Snowden
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden highlighted the pitfalls of political allegiance and privacy issues surrounding Bitcoin in his keynote address at the conference.
He believes that Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous and can be traced back to individuals, which poses a risk to personal privacy. Despite the common misconception that Bitcoin transfers provide complete anonymity, Snowden clarified that most transactions can be linked through various up and down channels, such as trading platforms that meet regulatory requirements. This connection makes it possible to track transaction histories, which may reveal sensitive information about users' lives and relationships. Transaction tracking has wider implications, not only for Bitcoin, but all forms of crypto transactions.
Although there were many positive comments at the conference, it was not unanimous.
The phenomenon of "sex discrimination"
Some people point out that the crypto industry, like Wall Street and Silicon Valley, also has gender discrimination problems.
According to DL News, only about 13% of Bitcoin 2024 speakers were women. In 2019, about 17% were women. In the following years, the proportion of female speakers has decreased, hovering between 13% and 16%.
Public Speakers at Bitcoin Conferences 2019-2024
Additionally, one study found that women accounted for 25% of keynote speakers or stand-alone speakers at global tech conferences from 2016 to 2018. Another survey of conferences across industries found that male speakers still outnumber female speakers by twice as much. According to Forbes, all 17 of the richest billionaires in the crypto industry are men.
Meanwhile, crypto Twitter has been flooded with hateful posts about women.
Many people used profanity and misogynistic terms on X to describe Senator Elizabeth Warren, a long-time cryptocurrency critic. Someone even created a memecoin called WHOREN, an apparent reference to the senator.
A recent report from the Association of Women in Cryptocurrency, a nonprofit advocating for women’s participation in Web3, highlights the gender disparity in the industry.
In late 2023, the organization surveyed approximately 400 women in the crypto industry and found that 82% of respondents believed sexual harassment existed in the industry.
The Bitcoin 2024 conference invited British artist Russell Brand as a speaker. But four women had previously accused him of sexual assault, including rape. Russell Brand, who is under investigation by the British police, denied the allegations.
This is not a good thing for an industry that is on the verge of mainstream acceptance.
It is worth mentioning that some crypto companies have resisted the issue of "sexism". For example, London-based Zodia Custody abandoned its partner Copper because the latter held a lewd party at an industry conference in March this year.
Neel Somani, founder of blockchain Eclipse, has left the company after allegations of sexual misconduct circulated on X, with investors urging him to leave.
Gender inclusivity has also been taken into consideration at Bitcoin 2024. According to the meeting agenda, a "Women's Brunch" will be held on the 25th.
