THELOGICALINDIAN - This allotment was accounting by Ryan Strauss
Hello again! Checking in actuality from TNABC Day 2 in Miami. It was a lot of fun autograph yesterday. I’m activity to try and accumulate the appearance the aforementioned today; honest, accessible advertisement about what’s absolutely actuality discussed actuality at a Bitcoin conference. There’s a lot added activity on actuality than you may think! While the media generally turns their absorption to huge shows like DevCon and ComicCon, these Bitcoin conferences fly almost beneath the radar.
Also read: The North American Bitcoin Conference 2016: Day 1
TNABC Day Two: Getting Started
How are there alone ~300 bodies here? Surely, there are added bodies in the apple who could account from accessory a Bitcoin conference, who appetite to go and who accept admired account to contribute. I am acquisitive that this epitomize today entertains, provokes thought, and additionally encourages you to appear a Bitcoin Appointment in the future. This is the best abode to absolutely apprentice about Bitcoin: In person. Sit aback and relax. Actuality we go.
Morning
[8:10 AM]: Deathwatch up to the third of abounding catnap alarms activity off. We had advised to deathwatch up at 7:45 AM. Oh well.
[8:11 AM]: Stumble over to Sanna. Tell him to deathwatch up. Am activity off of actually 1.75 hours of beddy-bye afterwards I was up actual backward aftermost night autograph my “In Defense of Greek Life” column for my blogging attack (#100DaysOfBlogging) on Medium (follow me on Medium! @ryanstr).
[8:15 AM]: Nothing bigger than a battery in the morning to deathwatch you up. This has actually been one of the busiest, craziest weeks of my activity (was co-best man for a bells in Chicago aftermost weekend, too).
[8:47 AM]: Finally get into Sanna’s car. It’s aqueous heavily in greater Miami. Respond to assorted Facebook Messenger messages. Head downtown.
[9:10 AM]: Get alone off by Sanna about abreast 12th artery and 3rd avenue. It was about not far from Brickel. Yes, the streets actuality in Miami absolutely are grid-intertwined with “Avenues” on one ancillary and “Streets” on the other. This was actual confusing. Thought through how a blockchain could advice antidote some of the problems presented actuality about allotment streets, anecdotic houses, anecdotic who owns what and area that acreage is.
[9:11 AM]: Saw a accommodation soccer acreage amidst by a fence abutting to a active circle area I was alone off. Got absolutely aflame by this. Took a account of it. Wondered why they don’t accept article like this in Ann Arbor, decidedly that atom appropriate abutting to Lorch Hall. Start walking appear the James L. Knight Convention Center.
[9:14 AM]: A ample bus passes by in the rain. I alpha cerebration about how air-conditioned it would be if a burghal like Miami started accepting Bitcoin on all their accessible busline systems. This requires software upgrades and affiliation with the blockchain. Guessed in that moment that this may not appear in Miami until 2026.
[9:15 AM]: Saw parking meters not actuality acclimated and slanted over in a aged manner. Thought how Bitcoin and a blockchain could allay the problems of alive area to park, accepting to run out to your car to put added money in the parking meter, and of accepting to drive and esplanade your car in the algid (in Chicago).
[9:20 AM]: Noticed how low the gas prices were. What aftereffect does this accept on the amount of Bitcoin?
[9:39 AM]: Sitting alfresco of Capital Grille in Brickel, account at the comfortable attributes and amplitude of all the chichi aerial rises which amidst me. Watched as the arch opened beyond the river/channel that divides the assemblage centermost from area the Capital Grille is in Brickel.
[9:46 AM]: People cat-and-mouse for the baiter arch to close, so that they can airing across, are accepting impatient. One man tries to alpha biking beyond the arch alike admitting the gates to admission the arch are still closed. This gave me a anamnesis to the time back I was in San Diego aftermost ages and witnessed addition try and ascend beneath the alternation alfresco of the assemblage centermost area ComicCon is held. This being about died, as the alternation started up with an acutely loud bark aloof as this being was ample beneath the train.
[9:52 AM]: Arrive at Day 2 of TNABC. Right now, it’s a lot beneath awash than yesterday.
[10:00 AM]: Speak with Julio of Bitcoin.com about tips to advance my writing. Discuss how Bitcoin.com is altered than Bitcoinist.net.
[10:16 AM]: Mate offers to buy me a bagel and chrism cheese. I cautiously acquire this acceptable gesture. Bagels… For free. 0 satoshis spent. #HelllllYeah!
[11:55 AM]: FINALLY am done with my “In Defense of Greek Life” column on Medium. I initially wrote this out actuality as “In Defense of Bitcoin.” That is now a column for addition day. For today, time to get aback to Bitcoin and TNABC, Day 2.
Afternoon
[12:07 PM]: Start talking with the aggregation at BitMain. Get into a abysmal altercation about Bitcoin Mining. Get to see an up-close attending of what an absolute bitcoin miner looks like. This was no common mirage, like what happened in 2013. This was a aggregation of miners, sitting appropriate in advanced of me, appropriate afore my eyes.
[12:14 PM]: Start talking to Hayden Gill about bitcoin mining. We unearthed some amazing insights that I had not ahead internalized. This fabricated Jordan Birnholtz’s “Bitcoin is a donut” blog column from March 2024 accomplish that abundant added sense. We discussed trends in mining currently; how the mining adversity has risen by so abundant back September 2024, and how this was additionally about the aforementioned time that the Bitcoin amount started ascent again. We discussed how bitcoin mining is at the amount of Bitcoin, at its heart. After these acutely abortive computers, there would be no Bitcoin, no accountability or assurance over the web after accepting to await on centralized institutions, no TNABC. Mining is the acme of 40 years of computer science research. It is the concrete appearance of both the Bitcoin software and Bitcoin itself. Miners are crucial, they are crazily important to the approaching of Bitcoin.
[12:25 PM]: Hayden and I still talking here. We discussed how the United States Dollar agnate amount per day generated by Bitcoin miners acknowledging affairs from blocks charcoal about the same, all the time. Whether the amount of Bitcoin is at $100, $200, $400, or $2,000, either way the amount will actualize an allurement that will either allure miners or it will not. The electricity costs complex in active a Bitcoin mining operation are now huge! Therefore, depending on the amount of Bitcoin, individuals will be tempted abnormally to either about-face their miners on or not. Similarly, alone some bodies went west in the 1840’s, during the Gold Rush, which was based out of San Francisco.
[12:26 PM]: There are absolutely parallels to Bitcoin with this affinity here, too. Because of this, the adversity of Bitcoin adjusts to the decisions fabricated by individuals as to whether or not they appetite to use their miners. With this, there is a tradeoff; abundance or not mine? Increase the adversity and lower the bulk you accept in raw-bitcoin per day by mining added (which will additionally drive up the price), or lower the adversity on the arrangement by not-mining, accordingly accretion the bulk in raw-bitcoin you’ll accept back you do break a block (and the consecutive blurred of adversity will additionally advice lower the USD/BTC barter rate). This is a absolutely difficult tradeoff to internalize; it took me about 3.5 years of afterward Bitcoin carefully until I absolutely got it. Until I batten with Hayden at TNABC, Day 2, in Miami, Florida. It took me 3.5 years to absolutely apprehend that the USD agnate amount per day generated by miners charcoal almost constant. For this reason, bitcoin mining is a zero-sum game; the profits for mining operations in the continued run will trend appear aught as the bazaar becomes added and added saturated and competitive* (*as the adversity increases, oddly, which is a paradox, too).
[12:39 PM]: See Marco Santori airing by out of the bend of my eye. Only knew that this was him because Hayden said so.
[12:40 PM]: Learn that ample bitcoin mining operations are starting to acquisition artistic means to anatomy partnerships with activity companies to advantage inefficiencies in the electrical grid. They do this because it is absolutely mutually benign for both the mining companies and the activity companies. At night, activity companies generally accept to ability bottomward ample genitalia of their ability grid, which is costly, takes time, and is artlessly inefficient. Now, to abode this, bitcoin mining operations are application this electricity to mine, which it seems lower the costs associated with the ability grid. This is a accommodating and mutually benign relationship, one which provides miners with cheaper electricity, encourages the active of added abounding nodes, and additionally does not put as abundant accent on the filigree from axis it on and off. On and off. On and off. The amount of electricity is one primary acumen why the amount of oil does absolutely appulse Bitcoin’s amount (which is a Spectacle, a aberration from the basal above realities about Bitcoin Miners).
[12:50 PM]: Lunch time. Bump into Tone Vays in line.
[12:51 PM]: Get a adolescent sandwich for cafeteria with chips. Talk to the affable woman alive the cashier. Joke with her allurement if added bodies actuality acquire been badinage about how the appointment centermost in Miami does not acquire Bitcoin. She was not amused, and aloof smiled instead.
[1:40 PM]: Heading into Bitcoin accompanying panels now.
[1:47 PM]: I lied. Just spent 7 account of beatitude jamming to @BroJoeDroJoe. Now branch into the big allowance with the Bitcoin accompanying panels.
[1:56 PM]: I lied, again. Spoke with Mia Molnar of Genesis Mining. Learned that she is acclimation a music accident in Munich. Reached an absorbing acumen about differences in music ability amid Europe and America. Thought to myself how air-conditioned it would be if a acute arrangement controlled the achievability to accolade bitcoin to a army or a agreeable artisan based off of the complete patterns present and army noise. Felt aflame that LivelyGig is allowance to accomplish this a reality. Mia additionally handed me a “paper wallet,” which at a Bitcoin Conference is amusing and an amazing business tool.
[2:10 PM]: Finally actually-in the big amphitheater with the panels. The admirer speaking, Jerry Brito of Coin Center, fabricated a animadversion that about how any attack to adapt Bitcoin technology is futile; the cat is already out of the bag. The technology of arguable broadcast systems is already out there. If we appetite to allocution about “regulating” Bitcoin, again we charge to do this in the ambience of acclimation Bitcoin as a currency, which is fundamentally altered than acclimation Bitcoin/blockchains as a technology.
[2:13 PM]: Jerry: “The U.S. is the baton back it comes to regulation.” The US issued the aboriginal advice on how a adjustment applies to Bitcoin, in 2013. And the Bitlicense was the aboriginal admeasurement anesthetized of its affectionate anywhere in the world. The US is a baton in the authoritative association on abounding issues, so it would accomplish faculty to see it here.
[2:16 PM]: Jerry: The Bank Secrecy Act is a acute act in the history of the United States of America. It is a law that requires advice about all parties complex to be acquired from any country in the world. This are accepted as AML checks, Know-Your-Customer (KYC), and Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR). In administration this law, OFAC (Office of Foreign Asset Controls) has a acknowledged albatross to analyze the character of all parties involved. This law was advised for a apple of wire transactions, not Bitcoin. Using Bitcoin, which is inherently-semi-secretive, poses challenges to anecdotic the advice of and area of the parties involved. Our access back acclimation Bitcoin companies is often, in ways, like aggravating to fit a peg into a annular hole.
[2:21 PM]: Jerry: Consumer Protection is a actual important breadth for the Bitcoin association to assignment hand-in-hand with the acknowledged association to accomplish advance on. Right now, for about every anatomy of investment, consumers are protected. This earns these associated forms of advance account amid the acknowledged association and added acceptance amid added boilerplate users added largely.
[2:23 PM]: Jerry: Right now, the attempts to adapt this booty abode on the accompaniment level. This is a hangover from a antecedent era of banking infrastructure. It is difficult to crave anniversary and every Bitcoin aggregation to access a budgetary manual authorization from anniversary and every accompaniment that they appetite to accurately accomplish in. Often, these accompaniment akin licenses are cher to access and crave alive attorneys and additionally affair a minimum basic claim threshold.
[2:25 PM]: Jerry: Engaging regulators and accepting adjustment to appear out with new and favorable laws to Bitcoin added bound will alone advice the Bitcoin Industry. This is why it is important to be nice to assembly and to be honest with them. There needs to be a alternate compassionate of how the technology at duke works in adjustment to ability mutually benign regulation, which will accommodated the needs of both government, customer protection, and entrepreneurs (who generally currently accomplish beneath blah areas, and this generally discourages activity too).
[2:28 PM]: Jerry: Multi-Sig, the adeptness to accord ascendancy to assorted parties at once, is a fundamentally new abstraction in IP and Property Law.
[2:29 PM]: Jerry: The Bitcoin association authoritative accompany with the acknowledged community, actuality honest and 18-carat with them, needs to appear now. This will advice assure Bitcoin in the accident of a Black Swan event. This is what Coin Center does.
[2:32 PM]: Talk ends about a altercation over the belief of “money laundering.” Jerry fabricated it bright and the army accustomed that money bed-making is, in all cases, illegal. Someone in admirers asks Jerry why he is not angry to change this. Jerry fabricated a ablaze point, that I 100% accede with; money bed-making is actionable and will consistently abide to be illegal. It is for our aggregate safety, and it makes sense. Rather than aggravating to action adjoin this reality, the Bitcoin association should embrace it and anatomy partnerships and accept astute discussions with regulators.
[2:38 PM]: Talk by Josh Dykgraaf, Freelance Art Director, on Bitcoin Branding begins. As Josh put it, “The (Bitcoin) logo should brainwash the aplomb and perceived aegis of a bank… The logo needs to address to both developers and soccer moms equally.” Right now this acutely is not the case.
[2:51 PM]: Josh: Mastercard’s logo, two overlapping circles, is simple, technologically anticipation provoking, and ignites animosity about aegis and assurance aural us. It instills aplomb in users due to the assurance that bodies accept in the brand. An attack in 2024 to change their logo failed.
[2:53 PM]: Josh: “Mass acceptance will be abundant easier if Bitcoin has the appropriate Branding.”
[2:54 PM]: Talk by Jason King, architect of Sean’s Outpost and Unsung.org. Jason has afresh ran beyond America, from Miami to San Francisco, to advice accession acquaintance about and money for the abandoned population.
[2:55 PM]: Jason: “This is my third time here. Moe [Levin] puts on the best conferences in the space.”
[2:56 PM]: Our country throws abroad millions of pounds of aliment per year. To abode this, Jason has created a sharing-economy based appliance to allotment “excess” aliment and advice augment the homeless.
[2:58 PM]: Jason: Often times, restaurant owners accept to pay to bandy abroad their own food. They accept to pay a specialized able to aces it up and bandy it away. This, additionally, is additionally cher because the restaurant paid for the aliment too.
[3:00 PM]: Jason: “Our tagline actuality is ‘Hack Hunger’.” This accustomed a loud acclaim from the audience. Jason said that they are allowance to game-ify the amplitude by assuming leaderboards which in about-face put anatomy a amusing burden on others to accord their balance aliment to those who are hungry.
[3:04 PM]: Bitcoin Regulation Panel now starting. Marco Santori, who I absolved by earlier, is now on date with Jerry Brito and Veronica McGregor.
[3:27 PM]: Marco: “Bitcoin is alone perceived as a acceptable apparatus for money laundering. It is not absolutely a acceptable apparatus for money laundering.”
[3:33 PM]: Marco: “Remember back we acclimated to alarm this ‘Bitcoin 2.0’, not ‘Blockchain technology’?”
[3:50 PM]: Marshall Long, CTO of Final Hash, now is speaking. “Mining is not declared to be a profits game. It is declared to be a aught sum game.” These words, this realization, absolutely resonated with me, as I aboriginal came to this ability beforehand today. “Whoever creates the best craven afford for miners wins the game, appropriate now.”
[3:51 PM]: Marshall: In China, mining companies can access subsidized electricity through the bounded government.
[3:52 PM]: Marshall: Development in mining chips has avant-garde bound of late. This, in my claimed opinion, has been a huge agency in the contempo adversity access and consecutive amount acceleration over the accomplished 5 months.
[3:53 PM]: Marshall: Bitcoin mining technology is active into the problems of Moore’s Law.
Evening
[4:29 PM]: I aloof acquaint my “In Defense of Greek Life” blog column from Medium (@ryanstr) on Hackathon Hackers. Comments already alive in.
[4:42 PM]: Paying absorption to TNABC, Day 2 afresh now. Feels acceptable to assuredly be done with that blog post.
[4:45 PM]: The accepted and additionally final speaker, Dean, is the President of the Blockchain Education Network (BEN), which was aforetime accepted as College Crypto-currency Network (CCN). I watched CCN alpha at the University of Michigan. It was absolutely air-conditioned seeing it transform from an abstraction to “Michigan Bitcoiners” in Ann Arbor to CCN actuality featured in the Wall Street Journal.
[4:46 PM]: Dean: “Our bearing will change the world.”
[4:48 PM]: #GenerationBlockchain. This is the aboriginal time in my activity that I accept anytime apparent this hashtag used. I adulation it.
[4:49 PM]: Dean: All avant-garde and new banking applications charge be global. Given the behavior of adolescent people, this is the alone anatomy of banking achievability that is in-alignment with the way that they are acclimated to administration advice (and money is a anatomy of information, too).
[4:57 PM]: Moe Levin now for closing remarks.
[4:57 PM]: Moe (paraphrased): We are now accessible for a new anatomy of bill that is in alignment with our heavy-travel-style lives.
[4:58 PM]: Moe: “One of the aims of this appointment was to set the administration for the advancing year, and I anticipate we accept done that.”
[4:59 PM]: “Bitcoin is on the accompany of awe-inspiring change. We are that change. We are the approaching of this industry… We are the agents of that change. Thank you guys!”
Thanks for account our advantage of TNABC 2024!
