Bitcoin conference attendance plummets by 50% as crypto gloom persists

"Crypto winter" has been blamed for a 50% drop in attendance at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami.

The conference ended on Sunday, with speakers including US presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy and bestselling author of The Big Short, Michael Lewis.

The annual event is the biggest conference in the bitcoin (BTC-USD) and crypto calendar, however, only around 15,000 people showed up this year, less than half of the 35,000 people attending in 2022.

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Last year's conference featured a celebrity studded roster of speakers, including tennis star Serena Williams, psychologist Jordan Peterson and co-founder of PayPal (PYPL) Peter Thiel.

Many are blaming the collapse in crypto prices — the crypto winter — for this year's lacklustre turn out. Bitcoin's value amid last year's event was around $45,000, during this year's event the digital asset hovered around the $26,000 mark.

Crypto conferences can play an important role in the digital-asset industry, given the prevalence of remote work in the sector, as they offer networking and personal interaction opportunities.

However, due to the drop in cryptocurrency prices, many firms have cut their travel and marketing expenses.

At this year's event at the Miami Beach Convention Centre Kennedy described how he would protect the rights of "Bitcoiners" if elected president.

“As president, I will make sure that your right to hold and use bitcoin is inviolable," he said.

"I am an ardent defender and lifelong defender of civil liberties and bitcoin is both an exercise and a guarantee of those freedoms."

Read more: Bitcoin supply on crypto exchanges falls to lowest level since 2017

He referred to the use of bitcoin to circumvent financial restrictions during the Canadian trucker protest last year.

He said: “None of these lawful and peaceful protestors had violated any law. But suddenly, they found that they could not access their money, their bank accounts to pay their mortgages or feed their families.

“When I witnessed this devastating use of government repression, I realised for the first time how free money is as important as free expression.”

There were 180 discussions at this year's conference, with topics such as the impact of Wall Street on FTX, debate around Bitcoin Ordinals, and the potential of bitcoin-powered nuclear energy.

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