'No Bears Allowed'? Bullish Vibes Abound at Bitcoin Nashville

The Bitcoin fans that flocked to Nashville this year aren’t fixated on the asset’s price. Instead, they’re soaking in bull-market vibes and mingling with like-minded attendees.

For many, this year’s confab isn’t their first rodeo. Still, times have changed since Bitcoin’s price hovered around $28,000 in Miami the last time around, just 14 months ago.

At the conference’s front entrance, a sign prohibits your typical conference no-nos like outside food and drinks or e-cigarettes. But the warning “NO Bears Allowed” is pretty distinct, and it appeared to be embraced by attendees brimming with excitement from around the world.

John Karanja, the CEO of Melanin Solar, a Kenya-based firm focused on Bitcoin mining, wasn’t sure whether he would even make it. The global tech outage caused by CrowdStrike software turned his travel plans into a last-minute scramble to find a functioning flight.

“I almost never got here because of the flight constraints,” he told Decrypt. “So, I’m excited about good vibes, good music—country music. It’s just about enjoying the experience.”

The entrepreneur attended his first Bitcoin conference in 2014, which took place in Amsterdam. And while he described Bitcoin 2023 as a down year, his hopes are high based on the size of this year’s crowd, with the event expected to draw 20,000 attendees.

Keiko Yoshino, executive director of the Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association, said that one of her favorite things about Bitcoin conferences is the opportunity to connect with people from similar backgrounds.

On her way to The Women of Bitcoin Brunch, a sold-out event according to the conference’s organizer, Yoshino said she appreciates how much the industry has progressed since she last attended the annual confab in 2021 in Miami.

“It’s predominantly white men, let’s not kid ourselves,” she said. “But at the same time, you're seeing diversity from around the world.”

She’s looking forward to a Thursday screening of “Dirty Coin,” a documentary that chronicles changes in the Bitcoin mining industry. For her, seeing people walk the conference floor also puts a real face to an industry that mostly exists online.

“I just think it’s really fantastic that the community has grown this big because sometimes I think it’s small or everyone’s against it,” Yoshino said. “B​​ut when you've got this many people that all believe in the decentralization, it's really great.”

Kenneth Bosak, the Philadelphia-based crypto enthusiast pictured at the top of this story, couldn’t be more excited to visit Nashville this year. Still, he said, it’s like his “300th crypto conference.”

“I got this Bitcoin wallet tattoo when Bitcoin hit $1,000,” he said, pointing to a QR code inked into his arm as evidence of his OG status. “We’re feeling closer to mass adoption every day now.”

Bosak said he no longer uses the Bitcoin address represented on his skin. But it was the very first Bitcoin wallet address he ever generated, so it’s still special to him. He also has “diamond hands” tattoos, further signifying his affinity to the crypto space.

Before the conference’s opening keynote began, Dave Sanderson, co-founder of Red Jacket Capital, a Canadian financial advisory firm, was seated in the front of the event’s main stage.

“I’ve never been to Nashville before, so this was a good opportunity,” he said. “You can get all of this on YouTube, but [at the conference] you get to hang out with people too.”

Coming from a more traditional background in finance, Sanderson described Bitcoin fans as unique. The price doesn’t really matter to them as much, he said, compared to people in traditional finance that would feel sagging asset prices much more.

“I'm in the regular investment world, and in that world, people get down when prices are down,” he said. “Then I come into this world and people don't seem to care. They're not so tethered to the current market price of the asset.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward