London group creates 'fork' of Jimmy Song’s Bitcoin meat-up

By Tim Copeland

Meat-eaters love crypto, it seems. Take a whistle-stop tour through crypto Twitter and you’ll find the words “meat” and “bitcoin” nestled neatly alongside each other like two decentralized sausages in a pan. In fact, there’s a small but prolific group who dedicate themselves almost exclusively to idea of “Bitcoin carnivory”.

Two acolytes of Bitcoin and beef, Jimmy Song and Tone Vays have been busy organizing a meet-up or should we say, meat-up in London for those looking to break bread over flesh and fledgling markets. All you need is $262.18 and your own booze (they don’t provide it, sorry). You'd be forgiven for thinking this was a bear market, unless bear is on the menu.

But like anything in crypto for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and a bunch of rebels have sprung up to offer an alternative, a hard fork if you will. London PowWow, an crypto-centric community group, is providing an alternative to Vays' premium event, with the added lure that participants don’t only have to eat meat.

“It is a deceptive marketing ploy under the guise of a ‘Bitcoin experience’. If that is not a scam, I don’t know what is,” Powwow member and anti-carnivory fork organizer Theo Goodman told Decrypt, adding, “There will be no leaders, no celebrity status and it doesn’t cost $500 to sit at the table.”

Instead of forking up the cash for Rodizio Rico, a Brazilian all you can eat menu in Angel, London, the alternative meal will take place at the nearby Thai Square—both conveniently within walking distance from the Decrypt office. And there will be veggie options for all—making the event much more inclusive. There’s even a free gift for attendees, we’ve been told.

This is not the first time that crypto followers have crossed forks over food. In September, 2018, Jimmy Song ran a similar event in Prague to coincide with the Hackers Congress held at the Bitcoin-only cafe Parallel Polis. At the same time, a similar band of merry men went to the Indian Jewel in the city’s historic Old Town for a curry. Around twenty people went including cryptography consultant Peter Todd.

Many crypto events are starting to realize they need to be more inclusive. Coindesk’s Consensus was snubbed by Vitalik Buterin for being too expensive—at $2,000 a ticket. ETHDenver offered free healthcare to parents struggling to find a babysitter. Perhaps it’s time we embrace for food choices for all--a vegan-friendly carnivory perhaps? According to some, that’s a bridge too far.

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