The three- day 2024 Bitcoin Conference officially launched in Nashville, Tennessee on the 25th. Former US President Trump, independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor, Ark Investment founder Cathie Wood... Others will attend the meeting and deliver speeches one after another.
Trump, who has publicly supported Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies several times, will give a speech on the 27th. It is widely rumored that he will announce that Bitcoin will be used as a strategic reserve asset of the United States. It is expected to have a positive impact on Bitcoin. Who will be the guests on the first day? When you attend, what topics will you mainly discuss?
Bitcoin and Lightning Network remain retail banking hopes
Cointelegraph reported that first, Christian Catalini, Chief Strategy Officer of Lightspark, and Joey Garcia, Director of Public Affairs, Policy and Regulation at Xapo Bank, discussed the impact of Bitcoin and Lightning Network on retail banking. Christian Catalini emphasized that since its birth, Bitcoin has been able to Users can seamlessly transfer value to more than 200 countries and regions around the world:
24 hours a day, with extremely strong liquidity, there is only one asset, and that is Bitcoin. It has clear regulations and has deposit and withdrawal channels in almost every country in the world.
BlackRock’s clients are mainly interested in BTC and ETH
Then Michael Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, discussed BlackRock’s move to enter the cryptocurrency field by launching Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs in 2024 with Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart. Michael Mitchnick said:
I want to talk about the current stage of our customers, their interest is mainly focused on Bitcoin, of course, they are also interested in Ethereum, but there is currently very little interest outside of those two products.
Michael Mitchnick pointed out that when spot ETFs were launched, direct investors drove demand, and BlackRock’s wealth advisory and institutional investors were still gaining momentum.
Jimmy Song criticizes conference, dissatisfaction focuses on traditional finance and ETFs
Bitcoin developer and advocate Jimmy Song expressed his unwavering views during a panel discussion titled "Make America Bitcoin Great Again" with former mixed martial arts champion Ben Askren, slamming the involvement of traditional financial institutions such as BlackRock. , as well as a focus on banking, trading and ETFs.
Jimmy Song said that the greatness of Bitcoin lies in freedom and autonomy. These are the foundations on which the United States was founded. Unfortunately, due to money and the power of the money printing press, what people get is an administrative state that rules the people. They think they are better than the people. Even better, these potential factors represent the interests of the rent-seeking class and the administrative state, which run counter to the concepts of freedom and autonomy:
I hate it when Bitcoin conferences talk about this. Banks, ETFs, BlackRock, these are not my values, they are not Bitcoin’s values, and they are not American values.
Michael Saylor: This is the year of mainstream Bitcoin adoption
Michael Saylor said that 2024 will be "the first year of mainstream institutional adoption of Bitcoin." He revealed that he continued to receive calls from CEOs of listed companies and institutions who were interested in the Bitcoin-first investment strategy he pioneered. At the same time, he hinted that, The presence of both presidential candidates and other friendly senators at the convention could be a boon for Bitcoin:
I think there's going to be a tailwind for Bitcoin no matter what, and I really don't think there's going to be any government in the future that doesn't accept Bitcoin.
The question is not whether future governments will support Bitcoin, but how aggressively they will act, and whether they will act quickly or more cautiously.
Michael Saylor said that the cryptocurrency industry passed a turning point in January this year, and Bitcoin has clearly become an institutional-level digital asset. As BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said, Bitcoin has a place in every investment portfolio. With huge global appeal, Bitcoin is unique and the world will need it more.
