One of my favorite spots at the Bitcoin conference (Bitcoing 2022) was the art gallery. The art was interesting, some more than other, met with an interesting artist and found some solace in an otherwise monotonous room.
“I’m glad this isn’t a traditional art gallery and that you can buy art with a Bitcoin,” the man behind the table said, as he stood back up after placing his Bitcoin artwork in the glass case.
The art range from a mathematical equation with a dollar sign, to an intricate wood carving of a tree or a heart.
There was no artist stating which of the many pieces of art had a bitcoin tied to it, but many visitors said they were surprised to see them.
People just stood and looked at these works of art and didn’t know what to make of it.
“I think the first bitcoin art gallery in the world?” one woman asked while looking at the wood carving.
She did not want to be interviewed or photographed by the public.
“It’s really nice!” she said.
And that is the problem Bitcoin faces in today’s society. How do you explain this new technology to the everyday person, without people trying to break it?
“I’m excited for the future of bitcoin, but a lot of people in the world are out to have a good time, and it’s dangerous for that to be fully realized,” an observer said.
Three main categories made up the conference: mining “solutions”, most of which were mining hardware; financial services like tax, insurance, and patrimonial advisors; and payment solutions.
Recognizing that there was a technical disconnect between the two sides of the marketplace, the conference organizers organized a series of side-bars that discussed different aspects of the Bitcoin ecosystem. A common theme across all of these side-bars was the value and usefulness of sidechains.
Side-chains, and parallel universes
For anyone unfamiliar with blockchain, a sidechain is a software implementation that allows for different blockchains to interoperate with each other, without having to change any of the basic rules of the initial protocol.
Any kind of protocol-agnostic implementation of Bitcoin on any kind of computing platform has the potential to be useful in furthering the currency.
Most importantly, these parallel universes are meant to solve the scaling and complexity concerns that were at the core of the Bitcoin scaling debate. The sidechains offer a way to remove the need to build or maintain separate implementations.
The technologies and applications being developed on Ethereum and Solana are more diverse.
Inevitably, some of the greatest value will come from solving real-world problems, as was the case with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, the first three digital currencies that were born out of the Bitcoin community.
As the modern financial world emerges from a period of uncertainty, we can be thankful for these technologies that, when applied correctly, could help bring the world closer to a thriving, efficient, transparent and successful payment system.
Ethereum has succeeded in solving a lot of the fundamental challenges in the space, but I believe there is still room for improvement and innovation.
I believe we will need something like a “second wave” for the Ethereum platform to address these issues and make it truly powerful.
Solana has quite interesting proposals in terms of privacy, a small user interface, and of course, with it being a platform, it will be a much more democratic and open-source platform. It is aiming at being truly a community platform.
Inevitably, some of the greatest value will come from solving real-world problems, as was the case with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash, the first three digital currencies that were born out of the Bitcoin community.
As the modern financial world emerges from a period of uncertainty, we can be thankful for these technologies that, when applied correctly, could help bring the world closer to a thriving, efficient, transparent and successful payment system.
The conference was greatly diverse. Crypto attracts people of many different backgrounds and ages, and it was evident by the looks of the crowd at Bitcoin 2022, Miami.
A few financial players from the outside made their debut or appearance at the conference with new products/services for the crypto world.
The promise of the blockchain is its seemingly endless potential for disintermediation and better marketing of industries such as online gaming. Harkn Abloy, a global leader in locking solutions and Smart Key, now uses a distributed authentication system with Smart Contract to secure hardware, making hardware accessible and payment efficient, in essence giving the crypto community access to their physical assets.
The Internet has created an accessibility gap, and Blockchain Technology is now trying to fix it. Ever since it came into existence, Blockchain has been an increasing topic of conversation and this year showed exponential progress in the industry. With companies like IBM, JP Morgan and BNY Mellon now ready to offer commercial services, it’s becoming more and more obvious that the future is as bright as ever for blockchain tech.
