Last week, Bitcoin 2022, a four-day global conference for crypto enthusiasts, ended on the beautiful South Beach of Miami.
Bitcoin 2021 was full of awesome news, including Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s announcement that El Salvador will adopt Bitcoin as legal tender. There were also many unexpected moments at this year’s Bitcoin conference. For instance, Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, threw a wad of $100 bills to make his point. Although we are always surprised by the content of Bitcoin conferences, one thing is certain: the number of attendees has continued to go up.
If you were at the conference, you would find that crypto mining institutions occupied nearly half of the space. Moreover, many of the keynote speeches were about BTC mining, which indicates that the mining business is being paid much attention. Today, ViaBTC will help you walk through the amazing content about BTC mining delivered at Miami Beach Convention Center during the 4-day conference.
Miami mayor unveiled the Miami Bull
Back in 2021, Miami opened its doors to global miners. Francis Suarez, Mayor of the city, promised to offer miners cheap, unrestricted nuclear power. Many miners flocked to Miami soon after they heard the news.
Miami, known as the “cryptocurrency capital of the world”, also boasts a symbolic bull statue. On the first day of Bitcoin 2022, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez unveiled an 11-foot, 3,000-pound statue of a bull inspired by the iconic Wall Street statue. However, instead of bronze, the Miami Bull is built of resin and fiberglass, and what’s most distinctive about it is its blue-light laser eyes. The bull, donated by Tradestation (a Miami-based financial company), attracted droves of crypto enthusiasts.
Peter Thiel: Warren Buffett has held back the growth of Bitcoin
PayPal’s co-founder Peter Thiel threw a wad of $100 bills to the audience while explaining “What is money?” at Bitcoin Keynote on April 8. He then started to introduce the differences between cryptocurrencies and government-backed fiat currencies. Thiel also predicted a hundredfold increase in the BTC price and lashed out at traditional financial markets and the tech industry, calling Buffett a “sociopathic grandpa”. Peter Thiel’s keynote speech sparked heated debate — the speech has been viewed by 170,000 people, which is far more popular than other speeches at Bitcoin Keynote.
At the conference, Peter Thiel compared Bitcoin/blockchain finance with traditional finance and concluded that Bitcoin is the ultimate substitute for the entire legacy financial system, which is undoubtedly another great news for BTC miners and believers.
US BTC mining giants are trying to venture into the Middle East and beyond
Mike Levitt, CEO of Core Scientific (a mining company based in Austin, Texas), said at Bitcoin 2022 that the company is looking for energy sources in regions such as the Middle East and Scandinavia to expand its business.
At the conference, Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital (the largest listed BTC mining company in North America), also said that he has focused on the Middle East, a region he referred to as a “very interesting place”.
Blockstream and Block to use Tesla equipment for solar-powered mining
Blockstream’s co-founder and CEO Adam Back, a British cryptographer and Cypherpunk, said at Bitcoin 2022 that Tesla’s 3.8-megawatt solar PV array and 12 megawatt-hour Megapack will power the company’s mining facility in Texas.
Blockstream and Block (formerly Square) are breaking ground on a solar- and battery-powered bitcoin mine in Texas using solar and storage technology from Tesla, according to CNBC.
Conclusion
Mike Levitt mentioned that the capital market has tightened up in the past few months, making it harder for anyone in between a small and large-scale miner to profit. At the moment, apart from existing large mining institutions, major energy companies are also foraying into crypto mining. Big companies have an advantage in terms of the mining cost, while small miners can flexibly deal with mining machines. As capital flows tighten, the mining industry will shift towards scaled, centralized growth, which means that the profit of medium-scale miners may shrink.
In addition, for crypto mining, “energy” is the keyword in 2022. Combining BTC mining with renewable energy has become the theme of the mining industry this year. Meanwhile, regions with abundant sources of renewable energy like wind and solar power will be the first choice for miners when building a mining farm.
Although the BTC price has fallen recently, which is far from the one hundredfold growth predicted by Peter Thiel, Bitcoin has successfully entered the mainstream investment market. Will the blockchain financial system built by Bitcoin financial tycoons prove the views of financial tycoons like Buffett and Jamie Dimon are wrong? Time will tell.
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