Bitcoin Forum

Coming in Q4 2014 the worlds coolest emerging technology meets the worlds coolest emerging city.

Please let us know if you know of potential interested speakers, attendees, sponsors and partners.

http://dubaibitcoinconference.com

What's the current state of Bitcoin in the Middle East? It's the only part of the world that I haven't heard of much activity yet. I hope the conference changes that.

This is gonna be interesting. If u can manage some oil sheikh to put their petrodollar into Bitcoin.... we will see soon BTC will be touching 10k usd ;)

It's early stage.  Most of my time is spent in the Gulf states.   They generally love new technology and of course they actively read wester media so have heard lots about Bitcoin --- however it's still early without a ton of direct involvement.

There is a lot of money rolling in and out of Dubai. If there is good interest sparked there, this could drastically increase the demand for btc

I would like to be there :) But tickets so expensive :P

:) vahe a good time there ! Make bitcoin stroinger Dubai!

Tickets are not too bad and now there is a direct flight from Boston

I am in Poland now :P so It is a bit more expensive :(

Anyway :) maybe one day I will fly there :) for another Bitcoin Conf.

I have not checked, but I am assuming that the cost of hotels and such are probably pretty expensive there...

Dubai = Big $  ;D

Sounds promising!

I would ask Andreas Antonopoulos or Tuur Deemester to speak. (You can find some videos on Youtube to see their talks) Those would be my first choices but I am not sure what would be the best for the Dubai market.

Also,  I am not sure I would refer to Dubai as the world's "coolest" city. ;)  It always seems hot there.  Is "coolest" a term that people in Dubai relate too?  Here in Southern California it works but I am not sure that will resonate the same there.  They may take it literally and it would be strange to them.  Maybe put "smartest" instead of "coolest"?  I just went to the Government of Dubai website and they have something about "Dubai Smart Government" so that would probably trigger more interest. You might want a local in Dubai to help with some marketing tips on how to make the conference more desirable to them and have Arabic on the site too.  Just brainstorming here.

Edit:  I just noticed that you refer to Dubai as the world's most "interesting" city instead of "coolest" in another spot.  I think "interesting" is better than coolest, IMHO.

There are a few typos on the site too.  It says, "wont" when it says, "We wont share your email."  It should be "won't" but I would put "will not."  It is a little more professional I think.

yes it sounds good! Let Dubai people know more about it so they will help support BTC

Make sure you invite the crown prince of Dubai.   ;D
http://hamdan.ae/Biography

I guess he studied economics in college.  Maybe he would be interested in Bitcoin?  Of course, most economists are not too excited about BTC.

Nice! If he will join into Bitcoin world :) he would invest a lot into support I guess :)

Without a doubt - get Andreas Antonopoulos there.

Even if something crazy comes up where you can't swing his flight expense or something (im sure this wont be an issue but still..) we could even crowd fund his way there.  

Its that important to get Andreas on the stage.  His voice is that influential, articulate, and authoritative.   I believe the local culture will respect his presentation.

In fact, see if you can make him the keynote speaker.  The introduction to Bitcoin.  The main event with BTC 101 as the topic.  

OH:   and i dont know what your prices are going to be, but keep in mind Bitcoin is still new.  Especially out there.  I think you could fill a conference hall if you had an open invite to all the locals.  Put some serious "flyer" marketing into it ahead of time.  Get the word out everywhere to business owners, calling it "The new Economy".  Spark their curiosity.  Now is their chance to get in on the ground floor.  etc.  And get everyone into that room with Andreas for the intro to Bitcoin speech.  Rather than charging $250 per head just to get in, and ending up with 200 people.  

Start charging a lot in 2015.

Here is his official conference invitation page:
http://antonopoulos.com/conference-invitation/

-B-

All we need is one Sheikdom to announce that it is adding bitcoin to its sovereign wealth fund.

hahahaha dubai is the worlds most boring place.

Look up tripadvisor, it's number 1 attraction is some fountains, #2 a shopping mall.

Rich it may be, cool it ain't.

Most boring 3 days of my life was the detour I took there

I don't know.  One of my favorite shows is "The Amazing Race" and they have gone to Dubai and it looked pretty "cool."  I guess there is a huge indoor ski-resort open year round as well as some pretty nice water theme parks.  But of course, TV always makes things look more exciting.  Besides, as a female I think I might be a second class citizen there. That is definitely NOT cool!  ;)

Thanks for all the tips.

Bitchick - no, you are not a second class citizen there.....you'd love it

Dubai, the big money is coming!

I just stayed in a hotel in Dubai last night. A very nice hotel right next to the airport (Le Meridian) for about $200 for the night. Similar to prices I would pay in other large cities. Actually that hotel would be perfect for the conference, right across from the airport with about 4 different foreign restaurants on site (one being an Irish pub) with a few pools.

I just saw that a pizzeria in Dubai is taking BTC.  Maybe they would be interested in participating with the conference somehow? 

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=469676.0

Yes, definitely... we plan to buy pizzas from them one night....just have to work out the logistics with the hotel etc.

Do buy some pizza.  ;D

Dubai is money, not culture.

Coolest city I have been is Beijing, China.  Culture and history round every corner, amazing place, you could spend weeks there.

That said, Dubai would be an excellent venue for BTC.

Problems with Bitcoin I see in Dubai:

-Online retail is 5-10 years behind the rest of the world.
-Money laundering is a big deal. It is a major through port for terror dollars, drug transhipment and countries circumventing sanctions on Iran amongst other naughty things in the geopolitical world. This means getting a bank account for anything is murderous and heavily regualted.
-The follow on affects from the above and various negative publicity about bitcoin may mean it is regulated out of existence.
-Middle East nepotism is a significant problem and amongst the money transmitting family businesses and other vested interests I think that you would see significant pushback at the top level.

Opportunities:

-Banking in Dubai is archaic. Skip a generation or 2 of payment solution problems. ie The country doesn't even yet have a functioning direct debit system to help you pay rent.
-A huge proportion of the city remit their salaries every month to their home countries. However these are the same people to whom a featurephone is a whopping great purchase so unless someone sets up the infrastructure in their home countries then hold fire.
-There is a growing entrepreneurial class in the city who may be able to push it forward.

Just a couple of items for thought.

I would be interested in attending though and do have some capital to invest in a few small projects if anyone wants although no time to do the actual legwork.

Great stuff, good points,

I spend almost half each year in the Middle East -- mostly UAE and KSA so have lots cooking in addition to the conference

 ;D   ;)   :D