History revisited: the first Bitcoin conference 2011

[Dave1]

Around the same month 11 years ago, the first bitcoin conference was held in New York and the attendees is less than 100. The speaker is as follows: Bruce Wagner, Gavin Andresen, Jeff Garzik and Stefan Thomas. Just take note though that the conference is sponsored by no less than Mt. Gox and Bitpay and also MezeGrill.com and CableSaurus.com













Maybe majority of them got REKT when Mt. Gox was hacked  , Lol. But it's good to see the first conference and how BTC grows since its infancy.

[1714708267]

1714708267

[ChiBitCTy]

Man Mt Gox was was just right before I started getting in to bitcoin (not that my first exchange, Coinbase, is much better) and can't imagine having to go through that.  You mention bitpay in a seemingly negative light, or am I misreading that?  I have to say looking at them from an outside view, they have done some amazing things for bitcoin, and have been doing so for some time.  They've been pioneers for a lot of bitcoin stuff, like how they sponsored the 2014 bitcoin bowl game in St Pete FL.  They even got a multitude of local businesses to learn how to accept bitcoin which in 2014 no one knew what bitcoin was.  I was actually living in St Pete then and so upset I didnt go to that game and get cool collectible items from it..but I do remember seeing a "we accept bitcoin" sticker on the door of the very popular bar right by the stadium where the game was played. 

Anyways, cool throwback pics! As much hate as Gavin gets, have to admit he's a seemingly really good dude, did a lot for bitcoin and had some really great ideas (of course my favorite being he's the first to introduce the idea of physical bitcoins/paper wallets). It's just too bad he went down the path he did.   

[Zlantann]

 

First Bitcoin Conference                                                                                                         Recent Bitcoin Conference. pics


Every revolution starts with a group of perceived irrelevant and common men that believe that a certain impossible task or dream is possible. Most times these set of world changers are mocked and called different derogatory names but they are still focus on achieving their priceless goal. I am sure that even some persons that attended the first conference saw it as a joke. Maybe only few of them believed in the future Bitcoin wants to create. As the saying goes that success has many friends, Bitcoin is now a global force. The name Bitcoin is now a threat to nations and international organisation that are bent on controlling the financial lives of people. Instead of joining the moving train now, some persons are still skeptics. I am sure just as the way some of the first Bitcoin conference attendees are regretting their nonchalant challant attitude towards Bitcoin at first, most people presently would still regret their actions in future.        

[mk4]

Though definitely not as old as 2011, huge throwback to Andreas Antonopoulos for having a Bitcoin "conference" in an (almost) empty room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8YgqbQyYB8

Title says "Andreas Antonopoulos educating an empty room on the bitcoin value proposition when it was $100" so I'm assuming this is sometime around 2013.

[Baofeng]

Maybe majority of them got REKT when Mt. Gox was hacked  , Lol. But it's good to see the first conference and how BTC grows since its infancy.

Or maybe not? Maybe there is someone from those attendees who kept his bitcoin not on the exchange. Or probably forget about his wallet and eventually get rich in the next coming years.

Yeah, pretty much good to see those times, specially the sponsors, MezeGrill by the way is a restaurant that accept bitcoin as payment back then.



https://observer.com/2011/07/restaurant-that-accepts-bitcoin-will-now-also-sell-you-bitcoin/

[kamvreto]

conference history that will be a keepsake and some of them certainly earned quite a lot of Rekt. In 2011 I didn't know anything about bitcoin or MT.Gox but this is history for bitcoin, and also the history of the biggest bitcoin hack. even bruce wagner once lost 25,000 bitcoins in the MyBitcoin scandal. Bitcoin conference will also be held in Amsterdam 12-14 October 2022 and next year will also be held in Miami.

[TravelMug]

Good to hear that at least every year the conference is still being held.

What can you say, if you only knew that bitcoin will be this big, maybe those could have attended by a thousands and maybe by this time they are all self-made millionaires. But it's not that late, we can still be the 'early adopter', for the next 11 years when the price shoots up to 6 digits and higher.

[mk4]

Or maybe not? Maybe there is someone from those attendees who kept his bitcoin not on the exchange. Or probably forget about his wallet and eventually get rich in the next coming years.

I'm going to bet that most of them didn't(with at least majority of their holdings, probably a minority on exchanges). Let's not forget that these people are cypherpunks — pretty much one of the most hardcore technically-literate people in the crypto space.

[Kakmakr]

I wonder how many of them was agents from some of the 3Letter agencies?    Bitcoin ..back then, was still a kind of "Cloak and Dagger" kind of thing ..in many people's eyes. 

I remember telling someone once, that it was illegal to own bitcoins, because nobody other than the governments of the world, were allowed to print or mint currencies.   

Kudos to those pioneers for sticking their heads out, when it was technically illegal to own bitcoins. 

[Piesel]

At that time it take a lot of courage to pioneer the Bitcoin conference as public opinion about Bitcoin back then was an irritable and bullying approach since Bitcoin then was viewed as criminal money, so sticking your neck out to spend some Bitcoin was like carrying a gun into a supper market. Oh yeah, that was how messy the situation was back then. But I give it to them because history now has it that they pioneered the first Bitcoin conference.

I was kind of hopping that countries like El Salvador will host the next highly populated Bitcoin conference in 2022 since many businesses in and around the countries will take advantage of that to learn more about Bitcoin payments and projects, let's just wait to see how history evolve in the future.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

At that time it take a lot of courage to pioneer the Bitcoin conference as public opinion about Bitcoin back then was an irritable and bullying approach since Bitcoin then was viewed as criminal money, so sticking your neck out to spend some Bitcoin was like carrying a gun into a supper market. Oh yeah, that was how messy the situation was back then. But I give it to them because history now has it that they pioneered the first Bitcoin conference.

I think it is just the beginning with the bitcoin + criminal money narrative. But yeah, early on this is what those attacking bitcoin is, the whole connection supposedly of bitcoin, that it is very used by the criminals. Nevertheless, those early adopters like the speaker in this conference (and some of them are still very well known up to this day), obviously think otherwise.

I was kind of hopping that countries like El Salvador will host the next highly populated Bitcoin conference in 2022 since many businesses in and around the countries will take advantage of that to learn more about Bitcoin payments and projects, let's just wait to see how history evolve in the future.

Why not? maybe it was in the pipeline, or they can have their own conference. EU has one as early as 2011 or 2013 if I'm not wrong. So maybe in Central or Latin America, El Salvador can host it.

[AmoreJaz]

At that time it take a lot of courage to pioneer the Bitcoin conference as public opinion about Bitcoin back then was an irritable and bullying approach since Bitcoin then was viewed as criminal money, so sticking your neck out to spend some Bitcoin was like carrying a gun into a supper market. Oh yeah, that was how messy the situation was back then. But I give it to them because history now has it that they pioneered the first Bitcoin conference.

I think it is just the beginning with the bitcoin + criminal money narrative. But yeah, early on this is what those attacking bitcoin is, the whole connection supposedly of bitcoin, that it is very used by the criminals. Nevertheless, those early adopters like the speaker in this conference (and some of them are still very well known up to this day), obviously think otherwise.

I was kind of hopping that countries like El Salvador will host the next highly populated Bitcoin conference in 2022 since many businesses in and around the countries will take advantage of that to learn more about Bitcoin payments and projects, let's just wait to see how history evolve in the future.

Why not? maybe it was in the pipeline, or they can have their own conference. EU has one as early as 2011 or 2013 if I'm not wrong. So maybe in Central or Latin America, El Salvador can host it.

we can't avoid the attachment of bitcoin with criminal or illegal activities. but people are educating themselves now. so once they educate themselves, they will probably change their perspectives towards bitcoin and its existence. most people who are still having negative thoughts at btc are those that are believing whatever the media is feeding them, and not doing their own research for this topic. but for those who got their interest, they will find their way how to learn more about this tech.
when it comes to el salvador, i am wondering what will happen after Bukele's term  as President? will the next President of this country continue his programs related to crypto?

[Moeda]

When Bitcoin was first released at a price of approximately $1 dollars, was Bitcoin already traded on the exchange as it is today? I looked for sources on the internet, but did not find how the concept of trading Bitcoin was at that time. Even some sources say that they only use white paper written by Satoshi. Most international payment instruments do not include Bitcoin on their platforms. Is the exchange platform done at the same time by the same team? The first transaction was when Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney. While the first Bitcoin was used as a means of buying and selling transactions on Laszlo Hanyecz.

[piebeyb]

it's evidence and history that bitcoin once had a small community and now has many large communities in almost all countries, bitcoin is widely known today because the community sincerely introduces bitcoin to almost everyone until now bitcoin is big and many are owned by big investors also a big company as a bitcoin holder, I will save this photo 

[Agbe]

Every revolution starts with a group of perceived irrelevant and common men that believe that a certain impossible task or dream is possible. Most times these set of world changers are mocked and called different derogatory names but they are still focus on achieving their priceless goal. I am sure that even some persons that attended the first conference saw it as a joke. Maybe only few of them believed in the future Bitcoin wants to create. As the saying goes that success has many friends, Bitcoin is now a global force. The name Bitcoin is now a threat to nations and international organisation that are bent on controlling the financial lives of people. Instead of joining the moving train now, some persons are still skeptics. I am sure just as the way some of the first Bitcoin conference attendees are regretting their nonchalant challant attitude towards Bitcoin at first, most people presently would still regret their actions in future.        

Bitcoin conference is one of the best meeting point to discuss about it and to know the various experience on it.
The bitcoiners held their first to see their strength on the digital currency (bitcoin). Been the 1st conference in that magnitude, it was like a fish camp that set up by just a few interested persons. And the attendance was very poor which was estimated about 50 bitcoiners (people). Since the number was few, the individuals who came for the meeting knewn one another because of the number that attended the conference.
There were a lot of things that were discussed in the conference. The conference was held in Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. They first discussed on the concept of bitcoin and a lot of questions were also asked and the reason why bitcoin was created was also discussed.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/spectrum.ieee.org/amp/the-worlds-first-bitcoin-conference-2650255667

[yazher]

Those guys are legends and hope every one of them became successful with their investment back then. those are the people who believed when there was really nothing to show them and yet they still trust the process and I'm sure most of them are living their life to the fullest right now when they sold some of their BTC at its ATH. Now when there is a conference about bitcoins you need to have a bigger place than that for it won't be enough for the huge numbers of attendees. That's how far bitcoin has gone since that conference over a decade ago.

[AmoreJaz]

Those guys are legends and hope every one of them became successful with their investment back then. those are the people who believed when there was really nothing to show them and yet they still trust the process and I'm sure most of them are living their life to the fullest right now when they sold some of their BTC at its ATH. Now when there is a conference about bitcoins you need to have a bigger place than that for it won't be enough for the huge numbers of attendees. That's how far bitcoin has gone since that conference over a decade ago.

BTC has gone a long way now. that is true, the attendees will be much more than 100 people when it comes to today's event. also, more top companies would be willing to host the conference.
and some of those attendees may have their regrets of not storing more BTCs in their wallet. but no one knows the future. so lucky for those who got a hold and didn't forget their keys.

[GreatArkansas]

Or maybe not? Maybe there is someone from those attendees who kept his bitcoin not on the exchange. Or probably forget about his wallet and eventually get rich in the next coming years.

I'm going to bet that most of them didn't(with at least majority of their holdings, probably a minority on exchanges). Let's not forget that these people are cypherpunks — pretty much one of the most hardcore technically-literate people in the crypto space.

Exactly. These guys are OGs and too many technical persons to be able to identify the risks of exchanges before. For sure they just did it just to help the Bitcoin community back then because the community before is still really small and this method will help to grow the Bitcoin community before.
It's just sad because it was sponsored by an exchange who was REKT which this conference will exist in history. This will be lesson for all.

[tranthidung]

This is an important conference which happened four months after the day Satoshi Nakamoto left this forum.

Gavin will visit the CIA and Gavin received $3000 for his speech.

Do you think it is an important conference for Bitcoin community and do you think Gavin made an excellent speech to wipe out fear of CIA and their uncertainty about Bitcoin as well as its technology?

[tread93]

Its wild to see how far its come!!! The BTC conference only gets better year after year in my experience. Although I have only been to two of them 21 and 22. Both were amazing! I can't wait for 23.