The North American Bitcoin Conference brought the full range of the international bitcoin community to Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center this weekend for two days of discussion on all things digital currency.
Though it was perhaps the major announcements by Blockchain, the Chamber of Digital Commerce and OKCoin, as well as discussion of New York’s new bitcoin regulation, that reverberated most widely online, the conference itself was focused on engendering community spirit.
The array of panels and booths showcased the wide variety of businesses not only serving the space, but sharing ideas in an open and friendly setting. Further, the addition of companies such as Germany’s BitXatm and China’s Huobi and OKCoin ensured that new voices were able to add to the ongoing dialogue in the US.
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Whether it was PayPal and Blockchain coming to the stage for a discussion on bitcoin’s future or bitcoin wallet provider Pheeva and block chain API maker Chain holding an impromptu photo session, the event succeeded at showcasing the strong sense of unity and community spirit that still pervades the budding industry, perhaps owing to bitcoin’s open-source roots.
As organiser Moe Levin quipped at the show, “It’s hard to get people that are so interested in the future of technology in the same room to speak.”
However, as Levin proved with his event, once together, there’s no limit to the kinds of conversations that can be generated. He added:
“We did an hour-and-a-half on bitcoin 2.0 and it was amazing. That was just throwing things together, matching people who were already here at the conference. This environment is so busy and fast-paced, so we need to be able to move things around.”
Organisers are now working on a follow-up conference to be held this January, with a website for the event reportedly coming online soon.
Read our full recap of both day one and day two of the event for more coverage.
Images via The North American Bitcoin Conference
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Original author: Pete Rizzo