It is almost time to visit Boston in its (crypto) winter glory! We are excited to announce the 6th Annual MIT Bitcoin Expo.
Background
The MIT Bitcoin Club is a student and blockchain-enthusiasts run club at MIT, whose mission is to increase awareness and use of cryptocurrency and to provide forums where blockchain-related ideas, projects, programs, and businesses can be studied, discussed, and developed. The club has also organized the MIT Bitcoin Expo every year since 2014 — a two day conference focused on all things blockchain (more on the expo below).
The club meets on a weekly basis to discuss the technology — both its merits and its challenges — and work on various projects. One such project was the MIT Bitcoin Project led by Dan Elitzer and Jeremy Rubin under the guidance of Professors Christian Catalini and Catherine Tucker in 2014. They raised $500K to distribute $100 worth of Bitcoin to all undergraduate students at MIT and study adoption of the then relatively unheard of tech. Spoiler alert! We continue to be incredibly inspired by this project and might attempt something along the same lines at the MIT Bitcoin Expo 2019 ;).
But is it just about Bitcoin?
No. But we feel connected to the roots of this revolution. If Satoshi Nakamoto hadn’t published the Bitcoin whitepaper 10 years ago, we doubt we would be having any of these discussions around blockchain and cryptocurrency, and for that, we continue to pay tribute to the genesis. The MIT Bitcoin Club and Expo welcome all enthusiasts to think critically and openly about where we have come from and where we are headed.
In previous years, we have invited speakers from a wide variety of projects and backgrounds. Last year included academics, developers, regulators, VCs, and thought leaders working on Bitcoin, Ethereum, PoS, PoW, 0x, Algorand, and the list goes on. Take a look at our 2018 flashback for details.
Sixth Annual Expo
We are excited to announce the 6th Annual Expo to be held on March 9th and 10th, 2019 at MIT.
Our theme last year was !=$ (read: “not equals fiat”) — you can check out the highlights here. Last year’s expo came at the end of an incredible bull market. Everything wanted to find its way onto “the blockchain”, leading to an ICO frenzy. The hype was palpable.
For 2019, we want to dissect the hype and discern how to make it a reality. Bitcoin — the world’s first decentralized digital asset — brought about the start of this ideology 10 years ago today. We want to know what the next 10 years look like. What have we learned from the past 10 years of experimentation? Where has Ethereum succeeded where Bitcoin hasn’t? What can new communities learn from both of their shortcomings? Will lightning network and other multi-layer infrastructure finally push us to a new global currency? If we can be sure of anything, we will be in a very different place 10 years from now, but the intersection of the digital and physical worlds is just getting started.
At the 2019 Bitcoin Expo, we will consider the challenges that face us today and how we can augment the development of this still-maturing ecosystem. We invite you to join us two months from now to have a conversation with stakeholders and developers with boots on the ground. We will talk about scalability, user adoption, UX challenges, regulatory concerns, token economics, vulnerabilities, and some of the most promising solutions currently under development.
This expo will be a learning experience for anyone, whether they are enthusiasts or someone who has only just heard the word Bitcoin. We are excited to put together a stimulating environment for meaningful connections and motivate everyone to build for the next 10 (1010 binary) years!
The MIT Bitcoin Expo Committee looks forward to seeing you at the Expo.
We will be announcing speakers and agenda as the Expo draws near. To stay updated, apply to be a speaker, offer sponsorship, request press credentials, or volunteer subscribe here.
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For any other questions or suggestions, please email us at mitbtc-expo@mit.edu
Sincerely,
MIT Bitcoin Expo Committee