I Expect A Wild Cast of Characters at a Crypto Conference. Nope. – ryan

I wanted to go to the solaterate conference as soon as i saw the trailer for the crypto confab.

The video ad showed “America” ​​at a Therapist’s Office, Where the Country Described Its Urge to Innovate and Was Met With Resistance from A “Woke” Therapist, WHO ENCOUREDED America to “Channel this Energy Something More Productive, Like Coming Up with New Gender.”

The ad is so over the top in its Culture War Stance that the solana organization Pulled the video a few hours late.

I was Curious: Waled the tone of the Conference, which was Late Last Week, Match the Ad?

Swimming really. I was surpassed by what i found.

I must report that crypto has entered its boring Stage. IT’S No Longer The Wacky, Eccentric, Overhymed Goofball World of Nfts and Hype of a Few Years ago. Atthemes Wore Normal Clothing (ok, there was one guy in a sequin blazer). The Crowd was away from Male, in their 30s, and had the look of People who had full-time office in tech.

A Colleague Who was consider attending the conference with lamenta that it seamed a far cry from the nft conventions of a few years ago – no good party or Big Musical Performance. There weren’t gimmicky cartons or celebrity endorsents. These were serious People who were here to work.

With a caveat: the Silly nft and the Constitution Days were weren’t that that long ago, and the evening industry has matured in Certain Ways, it’s not that Far off. At Least One Person Chatted with Who Had Appeared As A Speaker Oncestge to Talk About Stablecoins Told with he used to work at opensea, the nft trading platform, and still proudly owings a few nfts.

The Big Topic Most of the Speakers Hit on: Stablecoins. Stablecoins are offten meant to be tied 1: 1 to a fiat currency, like the US dollar. In theory, these are, well, stable (sort of) and intended for use as Digital Currency Rather than a pure-go-up speculation play.

This is very much the hot thing of the moment. Last Week, The Genius ACT, WHICH WAUDED CREATE REGULATIONS FOR STONLOCOENS, PASSED THE HOUSE AND IS HEADING TO THE SENATE.

Politics Did Cast a Long Shadow on the Event. Two New York Democrats Gave Fireside Chats: Rep. Ritchie Torres and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Talked About Regulation, and Both mentioned their district for President Donald Trump’s Memecoin.

“Trump Being Involved in Crypto is the Worst News for this industry,” Gillibrand Said, to Scattered Applause.

There was also political representation from the other side of the aisle. There was Big Applause for Bo Hines, WHO funded his failed 2022 Campaign for the 13th congressional District in North Carolina with His Own Trust End, Is Now Working David Sachs as a Sort of Deputy Crypto Czar to Trump.

Anthony Scaramucci, A Character Whose Political Affiliation is Somewhat Quixotic, Enthussed About the Speed ​​of Crypto Transacions Compared to His Early Days on Wall Street.

But it shouldn’t be a surprise that the politics here were weren’t Black-and-White. Crypto has a way of drawing mercurial ideas out of people that don’t fall straight down party lines. WHICH IS WHY THE AD FOR THE EVENT, WHICH ESPOsed the Meat-And-Potatoes Anti-Woke Viewpoint, SEEMED SO OUT OF PLACE.

SO, is crypto… boring and mainstream Now? It almost seamed that Way with the over-the-top glitz and pump of the diamond hands emoji lamborghini-loving Crowd. (The Same Morning, A Little Over A Mile Away from the Event, Two People We Arrested on suspension of kidnapping and torturing a man to get his bitcoin password.)

The Night before I Attended, Trump Held A Dinner for Holders of HIS MEMECOIN, WHERE THE CROW WAS REPORTEDLY SOMEWHAT DISAPPOINED BY HIS BRIEF SPEECH AND THE mediocre food.

This has Has Long Been A Dichotomy in the Crypto World: The Grounded Engineers and Business People Working on Projects with utility vs. The Get-Rich-Quick Schemers, Crooks, and Scammers. The attitude of chatted with the former type – and they found real use and value in this conference.

But as a mere flly on the wall, Kind of WANTED A LITTLE MORE OF THE LATTER GROUP, JUST FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT.