The first major Bitcoin conference, Bitcoin 2013, was held in San Jose, California. Organized by the Bitcoin Foundation, it was centered on Bitcoin specifically and the more pragmatic issues that Bitcoin was trying to solve, particularly in the areas of Bitcoin technology, Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin business and regulatory issues.Writing for Bitcoin Magazine at the time, Vitalik Buterin commented, “For long-time Bitcoin users, events like this are particularly emotional; here, for the first time, we are able to see fellow Bitcoin users, whom we have loved, worked with and had heated arguments with over forums or Skype/IRC chat for many months or years as something more than just a username. Entire companies, existing only ‘on the cloud’ before this day, are finally reunited.”This summer, billed as “A Peer-to-Peer Conference,” Bitcoin 2019 will be held at Pier 35 in San Francisco, California, hosted by BTC Inc., from June 25–26, 2019. In a blog post announcing the event, BTC Inc CEO David Bailey noted that Bitcoin 2019 was so named to harken back to that earlier conference “when the Bitcoin community was unified and nerds filled the hotel lobby until the early morning while dreaming of what Bitcoin could become.”The Bitcoin community has grown considerably since 2013, and it has experienced its share of growing pains along the way. People who are passionate about the technology have had differing viewpoints...
