Bitcoin and Miami

In May 2023, the Bitcoin Conference will be held for the third consecutive year at the Miami Beach Convention Center, marking Miami as at least the capital of bitcoin in the United States. Mayor Francis Suarez was an active participant in this year’s edition, and he even collects his salary in bitcoin, proving his commitment to making Miami the bitcoin capital of the United States.

With Miami’s longstanding reputation as a hotbed of crime and scammers, it seems almost fitting that something with such a dubious reputation would find its home here in Miami.

As shady as it may seem, bitcoin is encouraging many of Manhattan’s most prestigious financial firms to locate here in Miami, with some firms such as Citadel (which some of you may know from playing a large role in the Gamestop fiasco) their corporate headquarters to Miami.

The arena that houses our beloved Miami Heat is sponsored and named after FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the US and the world, and many other prominent companies, whose business models are based on crypto, have established themselves in Miami as we like.

So with all this going on, is it important for you to know about this at all? Participate in some way? If you are already investing in crypto, you will know that right now we are in the middle of another crypto winter. With bitcoin crashing from a high of $69,000 less than a year ago in November, to today’s levels around $21,000, taking the entire crypto market with it.

As it usually happens, most of the media attention happens around the time bitcoin hits a new high, interest usually peaks around the top of the price, and it’s always the casual investors who are left with the bag, as they tend to buy in at the highs. It’s the same investors, who buy without any real knowledge, just a sense of FOMO, who capitulate when the price starts to plummet, as it tends to do, resulting in an even more frantic crash. However, most real players tend to buy at more opportune times and sell at these highs to unknowing retail investors, giving bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies their sinister reputation.

As such a new sector of the market, crypto is unfortunately full of bad actors. Investing in bitcoin or crypto is quite dangerous if you don’t have at least a little working knowledge of what it is and what its function is. Once you know the basics, it is possible to safely invest in bitcoin. So for lay people out there, I would recommend avoiding investing in crypto or bitcoin if you are not willing to spend some time to understand how to invest in it safely, otherwise you will almost certainly lose your money , which many others already have.

In general, bitcoin and crypto will be an incredible boon for Miami. It will bring capital, investment and jobs, which will ultimately benefit society as a whole. Miami being the bitcoin capital of the US also contributes to Miami’s growth, as in recent years Miami seems to have finally emerged as a global city. If bitcoin continues its growth trajectory, Miami could potentially eclipse New York and London as the world’s financial center.

With all that said, if you are in South Florida, it seems to be in your best interest to learn as much as you can about crypto to see if you can participate in this next economic boom that is sure to sweep Miami as the market develops. If you are ready for it, I recommend reading the book: Bitcoin Standardd by Saifedean Ammous. Doing so will at least give you the background of what bitcoin is and why it has any value at all, and then you’ll be more equipped to talk about it and possibly even participate and benefit from it.