There was no holding back on opinion, speculation or creativity at the first annual Satoshi Roundtable, an invitation-only gathering of 50 Bitcoin entrepreneurs at Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, February 6-8, 2015. According to attendees, the private, limited-attendance nature of the event created a venue for open discussion and commentary.
According to Bruce Fenton of the Bitcoin Association and Atlantic Financial, who organized the event with Anthony Di Iorio of Ethereum, many CEOs hold back on their commentary in public for fear of drawing the attention and ire of regulators, the media or competitors. To establish an atmosphere that would allow participants to freely explore current issues, problems and opportunities in Bitcoin, the event organizers elected to keep the event small and private.
The event’s website list of confirmed attendees included notable Bitcoin CEOs, entrepreneurs and early adopters such as Roger Ver, Erik Voorhees, Charlie Lee, Vitalik Buterin and Nic Cary.
Hints are now being released of trending issues and prognostications that surfaced after two days of sessions:
- Mining Hardware Sales Down – A tectonic shift in the economics of mining has led to a downturn in hardware sales, with one manufacturer reporting a 95 percent drop.
- Multisig – Industry experts predict that 2015 will be the year of mass adoptions for multisig wallets among consumers and businesses. If your product does not have multisig capabilities, it is behind the curve of progress for security measures.
- Mining Fees Gaining Prominence – Fees will become more prevalent as a critical component of the economic feasibility of mining, especially as the next halving approaches in early 2016.
- Bitcoin ATMs – Given the high hardware costs and overhead of operation, we will probably see these first coming into play under the umbrellas of the larger Bitcoin brand names who have the ability to amortize the expense.
- Mining End Cost Profile Shrinking – Conference attendees concluded that to be profitable, a mining enterprise now must operate with total end costs of less than nine cents per kilowatt hour. Forecast: less efficient miners fade away while the highly efficient and those with cheap power thrive.
For the most part, the conference was very informal, with many casual conversations and much information shared about the health and growth of individual entrepreneur’s businesses. Bitcoin Magazine will continue to release news and information from the conference as it becomes available.
Images via satoshiroundable.org
