The Bitcoin Trader Goes to San Jose!

Wow, what a weekend. To be honest, I wasn't sure exactly what (or when) I was going to write about the conference, because it really was a personal experience more than anything else.

That being said, IT WAS A HELLUVA WEEKEND!!

I didn't take any notes, at all. Except for the couple-dozen tweets I sent out over the course of three days (hope you were following!), and the dozen-or-so business cards I collected, I'm relying strictly on memory here.


People I met in real life for the first time:

- Arthur Britto, a long-time Skype friend and confidant and developer for OpenCoin: what an upstanding individual, just as I expected. Ripple's lucky to have him.

- My co-blogger, Hazek. We sat at the same table for 10 minutes, talking amongst the group, before we even realized who the other person was. He's my co-blogger FFS! I blame the name tags that had the uncanny ability to flip over to the blank side (note for next year's organizers, print double-sided name tags!)

- Jon Holmquist formerly of Coinabul and now of BitcoinStore: fortunately he didn't turn up for the poker game on Sunday, because apparently he would've wiped the floor with us. We tried to get him to say something bad about Roger Ver, but he refused! =)

- Brian Santos: just like he is online, super-passionate, energetic, and charismatic. Once I saw UpTweet on an iPad Mini, I was convinced that he was on to something. Thanks for getting the BBA together for lunch, and damn the staff for not giving us tables!

- Blaine-the-guy-that-let-me-sell-him-BTC-for-cash: I showed up to the conference with $7 USD, a bunch of BTC, and a credit card. While we were waiting for Dan the Comedian to begin his performance (I thought he was hilarious, by the way), Blaine sold me $20 for BTC, which gave me enough money for tips and other incidental expenses. We met up again at the Bitcoin Fund after-party on Saturday and had a great chat about all things Bitcoin.

Dan Nainan warms up the crowd on Friday evening.

- David Schwartz, chief cryptographer for OpenCoin. Probably the smartest guy I've ever met, and more importantly, he's able to articulate his brilliant ideas in such a way that we can all understand them. I spent an hour or two hanging out in front of the Ripple booth and he could easily handle any question thrown at him. I can't say I'm surprised, after reading his posts on the forums or in Reddit (JoelKatz is his handle).

- Alex Kravets and Vinnie Falco, a couple of huge Ripple enthusiasts (we had a lot to talk about).

- The Tropos guys, Jon, Mark, Andrew, Eric, as well as Carl, all on the bleeding edge of finance, and I think they know it.

- Jesse from Kraken (and Ogrr): We didn't get to chat much (thanks for the nachos!), but you could definitely feel the vibe that him and his team was putting off that entire weekend; they know they're on to something big.

- A couple of the people behind Satoshi Square in NYC (sorry I forgot your names!), who recently found themselves in the media spotlight after holding an open-air Bitcoin exchange in New York

- Jerry, a guy who works in the construction business, and just wanted to know what this Bitcoin thing was all about.

- Frederic from Hong Kong: thank you for listening to my drunken Ripple promoting.

- Ludvig, known for the various funds and passthroughs that he manages. I bought my first Casascius coin from him. We go way back, so I was glad to meet him in real life for the first time. I don't think he was old enough to drink the Satoshinis.

Thanks to Satoshi Dice, we all had a good buzz on.

- James of VPS: super-nice guy who unfortunately got caught in between his investors and a disgraceful company called Butterfly Labs. I truly believe he has his investors' best-interests in mind.

- Gavin Andresen: introduced myself to him in the elevator for five seconds (damn those were some fast elevators at the Marriott!). Thanked him for his contributions and dedication.

- Athony Di Iorio and the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada: I went to the first Canadian Bitcoin meet-up after the conference ended on Saturday and I met up with some fellow Canadians who were in San Jose. Unfortunately I let myself get dragged away to talk business with another group, but there was an excellent turn-out and I had some fruitful conversations with my fellow countrymen!

- Ed of BitBrew: First there was Alpaca Socks, then there was BitBrew. It was awesome to meet one of the "old school" Bitcoiners at the after-party. He said, "everyone knows the Bitcoin Trader!" Unfortunately, not really, but thanks for making me feel like a celebrity for half a second.

- All the crazy guys who were at the poker game on Sunday, including Mike, who's like the George Clooney of Marriott rewards programs.

- Adam Harding of BIPS: Another awesome Canadian and great guy. You probably saw him working his booth for most of the weekend.

- Vitalik Buterin: the almost super-human writer for the Bitcoin Magazine, copies of which I saw in people's hands all weekend.

- Henry Brade: the Finnish Bitcoin juggernaut that often commented on my blog posts over the last couple of years. Like everyone I met at the conference, an enthusiastic, intelligent, and driven individual that will make (even more) of a name for himself in the Bitcoin sphere.

And the list goes on and on; my apologies to anyone I didn't mention. To those of you who gave presentations or sat on panels that I didn't get to meet up with, it was just as awesome to see you guys in the flesh, promoting the future of payments.

Like I said at the beginning of the post, for me the conference was an intensely personal experience. It wasn't about the booths or the presentations, but the people, and finally making the leap from virtual to tangible.

Posted in: BIPS,BitBrew,Bitcoin Magazine,Casascius,Conference,OpenCoin,ripple,Tropos,UpTweet