BitBoy Crypto Founder Ben Armstrong shares key takeaways from the Bitcoin 2022 Conference in Miami and what lies ahead for the crypto world.
Video Transcript
– Well, speaking of buzz, lots of buzz coming out of Bitcoin ’22 in Miami. To break it all down with us and to look ahead at what’s next, I’m joined by Ben Armstrong, BitBoy Crypto founder. Good to have you back, Ben. So Ben, in terms of the attendance this year at this big event and what you got out of the experience, how would you describe it?
BEN ARMSTRONG: Well, the attendance was very high. Supposedly, the Miami Beach Convention Center could hold up to 15,000 people. It certainly didn’t seem like it was at capacity at all times, but maybe if you factor in how many people were going through the weekend, there might have been upwards of 15,000 people there. The estimate said as many as 30,000 people were going to be coming down to the conference.
It just kind of, like, doing several of these big conferences– I’ll let you know, a lot of people go down for the city, for the afterparties, and they don’t even necessarily go to the actual event itself. But I think it was very upgraded over last year. I go back to two conferences ago, to 2019, Bitcoin 2019. Of course, we had the COVID year of 2020 where there wasn’t one. And I can tell you, this conference came miles and miles and miles away.
It is the largest crypto conference we have today. And there’s definitely a lot of excitement. There were some big announcements. Some a little lackluster. But definitely an event worth attending if you’re into Bitcoin or crypto.
– And what were the biggest announcements that stood out for you?
BEN ARMSTRONG: Yeah, so the biggest announcement– there were really two. One that came out that there are– of course, last year, El Salvador was announced it was going to be accepting Bitcoin is legal tender. This year, we have the potential of possibly Honduras, we have the potential of a city off of Portugal, possibly, and then Mexico actually considering. We didn’t get that really big boom announcement, like there is a giant country accepting Bitcoin as legal tender at this point, but those were maybe some preemptive announcements of some things to come.
But the big, big, big thing was that, now, NCR, which is the world’s biggest point-of-sale system, they were– I think Bed Bath & Beyond, Walgreens, McDonald’s, Ted’s Montana Grill, tons of other companies, that they’re actually going to be integrating with the Lightning Network so that using your Cash App and a Lightning wallet, which is like a layer to Bitcoin, you’ll be able to spend Bitcoin at several different locations you couldn’t before. And it’s a different network.
It’s not the standard card network, which the retailers lose 3% on all of those sales. It’s a much, much lower fee– less than 1%– that they would be losing. So I think, to me, like, it was a little lackluster because I think you have to get the retail side, the stores themselves, to really push this narrative that, hey, we can give you a discount if you use this network, or something like that. I think we’re still dealing with a motivation problem, because it’s a couple extra steps to actually spend your Bitcoin– or you can actually spend US via the Cash App using the Bitcoin Lightning Network as well.
But it’s a few extra steps to get people to do it. And I feel like people are going to still offer card because it’s easier.
– And it’s interesting because, obviously, when Bitcoin first came about, it was considered the currency. But then it’s obviously shifted now, and you see more people using it as a long-term investment. So then how now does this point-of-sale use– how does that perhaps either hurt or help Bitcoin and crypto’s growth overall?
BEN ARMSTRONG: This is a great question, and I don’t think there’s a great answer to it. You know. So you had Michael Saylor, who came on stage with Cathie Wood. And as he left the stage, he said don’t ever, ever, ever sell your Bitcoin. And of course, the crowd goes wild, clapping and all this stuff. And then you have Jack Mallers, who comes up and makes this point-of-sale announcement.
This is basically like, hey, here’s a new way for you to spend your Bitcoin, which is the equivalent of selling it, and the crowd goes wild. And there’s a lot of hero worship in the world of crypto, and I think people ought to think critically. Once again, the only way that this actually helps is from the retail side to motivate customers or users to use another network so they save money.
You’re right, Bitcoin, to me, has become digital gold. It’s not something that you want to sell. It’s an asset you want to accumulate more of. That’s why I also think when you come to countries accepting crypto and– or Bitcoin as legal tender specifically, like, why would we want a third-world country to accept Bitcoin as legal tender, meaning that the people that live in that country that are already living lives in poverty that they’re actually spending and appreciating asset. It doesn’t really make sense.
I do think it’s time for the Bitcoin maximalists to move away from this argument of “let’s have it as a currency and everybody is spending it,” and let’s accept it for what it is at this point, which is an appreciating asset that you want to gain more over time.
– And I want to talk turning points. I mean, we saw with Bitcoin, some people say, look, I mean, obviously, Bitcoin down today. It’s currently under $40,000. Some people are saying it’s going to hit $30,000. Cathie Wood, as you mentioned there, she’s predicting Bitcoin could hit $1 million by 2030. And then, of course, you have the Ethereum merge that everyone has been waiting for.
If you could just quickly give us your expectations, in terms of the biggest turning points for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
BEN ARMSTRONG: Well, for me, the biggest turning point right now is going to be this ETH merge over the summer. So traditionally, what we see is a Bitcoin four-year cycle based on what we call the Bitcoin halving, where the block rewards are cut in half. Basically, the production of Bitcoin is cut in half every four years. This leads to a price surge for about a year and a half, and then a tremendous price drop. Right now, we’re right in the thick of where we should be in the middle of a bear market.
But Bitcoin has held. We haven’t seen new lows since last summer. So to me, I think the only chance that we break out of this four-year cycle and that we do see Bitcoin hit all-time highs again– maybe by the end of this year, beginning of next year– is for Ethereum to finally take its seat at the top of the market and to lead the market. I ultimately believe Ethereum will pass Bitcoin in market cap. I don’t even think it’s a question.
It’s just a matter of when. So with this ETH merge, with inflation of ETH going from, like, 4.3%, dropping 90%, down to 0.4% per year, I think this is a tremendous moment in crypto history, and this is going to be the moment that is going to determine can ETH take its seat and lead the market or will we still be slaves and dependent on Bitcoin to move the market. And if that’s the case, then buckle in, the next year might be kind of rough as we lead up into the 2024 halving, which should occur sometime March or April in 2024.