Industry Leaders Discuss State of Crypto Ahead of Miami Bitcoin Conference – NBC 6 South Florida

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The city of Miami’s quest to become a world-class financial and technology hub continues, but industry leaders say it seems the focus is shifting away from cryptocurrency

In April 2022, at the Bitcoin Conference, Mayor Francis Suarez unveiled the Miami Bull, a 3,000 pound crypto-inspired statue.

“We are redefining Miami as the financial capital of the world. The decentralized financial capital of the world,” Suarez said in 2022.

Now before Bitcoin 2023, the collapse of FTX and the suspension of trading of Miami Coin has some wondering if this crypto craze wasn’t a bunch of bulls.

“I’m taking a controversial approach. I’m saying almost 90% of all schemes, whether it’s a coin scheme or an NFT scheme, were pyramid schemes or Ponzi schemes,” he said. said Ryan Kirkley, founder of Cryptan Labs and blockchain expert. “They only worked as long as people thought they were worth later. The problem is, at the end of the day, someone is left behind.”

Kirkley moved to Miami in 2021 and said his company initially invested heavily in cryptocurrency, but then began to move into venture capital and artificial intelligence.

“I know a lot of prominent executives in Miami who aren’t in Miami for the Bitcoin conference, which a year ago you never would have thought of,” Kirkley said. “So I think we’re seeing a pretty big shift in terms of what’s important to tech leaders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and investors in the space. There’s still a contingent that is Bitcoin up to the end, but the majority of us are far more excited about leveraging technology and how to transform into the next era of technology.”

Tech entrepreneur Temante Leary plans to attend the conference this weekend and said he still has faith in Bitcoin. He believes Miami continues to be the crypto capital of the nation.

“I still have faith in Bitcoin. I think it’s going to go up,” Leary said. “I still see a lot of new entrants into the Miami market and a lot of those entrants are in the fintech, crypto space.”

NBC6 reached out to Mayor Suarez’s office for comment, but he was unavailable for an interview. In a recent interview, he said Miami’s hallmark is technology and innovation.

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