Labubus and Unicorns: Florida Crypto Confab Unshaken by Bitcoin Volatility

Most attendees at a crypto conference in South Florida on Wednesday were eager to talk about the industry—between Labubu-fueled marketing tactics and the local party scene—but Bitcoin’s recent fall to $100,000 wasn’t top of mind for many.

At the Seminole Hardrock in Davie, several conferencegoers told Decrypt that they weren’t checking charts as Bitcoin’s price hovered near a five-month low. They soaked up the sun and commiserated with colleagues amid the palm trees while they could.

The two-day event, dubbed Blockchain Futurist Conference, was set to feature high-profile names including Eric Trump, the U.S. president’s son, but it also drew industry veterans that are less known, including Betty Sharples, head of growth and partnerships at Truflation.

Betty Sharples, head of growth and partnerships at Truflation. Image: Decrypt/André Beganski

Sharples said she was there to promote Truflation’s ability to provide real-time inflation data, but she also valued the opportunity to gauge the temperature of industry trends like prediction markets. She acknowledged that volatility has created “depressed” conferences in the past.

“If you go back in two years, the price of Bitcoin definitely affected the temperature of every conference,” she said. “If you’ve been in this space for a little bit, you’ve gone through these emotions already, and realistically, [Bitcoin is] still much higher than it was this time last year.”

Indeed, Bitcoin’s price stood at $69,000 one year ago, as Americans went to the ballot box, ultimately electing one of the industry’s most vocal backers to the White House. Still, some felt like it would be in poor taste to focus on crypto prices at a conference, no matter the time.

“That’s what poor people do,” a networking specialist and entertainer, who goes by Loudmouth, said. “Never sell anything that’s worth anything, right?”

An individual who guys by Loudmouth. Image: Decrypt/André Beganski

Loudmouth, who said he arrived on a flight from Dubai on Tuesday, said he is more interested in side events, and potential afterparties, than the conference itself. He hadn’t heard of any yet.

“The conference gives everybody an excuse to get on a plane and fly to that place, but if you’re here, most of the time, you’re already in crypto, so you don’t want to just sit and listen,” he said.

Still, some attendees said that they were there to network and promote their business. That included locals like Frank Grimes, the founder of a little-known project called Interlink, which focuses on bringing communities and projects together.

Frank Grimes is the founder of Interlink. Image: Decrypt/André Beganski

“You got to get those chills out,” he said, while drinking a beer around 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. “It eases things to get into a conversation.”

As with any crypto conference, some entrepreneurs donned colorful outfits to show their affiliation with certain digital assets. Russell Castagnaro and Kelly Page, who were there to promote an infrastructure project called Unicorn.eth, said pink aligns with Ethereum.

Russell Castagnaro and Kelly Page wore pink to promote Unicorn.eth. Image: Decrypt/André Beganski

“We just got here, and the vibe is pretty cool,” Castagnaro said. “I’ve come to the [Blockchain Futurist’s] conference in Toronto before, but it was a lot chillier.”

Historically, the Denver-based duo has attended the annual Ethereum confab in Colorado. This week, Castagnaro said he’s especially keen on connecting with other builders.

Once attendees make it through the conference’s front gate, they are greeted by a series of booths that lead to a neon-lit stage, which typically serves as the heartbeat of a nightclub. Some companies used bipedal robots to attract attention, while others turned to oversized Labubus.

“It is my baby angel,” Alyssa Michaud, director of accounts at marketing consulting firm Coinbound. “I feel like he embodies the type of virality that Web3 does as a whole.”

Alyssa Michaud, director of accounts at Coinbound (pictured left), brought her Labubu to the conference. Image: Decrypt/André Beganski

Michaud, a local, brought the two-foot tall doll to the conference to generate attention. But depending on how conference goers engage with it, she said the company’s unofficial mascot could make a return at future events.