In a world carefully and hopefully emerging from pandemic lockdowns, what would get you excited enough to plunge into a huge gathering of 25,000 people?

Okay, we know you already read the title above, so we’ll cut right to the answer: It’s cryptocurrency — in this case, Bitcoin.

Bitcoin 2022, held in Miami in mid-April, was a weeklong event that brought together those curious to learn more, those ready to share their knowledge, lots of crypto-evangelists, and, it would seem, plenty of people who just wanted to party and have a good time.

Source: Bitcoin 2022

Subtle, right?

So what?

If you’ve been on the “let’s just ride this out and see where it goes” trail, it’s probably time to recognize that there’s a lot happening in the mysterious world of cryptocurrency. And, as you can tell from the enthusiastic promotion of this event, there are plenty of people who are ready to educate you and show that it’s not so mysterious after all.

Sogolytics Chief Marketing Officer Eric Eden is absolutely a crypto enthusiast, and he attended this event to get a closer look at what’s new and what’s coming in the world of Bitcoin. The verdict? Rave reviews and even more enthusiasm!

You can read his full review here, but we’ll pull out a few key lines that jumped out to us.

Five bits

• People can send Bitcoin to each other “without the involvement of government, banks, or other financial institutions. It can be faster, cheaper, and more secure than your typical credit card transaction.”

• Bitcoin is sometimes referred to as “Digital Gold” because there is a limited amount that can be mined — no more than 21 million can be made.

• “As a marketer, I note that the Bitcoin brand had the fastest brand in the world to reach $1 Trillion market cap in just 12 years. While not owned by one entity, the brand growth of Bitcoin in that time frame is remarkable. Other brands like Apple and Microsoft took much longer.”

• “Regulation is coming, and that’s a good thing.” See recent remarks on digital assets from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

• “During the late 1990s I was working at dot com companies and I recall the endless discussions that the Internet was just a fad, that companies didn’t need websites, and no one would pay for things online with a credit card.”

What’s next?

Are you ready to jump in? Are you already splashing around a bit, or maybe even swimming laps? Are you trying your best to stay out of the whole thing?

Now’s a good time to learn all you can, whether you’re interested in personal investing, day trading cryptocurrencies, or strategizing future business plans. You don’t need to work in the financial services industry to begin to realize all of the ways cryptocurrencies may — and already do — disrupt “normal” transactions and interactions.

While we’ve just dipped our toes in today, we’ll continue to explore this topic, and we invite your feedback and questions!