Bitcoin and Blockchain Summit Celebrate the Wins • St Pete Catalyst

A bear market didn’t dampen the mood at the Florida Bitcoin & Blockchain Summit (FBBS), as its myriad speakers focused on new achievements rather than price swings.

Friday’s summit was a decidedly scaled-down version of the first Tampa event, held at Amalie Arena last November. Chris Krimitsos, founder of FBBS, expressed his genuine excitement to see everyone fill the Holiday Inn Westshore conference room, as the occasion was about people who continue to believe in the new technology’s applications rather than a place.

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor kicked off the event by once again welcoming attendees to the city. While she did not offer to accept part of her salary in bitcoin as she did at last year’s summit, she reaffirmed her belief in the security of blockchain technology and the financial equity offered by the apex cryptocurrency.

Castor noted that officials need to “figure out” national and global regulations regarding cryptocurrencies. She also said the city council is moving slowly, but said she continues to hold regular conversations about potential applications.

“And so, we continue to learn,” Castor said. “I’m very happy to support everyone in this endeavor and we will definitely figure this out and move forward as a nation. And hopefully we will be seen here in the Tampa Bay area as one of the leaders in bitcoin and blockchain.”

With bitcoin’s value down about 66% since last November’s bull run, organizers aptly titled the event’s first panel “Spotting Opportunities in a Bear Market.” Joshua Jake, a crypto research analyst and co-founder of the educational CryptoKnight platform, told attendees that a bear market is a time to study and explore the industry.

While he believes the downturn could be an opportune time to find a “hidden gem,” Jake said the most critical aspect is that industry leaders continue to develop new applications. He added that stakeholders are also witnessing mass adoption.

Chris Pizzo, co-founder and general partner of Tampa-based Druid Ventures, said stakeholders keep their fingers on the pulse of exciting innovations and continue to send promising ideas to his company.

“The builders are going to build regardless of the price swings,” Pizzo said. “So, that’s our advantage.”

The panelists encouraged attendees to ignore outside noise and follow the developers creating new applications and interoperability between blockchain and legacy systems.

Blockspaces, a Tampa-based blockchain integration platform, is one of those companies. Co-founders Gabe Higgins and Rosa Shores announced a significant breakthrough at the summit as part of their new Lighting Connect product.

Gabe Higgins (right), co-founder of Tampa-based Blockspaces, made a big announcement at the summit.

The Lightning Network built new layers of technology over traditional bitcoin protocols, enabling companies to process millions to billions of transactions per second. In addition, Lightning Finance – or LiFi – offers security enforced by blockchain smart contracts with much smaller fees than credit card transactions.

Higgins announced that Blockspaces is the first company to successfully integrate the Lightning Network with Quickbooks, the popular business and financial management suite.

“You can accept payments now from anywhere in the world using bitcoin, and no fees,” he said.

Kyle Kemper, head of solutions for Bradenton-based RAZE, author and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s half-brother, expressed his belief that bitcoin is the answer to the corruption that permeates centralized financial institutions.

Speaking at a charity lunch raising money for those affected by Hurricane Ian, he explained how blockchain technology is facilitating a shift to a parallel, decentralized economy. He encouraged participants to help people understand the technology by sending them a small amount of cryptocurrency.

“We didn’t really understand email until we actually sent an email,” Kemper said. “And the same is true with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. It’s very complicated in the background…”

From left: Joe Hamilton, publisher of St. Pete Catalyst and head of network for Cityverse; Gabe Higgins, co-founder of Blockspaces; Yuki Taketani, coordinator of emerging technologies with the Tampa Bay Rays; and Lauren Prager, Chief Strategy Officer for Synapse Florida discuss Tampa Bay’s new Web3 scene.

Higgins also participated in a panel with Joe Hamilton, publisher of St. Pete Catalyst and network manager for Cityverse, and Yuki Taketani, coordinator of new technologies with the Tampa Bay Rays. Lauren Prager, Chief Strategy Officer for Synapse Florida, moderated the discussion titled “Tampa Bay’s Emerging Web3 Scene.”

In addition to the weather, quality of life and lack of state income tax, Hamilton believes Tampa Bay offers a nice juxtaposition to Miami’s fast and fun atmosphere. While the South Florida region is a well-known blockchain and crypto hub, he said the local scene may be more appealing from a utility standpoint.

The St. Petersburg community’s support, Hamilton noted, is also second to none. He said he would never have found the same success in another city without “the bigger guys” eating him alive. That, he explained, is because local stakeholders realize that individual performance drives the entire region.

“The whole ‘rising tide lifts all ships’ thing is absolutely true within the Tampa Bay market,” Prager said. “We want to celebrate the victories. I don’t know if that’s true in every community, but it’s — for sure — true here.”