“According to the official count, 1200 enthusiasts, techie geeks, trendy investors, eccentric entrepreneurs, crypto hackers, small-government aficionados, and a few downright weirdos had descended on the Bay Area for America’s first big bitcoin conference, which, for a $300 fee, promised participants a hard look at the not-so-hard future of money. In one way it was like a rich guy’s LAN party, a chance to put a face to people who had known each other mainly through internet forums. But it also had the vibe of one of those night-long infomercials about the Next Big Thing.”
