Welcome again to the Now E-newsletter. I’m Matt Medved, reporting dwell from the Bitcoin Convention in Las Vegas.
It’s fairly the scene out right here on the Strip the place crypto nerds, libertarian diehards, and MAGA bros in crimson sequined “DJT” jackets now discover themselves rubbing shoulders with U.S. senators and the sitting Vice President.
I’ve attended earlier iterations in Miami and Nashville, however there’s a distinctly completely different vitality in Vegas this time round. Maybe it’s Bitcoin’s new all-time excessive this previous week, however the pleasure feels deeper than worth motion.
Previous convention editions leaned fringe. Bitcoin was a countercultural motion that united a ragtag bevy of crypto-anarchists, gold bugs, and web misfits underneath the banner of a decentralized monetary system.
However this 12 months, the combo has shifted. The fits are actual. A report variety of politicians and administration officers are on the speaker lineup. Conventional finance giants are making forecasts and internet hosting cocktails. What began as an outsider riot is now courting energy from the within.
Let’s dive into the highlights from Bitcoin Vegas — and what they sign about the place this motion is headed.
JD Vance Sticks to the Script
There was a time when exhibiting as much as a Bitcoin convention might sink a political profession. On Wednesday, the Vice President of the US walked into one — and bought a standing ovation.
“I’m right here at the moment to say loud and clear, with President Trump, crypto lastly has a champion and an ally within the White Home,” Vance mentioned to a capability crowd.
Vance’s remarks had been a mixture of acquainted red-meat traces and reminders of the Trump administration’s clear break from the Biden years. He used the pulpit to induce Congress to go the GENIUS Act, hailing the adoption of stablecoins as “a drive multiplier of our financial may,” moderately than a menace to the U.S. greenback.
It was clear the VP had studied President Trump’s speech final 12 months, echoing the crowd-pleasing rhetoric that landed nicely with the occasion’s eclectic attendees.
“We reject regulators,” he declared to roaring applause. “We fired Gary Gensler and we’re going to fireside everybody like him.”
Crypto’s New Period Is Enjoying Out in Coverage
In 2024, the Bitcoin Convention rode the present of marketing campaign guarantees towards an election-year backdrop. In 2025, it’s developed right into a full-fledged coverage proving floor for the Republican Social gathering.
Along with Vice President Vance, the speaker lineup included Senators Cynthia Lummis, Marsha Blackburn, Invoice Hagerty, and Jim Justice, together with Home Majority Whip Tom Emmer and Representatives Byron Donalds and Bryan Steil. The White Home was formally represented by David Sacks, the administration’s A.I. and crypto czar, and Bo Hines, Govt Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Belongings. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump additionally appeared as vocal household allies of the administration’s crypto pivot.
Put merely, coverage took middle stage this 12 months. Lummis drew applause early with a forceful declaration: “Bitcoin is such an necessary international strategic asset… even our navy generals say it’s a deterrent to aggression, particularly from China.” Later, throughout a stacked stablecoin panel that includes Steil and Lightspark CEO David Marcus, Hagerty thundered, “We’re going to go the GENIUS Act and open the door to innovation.”
In a hearth chat with Sacks, Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss mirrored on the earlier administration’s Operation Chokehold and the second they had been all the way down to their final checking account. And Donald Trump Jr. framed broader crypto adoption as inevitable. “The newest adapters are going to fare the worst,” he proclaimed.
The message from Vegas was clear: the times of dismissal are over. The period when crypto was marginalized seems like a distant reminiscence, changed by full-on jockeying for energy in a motion that now instructions actual capital and votes. The home band’s instrumental takes on “We Are the Champions” and “Larger” by Creed solely hammered it dwelling.
Ross Ulbricht’s Victory Lap
Final 12 months’s convention carried the activist rallying cry: “Free Ross on Day One.” This 12 months, that decision has was a celebration.
Whereas the not too long ago pardoned Silk Street founder will shut out the convention tonight, Ulbricht’s presence is already being felt all through the occasion.
A set of non-public artifacts from Ulbricht’s previous is now up for public sale on Bitcoin-native platform Scarce Metropolis — and on show in a “Freedom”-emblazoned set up on the middle of the convention ground, together with his prison-issued sneakers and a sequence of oil work created whereas incarcerated.
On Thursday, the convention hosted a “Welcome Again” lunch onsite, the place Ross gave transient remarks to attendees who paid $300 for entry (or $5,000 to sit down at UIbricht’s desk). TRON founder Justin Solar even gifted Ross an version of Maurizio Cattelan’s “Comic” duct-taped banana art work, which he bought for $6.2 million final November.
One of many extra emotional moments at Bitcoin 2025 got here on the Girls of Bitcoin Brunch, the place his mom Lyn Ulbricht launched a brand new nonprofit: Moms Towards Merciless Sentencing (MACS).
Launched on-site in Las Vegas, MACS goals to reform excessive sentencing practices and help households of nonviolent offenders serving disproportionately lengthy jail phrases.
“A number of hundreds of individuals, a lot of them nonviolent like Ross, are serving excessive sentences — locked away for years, a long time, even lifetimes,” Lyn Ulbricht mentioned.
Ordinals Are Nonetheless Area of interest, However No Longer Ignored
Bitcoin tradition didn’t command the primary stage this 12 months, however its rise was unmistakable — from aspect panels and satellite tv for pc occasions to gallery pop-ups.
Market Magic Eden kicked off the week with a proper BitGala occasion on the Wynn on Monday night time, bringing collectively builders and influencers throughout the house. On Tuesday, Inscribing Vegas took over the Illuminarium with a day-long Ordinals-focused summit, that includes protocol creator Casey Rodarmor alongside artists like Submit Wook and Harto. The night time wrapped with an afterparty hosted by Pizza Ninjas — true to type, full with slices and inscriptions.
We made a particular announcement throughout Bitcoin Vegas final night time — BTC Now’s coming
Our new content material vertical will deal with tradition on Bitcoin, from the rise of Ordinals and Runes to the chain’s rising imprint on popular culture
We’re excited to highlight the builders and… pic.twitter.com/e9unaHGRIJ
— Now Media (@nowmedia) May 29, 2025
Wednesday night time performed host to 2 main Ordinals occasions. Taproot Wizards turned Discoshow right into a glow-in-the-dark ritual, outfitting the group with silver wizard hats and robes, in addition to McDonald’s-themed merch — a tongue-in-cheek jab on the current droop in Ordinals costs. In the meantime, market Trio took over Mike Tyson’s Tiger Mansion for a bumping home get together that featured a DJ set by yours actually and a particular announcement: our upcoming BTC Now vertical, devoted to masking tradition on Bitcoin.
Quirky and offbeat by design, the campy aspect occasions might have drawn smirks and stares from the core convention crowd — however the rising footprint of Bitcoin’s cultural layer was exhausting to disregard this 12 months.
That divide runs each methods, says Ordinals artist and builder Billy Restey. “Bitcoin was cool, tradition is certainly shifting,” he mentioned, highlighting a litany of cringe components from the primary convention. “We’re shedding the edginess. Glad we now have Ordinals.”
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