15 Dec 2013 / Durango Herald – L
AS VEGAS – Even as the liquor flowed at a late-night party in a plush Las Vegas suite, chatter about the business of Bitcoin never flagged.
Among the overwhelmingly male crowd gathered in Las Vegas for only the second Bitcoin convention in the cyber currency’s history, the passion for the unregulated, computer-generated money is clear.
Bitcoin already is the 75th most valuable currency on Earth, says David Johnston, CEO of Engine and executive director of BitAngels, an entrepreneur and angel investor group funding digital currency. Johnston expects Bitcoin to crack the top 10.
The enthusiasm is not unfounded. Since January, the value of one Bitcoin has soared from $13 to more than $1,000, creating instant millionaires among some of Bitcoin’s earliest investors.
The newfound wealth has freed many of the programmers, techies, financial analysts and rocket scientists from their day jobs, allowing them to focus full-time on creating the consumer applications, Bitcoin stores and security systems they hope will vault Bitcoin into the mainstream.
More than 600 people registered for the Inside Bitcoins convention, up from a few hundred at the first Bitcoin conference last summer, says Alan Meckler, CEO of MediaBistro, the conference organizer. The number of exhibitors has jumped from three in July to 22 last week….. Read more
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