Biarritz’s Surfin Bitcoin Conference, France

September 5, 2022

– Ripples for Bitcoin Adoption

On August 27, Biarritz Casino was enveloped by a stunning sunset, bringing to an end France’s largest Bitcoin conference ( TTC). Surfin Bitcoin was held in southwest France. It was organized by Stackin Sat, a French Bitcoin exchange. The conference gathered a number of Bitcoin OG’s, no coiners and newbies, as well as those who have yet to purchase or earn crypto.

Bitcoiners met to network in the hopes of learning more about Lightning Network and landing jobs at French Bitcoin companies from Galoy Money, Decouvre Bitcoin or just to rub shoulders with other Bitcoin believers. The event took place at the Biarritz Casino, in a touch bearish market irony.

The vibe was French, but with an international touch.

Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger and Cointelegraph (right), in front the Biarritz Casino and Biarritz’ Grande Plage.

The full extent of Bitcoin maximalism was displayed. Moderators and panelists had carte blanche for slamdunks on shitcoiners. The hotly anticipated debates, which compared crypto venture capitalists with gamblers, and highlighted the benefits and queried the limitations Bitcoin’s layer-2 Lightning Network, were highly anticipated. Aave representatives and other crypto decentralized autonomous organisations (DAOs), expressed admiration for Bitcoin, but remained true to their visions of a multicoin future.

There were many commercial announcements made during the event. However, some speakers discovered certain insights on their own. Pierre Rochard, Riot Mining , announced that he would rename mining “timestamping” in order to avoid confusion about the act of extracting scarce resources from a physical place. He explained that timestamping would facilitate education and is also Satoshi Nakamoto’s way to explain mining in the whitepaper.

Similar to the Lightning Network panel, Blockstream’s Christian Decker (also known as Dr. Bitcoin) described the Lightning Network like an “ant network.” The LN behaves much like an ant colony. The LN behaves much like an ant colony, gathering in areas where there are efficient routes or channels to link.

European Bitcoin artists, such as Lina Secke, creator of the Little Hodler and workshops, showed their work among the Q&A sessions and workshops. Konsensus, a publisher of Bitcoin books, sold French translations for a few Satoshis, the smallest amount of Bitcoin, in the main hall. You could also purchase the usual Bitcoin merchandise and t-shirts for sats. To the chagrin of many Bitcoiners, coffees, beers, and refreshments could also be purchased with fiat money.

Cointelegraph was told by Daniel Prince, cohost of the United Kingdom’s 2nd largest Bitcoin podcast, One Bitten that Bitcoin adoption in the conference and the surrounding areas was low:

“The casino guys don’t have orange pilled. They only accept cash or credit as payment. I asked them if they would accept Bitcoin payments, but they said no.

However, although the Bitcoin bubble at Biarritz’s La Grande Plage was exploding, adoption of Bitcoin was much slower than that. Cointelegraph reporters discovered that the region was not a “coiner” area through interviews with merchants, street vendors, churros sellers, and surfers. No one in the area had ever transacted with Bitcoin.

One exception was made. One exception was made. The 19-year old driver of the Le Petit Train sightseeing tour train in Biarritzs had a crypto story. According to reports, the train conductor bought Bitcoin at a price of $500 when he was 14, but lost his seed phrase for the 2.36 BTC. He said that was why he was a train driver during the summer.

The Stackin Sats team was unable to accept Bitcoin payments after the mayor of Biarritz reportedly stopped the conference hall from accepting Bitcoin. Bitcoiners were forced to spend their euros and hoard their coins. Many of the Bitcoiners, including Prince, didn’t mind orange-pilling local merchants like taxi drivers or surf instructors. Bitcoin is an grassroots community-driven movement.

Tonnellier interviewed by Cointelegraph on the terrace.

Josselin Tonnellier was a co-founder and speaker at the conference. He stated that the French crypto scene is dominated not by Bitcoin advocates but blockchain companies. He spoke out in an exclusive interview about the difficulty of French people to distinguish Bitcoin from blockchain. He said that there’s still a lot of education needed, since “pro-blockchain narratives” have hindered adoption in his country.

Related: Bitcoin is only for the needy, and the rest of us need to take time to learn it: Surfin Bitcoin panel

The conference’s first day was open to all, in an effort to discourage coiners. The “Surfin Day” open-day enticed locals into the warm Bitcoin waters. A Satoshi-inspired treasure hunting, a surf contest to win Sats, and a screening the French Bitcoin documentary Le Mystere de Satoshi were some of the highlights. The day promoted discussion and exchange “between participants in a growing Bitcoin community.”

It seems to have worked. Local Cecile, who lives just a few blocks from the conference, told Cointelegraph that she not only attended the Surfin Day but was also inspired to learn more Bitcoin. She explained in French that Bitcoin is not as complicated as it initially seemed. Perhaps she will accept Bitcoin for Surfin Bitcoin next year.

It’s not surprising that Bitcoin adoption in France has been slow, despite the fact that Bitcoin consumes more energy than any other country. The European Union has a clear stance on Bitcoin: regulation will soon, and Bitcoin will be merged with all other crypto projects.

As the price of Bitcoin continues to rise, French adoption will be a steady stream. To make waves with Bitcoin, it would take a positive sentiment from the public or a pro-Bitcoin shout out from Macron, France’s anticrypto leader — and/or the European Union, which has not stopped its Bitcoin bashing .

On the last day of the conference, the Bitcoin Boat (also known as Sato Boat) set sail. With a calm sea and a extended bearish market, the Bitcoin proverb, “stay humble, stack your sats,” comes to mind. Surfin Bitcoin is the “ze place” for French Bitcoin enthusiasts, but it’s still a long road ahead of the French Bitcoin scene in order to reach greater adoption.

Bon voyage.

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Jon
Jon
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Opinion writer on 7trade7