OVERSTOCK CEO PATRICK BYRNE TO KEYNOTE BITCOIN 2014 CONFERENCE PRODUCED BY LOCAL PRODUCER
LOCAL PRODUCER, 27 March 2014
Overstock.com CEO and bitcoin convert Patrick M Byrne will deliver the keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2014 conference on 15th-17th May at the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam.
He is expected to speak about his vision for the future of bitcoin; its potential for global financial inclusion; non-currency uses like proving ownership of stocks and bonds; and the network’s relation to society as a whole.
Jon Matonis, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, said:
“We are delighted to have one of bitcoin’s most prominent and prescient champions at our conference. Patrick’s decision to accept bitcoin has introduced it to mainstream society and increased understanding among consumers.”
He added: “It’s going to be a great event; this conference is where visionary technology and mainstream commerce intersects.”
Byrne has become a poster boy for bitcoin since announcing that Overstock.com would start accepting bitcoins in an offhand interview remark last December. Feeling pressure to deliver, he did exactly that with some intensive help by payment processing partner Coinbase, six months ahead of schedule.
Since then, the self-confessed libertarian and Austrian Economist has become one of bitcoin’s biggest advocates. The first major online retailer to accept bitcoin, Overstock.com made more than $124,000 in bitcoin sales in its first day of accepting the currency, and by March had topped $1m in purchases.
