By Susie Violet Ward · Forbes · 16 October 2023
Bitcoin Amsterdam 2023, held across three stages at Westerpark and attended by around 2,000 people, focused heavily on censorship. Edward Snowden, appearing virtually from Russia, urged attendees to “Build decentralized solutions and stop asking for permission,” called bitcoin “one of our most powerful levers” and said, “Gary Gensler is not Daddy Bitcoin.”
Other sessions included a discussion titled “When Will Bitcoin Be Good Enough?”, a “Deep Session” in which D++ described bitcoin as money and Erik Cason called it law, a panel on exchanges and spot bitcoin ETFs, and a “Trust The Experts” panel with Jimmy Song, Eva Vlaardingerbroek and Hugh Hendry. Stella Assange warned that “our authorities have ushered in a massive censorship complex.” The article saw the strong turnout, despite the bear market, as a sign of bitcoin’s growing significance.