Down in the Caribbean, under the palm trees and hot April sun, about 2,000 individuals gathered last week for the Crypto Bahamas event co-hosted by crypto exchange FTX and investor forum SALT.
Goodie bags containing everything from sunscreen and sunglasses to T-shirts and boat hats were handed out as the air conditioning blasted at full force. Attendees flew in from as far away as Singapore and popped over from FTX’s headquarters, which is about a 20-minute drive from the conference.
Someone joked that it’s between the millionaires in suits and billionaires in cargo shorts. Anthony Scaramucci
“We wanted to create a premier conference geared toward institutions and people who will help shape policy and markets and distinguish it from the more retail-focused conferences,” Brett Harrison, president of FTX.US, told TechCrunch.
The three days of speakers began with FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and SALT Chairman Anthony Scaramucci (who is also the founder and co-managing partner of SkyBridge Capital) taking the main stage to discuss where crypto stands in its journey.
“There’s a lot of different things going on — my generation needs a further, deeper dive into crypto,” Scaramucci, 58, told TechCrunch. “My generation needs to get comfortable with where this space is going.”
Some attendees were dressed in suits, while many others wore hoodies or T-shirts and casual shorts or jeans, juxtaposing the professional financial world against the new – and arguably more progressive – digital age.
