The B Word Conference: A Gathering of Heavyweights and Four Highlights You Can't Miss

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At 0:00 Hong Kong Time on July 22 (9:00 AM Pacific Time on July 21), The B Word Conference kicked off as scheduled. With heavyweight guests like Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Ark Investment's Cathie Wood, the conference had been highly anticipated since its announcement.

Two days before the conference opened, at 11:00 on July 20, OKX real-time market data showed that Bitcoin's price fell below $30,000 for the first time in a month, dropping as low as $29,263.7. However, in the 12 hours before the conference began, Bitcoin suddenly surged, rising 2.82% in a short period and reclaiming the $30,000 mark, ultimately ending July 21 with a single-day gain of 6.82%. As of this writing, Bitcoin's price is $32,501.5, up 8.73% over the past 3 days.

Since institutions began accepting and buying Bitcoin, Bitcoin had been surging to the $60,000 mark. Now, after more than three months of decline, market sentiment has taken a hit. The convening of this conference seems designed to inject a shot of confidence into the market. On one hand, crypto asset investors can understand the actions and views of these influential figures in the space; on the other hand, they can also find experiences that provide meaningful reference for their investment wealth management.

I. The B Word Conference at a Glance

The B Word Conference was jointly initiated by Ark Investment, Square, and Paradigm, aiming to demystify mainstream narratives about Bitcoin, eliminate misunderstandings and Bitcoin's "stigmatization," and encourage companies and institutional investors to accept and embrace Bitcoin .

The conference was divided into six sections: "Demystifying Bitcoin ," "Bitcoin as a Tool for Economic Empowerment," "Supporting the Developer Ecosystem," "Ensuring Bitcoin Network Security," "Bitcoin Regulation and Compliance," and "Preserving the Spirit of Bitcoin." The conversation between Musk, Dorsey, Wood, and others appeared in the second section, "Bitcoin as a Tool for Economic Empowerment."

II. Musk: Won't Sell, Holding BTC, ETH and DOGE

Musk, known for "moving markets through tweets," is a figure who inspires "love-hate" feelings in the crypto community. Due to his immense personal influence, often a single remark can trigger dramatic volatility in the crypto market.

In the period from early this year to April when Bitcoin was rapidly climbing, Musk was a flag-wielding vanguard. He changed his Twitter bio to "Bitcoin," causing Bitcoin to surge over 16% that day. After Tesla disclosed a filing showing the purchase of $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, Bitcoin rose 23% in two days, breaking through $46,000. Musk continued to double down, stating that Bitcoin could be used to purchase Teslas, which greatly increased people's confidence in crypto assets. In the month that followed, Bitcoin rapidly climbed to its historical high of $64,846.9.

Just as everyone was envisioning a bright future with Bitcoin continuing toward the $70,000 or even $100,000 mark, Bitcoin entered correction mode, falling 20% in a month. While market sentiment was hit, there was still hope for a counterattack. Musk, once seen as a Bitcoin supporter, then dealt the crypto market a heavy blow: first announcing that Tesla would pause accepting Bitcoin as payment method due to environmental concerns, then hinting that Tesla might have sold its remaining Bitcoin holdings. The crypto market was instantly roiled. Although Musk later clarified in a post that Tesla had not sold any Bitcoin, his "unpredictable" tweets still left the market on edge.

As a "fickle" yet highly influential figure, Musk was naturally the focus of the entire event. This time, after Bitcoin fell below $30,000, he didn't disappoint the market, once again raising the banner of Bitcoin supporter.

Wearing a black T-shirt printed with "The Evolution of Humans and Currency," Musk revealed for the first time in this conversation that not only does he personally hold Bitcoin, but his rocket company SpaceX and Tesla also hold Bitcoin, with no plans to sell.

"If Bitcoin's price falls, I lose money. I want to see Bitcoin succeed. I might buy, but I won't sell, and I would absolutely never engage in pump and dump," Musk frankly stated. He also indicated that Tesla is considering resuming Bitcoin payments. While he still criticized the energy consumption of Bitcoin's proof-of-work mechanism (PoW), he noted positive trends with Bitcoin increasingly shifting to renewable energy. "If confirmed Bitcoin renewable energy usage reaches or exceeds 50%, and the trend is increasing, Tesla may resume Bitcoin payments soon," Musk said.

马斯克：卖币是不会卖的，持有BTC、ETH和DOGE

Additionally, Musk expressed his appreciation for PoS during the conference, mentioning for the first time that besides Bitcoin and Dogecoin, he also holds Ethereum. Of course, he repeatedly emphasized that he has not sold Bitcoin. Tesla's Q2 earnings report is set to be released after market close on July 26, and the market will undoubtedly be watching closely.

III. How Should Institutions Embrace Bitcoin?

As the theme of this conference was "How Should Institutions Embrace Bitcoin," Cathie Wood stated that when she first read the Bitcoin whitepaper, she realized it was a grand idea. Many emerging markets are transferring funds to Bitcoin to preserve purchasing power, and this applies equally to institutions.

Wood reiterated her previous statement that institutions can consider including Bitcoin on their balance sheets. However, currently, taking the United States as an example, under US GAAP regulations, when companies purchase crypto assets like Bitcoin, they must use the lower of cost or net realizable value method to record crypto assets on their balance sheets. This means that when Bitcoin falls, institutions must record impairment, while returns when Bitcoin rises are not recognized until sold. Therefore, Wood expressed hope that rule makers would reconsider the classification of Bitcoin.

Musk stated that Bitcoin is the product most likely to make the future better. He noted that Tesla deposits funds in European banks, where due to negative interest rates, they must pay fees to banks to hold their funds. Bitcoin allows people to truly own their property.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Bitcoin reminds him of the early internet. Twitter will consider accepting crypto asset payments in the future. He believes Bitcoin can bring rapid development and innovation. Previously, Dorsey and Jay Z jointly launched a $23.6 million Bitcoin trust. His company Square also announced entry into the crypto market through Bitcoin purchases and acquired Jay Z's TIDAL music business stake, aiming to transform the music market through blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

OK Link data shows that from May 2021 to present, looking at changes in institutional holdings of Grayscale GBTC shares, among the top 20 institutions by holdings, only 2 selected to reduce their positions, selling 48,300 shares, while 5 institutions selected to increase their positions, adding 1.6576 million shares, for a net increase of 1.6093 million shares. Among the 42 institutions directly holding Bitcoin positions, none have sold Bitcoin since May this year. It can be seen that, at least at this stage, institutional investors still maintain a certain level of confidence in Bitcoin's development prospects.

IV. Five Major Misconceptions About Bitcoin

Under the "Demystifying Bitcoin" topic, participants discussed five major misconceptions: "Does Bitcoin waste energy?", "Does Bitcoin facilitate criminal activity?", "Is Bitcoin unscalable?", "Is Bitcoin ownership concentrated?", and "Is Bitcoin easily replaceable?"

1 **) **Bitcoin's Energy Consumption Issue**

We all know global warming is an indisputable fact. The United Nations Environment Programme pointed out last December that the world is still heading toward warming of over 3°C by the end of this century, far exceeding the levels set by the Paris Agreement. Therefore, under the goal of accelerating global achievement of carbon "break-even" or even entering a negative emissions era, Bitcoin mining and energy consumption issues will inevitably attract attention.

Nic Carter from Castle Island Ventures pointed out that Bitcoin consumes energy for two purposes: first, to ensure normal network operation, guaranteeing the security of a network that processes $10-20 billion in daily trading volume and stores $600 billion in value; second, to achieve Bitcoin distribution through a fair method that doesn't rely on third parties.

In his speech, he provided numerous data points: Bitcoin mining accounts for 0.26% of global electricity and 0.11% of energy, with 39% coming from renewable energy. According to different statistical sources, sustainable energy has two figures: 34% and 46%. Bitcoin's energy consumption is roughly equivalent to Venezuela's and Austria's national consumption, representing 1.7% of US consumption. In more detail, Bitcoin's energy consumption is 12 times less than household electronic devices typically used in the US, and 15 times less than annual power transmission losses globally. Therefore, judging whether Bitcoin causes energy waste largely depends on the reference point chosen.

比特币的能源消耗问题

2 **) **Does Bitcoin Facilitate Criminal Activity?**

Chainalysis Chief Economist Philip Gradwell explored this topic. Because Bitcoin activity is transparent, criminal activity is measurable and traceable. Transparency also means criminal activity can be tracked and prevented through law enforcement and anti-money laundering (AML) checks by crypto businesses. Data shows that in 2020, illicit activities accounted for only 2% of all Bitcoin economic activity, primarily crypto scams and dark market activities. It's worth noting that in many cases, law enforcement has successfully cracked down on criminal activity. Therefore, improving regulation and establishing dedicated operations can achieve excellent results.

比特币会助长犯罪活动？

3 **) **Is Bitcoin Unscalable?**

Arjun Balaji, Investment Partner at Paradigm, explored the topic "Is Bitcoin Unscalable?" He began by listing commonly heard statements like "Bitcoin is unscalable" or "cannot safely scale to support global finance," with common questions being "Why can't Bitcoin replace Visa or Mastercard quickly?", "Why does sending Bitcoin become increasingly expensive?", and "Has Bitcoin proven itself unable to scale?"

He responded as follows: Bitcoin can theoretically only process 4-7 transactions per second, while Visa can reach 24,000. Bitcoin's block size is 4MB, producing an average of one block every 10 minutes. Bitcoin clearly has limits, but this doesn't mean Bitcoin is bad—rather, "scalability," "decentralization," and "security" form a trilemma trade-off.

比特币不可扩展？

Currently, three solutions have emerged for Bitcoin's scaling challenge: Layer 2 scaling, sidechains, and Bitcoin banks. Therefore, his conclusion is that Bitcoin's scalability at the base layer is indeed average, but with the help of scaling solutions, Bitcoin's settlement guarantees can safely scale in layers.

4 **) **Is Bitcoin Ownership Concentrated?**

Reports like to claim that Bitcoin's supply distribution is concentrated or controlled by whales. So how concentrated is Bitcoin really, and how should we measure this data? Coin Metrics Research Analyst Nate Maddrey pointed out that because Bitcoin is public and transparent, we can query this data on the blockchain network.

比特币所有权集中？

The chart above shows the supply controlled by the top 1% and top 10% of addresses. At first glance, the top 10% control 99% of the supply, making Bitcoin appear highly concentrated. But this is the supply controlled by the top 10% of addresses, not the top 10% of individuals. For example, exchanges currently hold 1.6 million Bitcoin, accounting for 9% of the supply. Among the top 10 Bitcoin holding addresses, 5 are exchanges. Although they appear to hold large quantities, behind them represent thousands of investors. Besides exchanges, approximately 2.3 million Bitcoin (12% of supply) are held by early Bitcoin participants. These addresses have been inactive since 2012 or earlier. The most famous dormant address is Satoshi Nakamoto's address, said to hold over 1 million Bitcoin. We generally consider these Bitcoin lost and automatically excluded from the liquid market. Additionally, there are Bitcoin holdings by investment institutions like Grayscale, which holds 650,000 Bitcoin, accounting for 3.5% of supply.

Nate Maddrey stated that Bitcoin's concentration is only 0.35, while XRP , XLM, and Bitcoin fork concept coins BCH and BSV all have more concentrated holding distributions than Bitcoin. This also demonstrates the importance of initial token distribution.

5 **) **Is Bitcoin Easily Replaceable?**

Lyn Alden, founder of an investment strategy company, shared on this topic. She started from Bitcoin's halving cycle, demonstrating three irreplaceable characteristics of Bitcoin (security, massive community and developer base, and decentralization).

比特币易被取代？

Although this star-studded Bitcoin conference has concluded, convening at the critical moment when Bitcoin fell below $30,000 not only conveys these veterans' views on the prospects of crypto assets, injecting strength into the market, but also brings inspiration and new discoveries to investors who currently feel lost and unclear about direction.

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