Man Mt Gox was was just right before I started getting in to bitcoin (not that my first exchange, Coinbase, is much better) and can't imagine having to go through that.  You mention bitpay in a seemingly negative light, or am I misreading that?  I have to say looking at them from an outside view, they have done some amazing things for bitcoin, and have been doing so for some time.  They've been pioneers for a lot of bitcoin stuff, like how they sponsored the 2014 bitcoin bowl game in St Pete FL.  They even got a multitude of local businesses to learn how to accept bitcoin which in 2014 no one knew what bitcoin was.  I was actually living in St Pete then and so upset I didnt go to that game and get cool collectible items from it..but I do remember seeing a "we accept bitcoin" sticker on the door of the very popular bar right by the stadium where the game was played. 

Anyways, cool throwback pics! As much hate as Gavin gets, have to admit he's a seemingly really good dude, did a lot for bitcoin and had some really great ideas (of course my favorite being he's the first to introduce the idea of physical bitcoins/paper wallets). It's just too bad he went down the path he did.   

Though definitely not as old as 2011, huge throwback to Andreas Antonopoulos for having a Bitcoin "conference" in an (almost) empty room.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8YgqbQyYB8

Title says "Andreas Antonopoulos educating an empty room on the bitcoin value proposition when it was $100" so I'm assuming this is sometime around 2013.

conference history that will be a keepsake and some of them certainly earned quite a lot of Rekt. In 2011 I didn't know anything about bitcoin or MT.Gox but this is history for bitcoin, and also the history of the biggest bitcoin hack. even bruce wagner once lost 25,000 bitcoins in the MyBitcoin scandal. Bitcoin conference will also be held in Amsterdam 12-14 October 2022 and next year will also be held in Miami.

I'm going to bet that most of them didn't(with at least majority of their holdings, probably a minority on exchanges). Let's not forget that these people are cypherpunks — pretty much one of the most hardcore technically-literate people in the crypto space.

At that time it take a lot of courage to pioneer the Bitcoin conference as public opinion about Bitcoin back then was an irritable and bullying approach since Bitcoin then was viewed as criminal money, so sticking your neck out to spend some Bitcoin was like carrying a gun into a supper market. Oh yeah, that was how messy the situation was back then. But I give it to them because history now has it that they pioneered the first Bitcoin conference.

I was kind of hopping that countries like El Salvador will host the next highly populated Bitcoin conference in 2022 since many businesses in and around the countries will take advantage of that to learn more about Bitcoin payments and projects, let's just wait to see how history evolve in the future.

we can't avoid the attachment of bitcoin with criminal or illegal activities. but people are educating themselves now. so once they educate themselves, they will probably change their perspectives towards bitcoin and its existence. most people who are still having negative thoughts at btc are those that are believing whatever the media is feeding them, and not doing their own research for this topic. but for those who got their interest, they will find their way how to learn more about this tech.
when it comes to el salvador, i am wondering what will happen after Bukele's term  as President? will the next President of this country continue his programs related to crypto?

it's evidence and history that bitcoin once had a small community and now has many large communities in almost all countries, bitcoin is widely known today because the community sincerely introduces bitcoin to almost everyone until now bitcoin is big and many are owned by big investors also a big company as a bitcoin holder, I will save this photo 

Those guys are legends and hope every one of them became successful with their investment back then. those are the people who believed when there was really nothing to show them and yet they still trust the process and I'm sure most of them are living their life to the fullest right now when they sold some of their BTC at its ATH. Now when there is a conference about bitcoins you need to have a bigger place than that for it won't be enough for the huge numbers of attendees. That's how far bitcoin has gone since that conference over a decade ago.

Exactly. These guys are OGs and too many technical persons to be able to identify the risks of exchanges before. For sure they just did it just to help the Bitcoin community back then because the community before is still really small and this method will help to grow the Bitcoin community before.
It's just sad because it was sponsored by an exchange who was REKT which this conference will exist in history. This will be lesson for all.

Its wild to see how far its come!!! The BTC conference only gets better year after year in my experience. Although I have only been to two of them 21 and 22. Both were amazing! I can't wait for 23.