Beijing Summit: What if They Had a Bitcoin Ban and No-one Cared?

May 11, 2014 at 09:33 UTCUpdated May 12, 2014 at 11:58 UTC. If the recent issues surrounding bank account closures and domestic media warnings were supposed to scare Chinese attendees away from the two-day Global Bitcoin Summit starting in Beijing Saturday, someone forgot to tell everyone.

The main 400-seat auditorium was regularly full on the first day for the event's keynote speakers, which included Roger Ver, Aaron Koenig of the Global Bitcoin Alliance, and Wang Wei of the Chinese Museum of Finance.

Both the size and mood of the crowd confirmed what several of CoinDesk's local Chinese sources have been saying for a while: the community at large is tired of hearing about banks vs. exchanges, and wants to keep building.

The huge China National Convention Center, located just across the road from Beijing's 2008 Olympic main stadium, also highlighted just how niche bitcoin still remains in the overall Chinese economy, which is still booming.

The bitcoin summit itself took up a relatively small space at the back of the second floor.

Attendees passed massive franchising and marketing conventions, each with their own collection of booths and babes, before even seeing a bitcoin logo.

Stressing once again the utterly voluntary nature of the bitcoin economy, he told the audience his mission was now more that of a promoter of bitcoin's cause around the world.

"I'm pretty much done investing in bitcoin startups. But if you know some good ones I'm always very happy to introduce you to the right people," he said, when asked if he intended to invest further in Chinese companies.

Chinese companies were continuing to do well, he added, "I'm often more impressed with Chinese bitcoin exchanges than I am with some of the US and European exchanges."

Other international guests on the day's speaking agenda were Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin and Anthony di Iorio from the Bitcoin Alliance of Canada.