In short, yes! And there’s plenty more being organised!
I was at a UK Bitcoin meet-up last night in the South East of UK and it was awesome to meet some (relatively) local Bitcoiners who are trying to spread the word and welcome people in to this fascinating technology.
This was the first Bitcoin-only event I’ve been to and I have to say, it was epic to meet like minded people and just talk about our experiences with Bitcoin, how we got involved and all the different “schools” of Bitcoin.
One of the guys has his own Bitcoin miner that he uses to dry his clothes haha.
It is only by virtue of being involved in the Bitcoin Pioneer group that I am starting to discover more events and local meet-ups that are held up and down the UK.
There were a couple of Bitcoin OGs there, some, like me planted their flags at “FOMO peak” in late 2017 and some joined the orange movement in 2020.
The best bit? No shitcoining! I was at another local “crypto” meet-up a few months ago and the vibe is totally different. Bitcoiners are trying to escape fiat and create a better, circular economy whereas shitcoiners are trying to get more fiat by gambling on utter centralised dross.
Anyway, what happened at last night’s meet?
Sharing Ideas
One of the aims of the night from the event organiser James, was to share some ideas to grow the membership of the Berkshire Bitcoiners, whether it be:
- putting flyers up in pubs, sports clubs and other outlets,
- introducing Bitcoin to local businesses,
- speaking to work colleagues who might be interested or,
- just setting up a stand with a giant Bitcoin symbol so people can ask some questions!
What was also really cool last night was that a couple of Bitcoiners brought in some payment devices that they had been developing for merchants to accept Bitcoin but without having to be connected to the internet.
From what I saw and heard them saying, this is a really cool concept and works very similarly to NFC payment readers that we’re familiar with in our day to day fiat spending via credit or debit cards.
The devices also allow for QR code creation which can be scanned by compatible lightning wallets on your smartphone to send sats.
With these devices working offline (aka being “air-gapped”) this means that in poor signal areas where you can’t connect to the internet, merchants can still accept payments which are stored locally on the payment device and then everything can be settled later on chain when back online.
Where Can I Find Out About Local UK Events?
Thankfully, there’s great work going in to creating an events website by Si which is constantly being added to and there are a growing number of local Bitcoin groups in the UK.
Check out the Bitcoin Events UK website here and start connecting with fellow Bitcoiners in your area.
How Can I Join The Bitcoin Pioneers?
At the moment, the Bitcoin Pioneer program is headed by experienced Bitcoiner Jason Deane but is only running in the UK for now. When I first joined, there were less than 50 people and now it’s at 200 so if it continues to be successful, I’m sure it will be rolled out to other countries.
If you’re into Bitcoin and want to help spread the word and orange-pill normies, you can gift them £10 of Bitcoin at no cost to them (they’ll just need to register with Luno) and invite them to join a free educational webinar from Jason himself.
You can apply to join the Bitcoin Pioneer program here, tell Jason I sent you and I look forward to catching up with you in there!
I’ll be doing my best to pop along to more future events in the UK, it seems like there’s more interest from people with local hubs being created, why not get involved?
Follow the latest updates on the following links:
