Ingenuity, community and fun were on display at the Bitcoin 2022 Bazaar, a marketplace of merchandise from Bitcoiners.
Bitcoin 2022 was home to high-profile keynotes, announcements and panel discussions. But the plebs had their spotlight as well. The Bitcoin Bazaar was the place to get to know some of the most interesting projects in Bitcoin merch — not necessarily world-changing but definitely uplifting.
Panties For Bitcoin
“BTC — Be Truly Confident”
— Panties for Bitcoin
What I first considered as a whacky Bitcoiner meme turned out to be high-quality, Italian-made lingerie run by a lovable family. Pablo, the mastermind behind the business, is an Argentinian emigrant with decades of experience in the underwear industry and a passion for money free from government intrusion. Several years ago, he combined his two obsessions and founded Panties for Bitcoin. With “no more fiat panties” and “Be Truly Confident” as company mottos, Pablo and his family — his wife Silvia and his son Michael — do their part for the circular economy, offering a 10% discount on orders paid in bitcoin.
Check the panties out at pantiesforbitcoin.com. For now, only ladies’ lingerie is offered, though the family is considering launching a men’s line as well.
Buzz It Forward
“Look better. Feel better. Do better.”
— Buzz It Forward
Every large conference seems to have a barber these days, and the Miami gathering was no exception. Buzz It Forward wasn’t offering just a haircut, though; the project’s mission is to help disadvantaged children and juveniles through sponsored haircuts and mentoring. So whoever had a haircut at the conference actually sponsored three haircuts for those that can’t afford it; the idea being that a good-looking hairline could be the decisive factor for landing a first job for a 16-year-old, or otherwise help in similar situations. When asked about accepting bitcoin as a payment, the (very likable) barber at the booth answered that it’s still a new thing for them, but they believe it’s the future.
You can check this project out at Buzzitforward.com.
Coinertime Blockwatch
“Goodbye factory time. Hello Bitcoin Standard Time (BST).”
— Coinertime
Do you need to check “Moscow Time” several times a day? Do you have an obsession of checking whether blocks are ticking at an average 10-minute pace? Well fret no further, as you can now switch from fiat time to a universal Bitcoiner time with Blockwatch! This neat wearable allows you to switch between Moscow Time (sats per 1 USD), current block height, and a QR code of one’s public key. Fiat UTC time is available as well, but only as a flash function when certain buttons are pressed.
Coinertime (the company behind Blockwatch) is from Florida, accepts only Bitcoin via BTCPay Server for their product, and sticks to an open-source philosophy, with both the watch hardware and software available under an MIT license. Blockwatch is a hobby side project for the Coinertime team, their main business being Bentaus, a Bitcoin mining company that aims to build small-scale mining farms in all 50 states.
Check ‘em out at coinertime.com.
Mear One
“Bitcoin embodies this revolution — it is the most important one of our time with a currency I can get behind, offering a new alternative economy based on non confiscatable sound money principles. It liberated me as an artist and in many ways, like graffiti art, saved my life a second time by empowering me to continue on creating conscious art for a community that reflects this same sentiment – Bitcoin is the new graffiti.”
— Mear One
There were quite a few artists at the Bazaar, and Mear One was the one that caught my attention due to his kickass T-shirt designs. Unfortunately, we only managed time for a brief chat, so I fully appreciated his work only after the conference, when I had a chance to look through his work in detail. To my delight, I found out that Mear One designed the album cover of Non Phixion’s “Future is Now” — one of my favorite hip hop albums of all time!
Mear One is based in Los Angeles and he drove across the entire United States to come to Miami.
Check out his work at Mearone.com, and read his thoughts on Bitcoin and art here at Bitcoin Magazine.
SHAmory
“It’s always best to have the help of a pal.
So Satoshi called a monster friend named Hal.”
— Goodnight Bitcoin
Bitcoin has been around for 13 years, and as it comes of age, Bitcoiners mature as well. While the mainstream journalists still paint us as youngsters chasing their Lambo dreams, in reality a growing number of us are 35+ years old with low-time preference values such as a spouse and many kids. And in every Bitcoiner’s household, the kids are inevitably going to ask: “What’s that Bitcoin thing you talk about all the time, Dad?” “Mom, Dad wants to give me my allowance in sats, what’s that?” “Who’s that Satoshi guy you keep on mentioning?” and so on. So naturally, we need child-friendly resources that help the young ones learn about the orange coin.
Scott and Mallory Sibley were in a similar situation, so they created SHAmory, a memory-inspired card game about bitcoin mining. SHAmory is a simple game that even a three-year-old can play (personally verified claim 🙂 ), and it explains the basic mechanics of mining while introducing relevant terms such as “nonce,” “block,” “reward” into the vocabulary.
SHAmory by itself would be pretty cool, but Scott and Mallory also wrote and illustrated “Goodnight Bitcoin,” a simple story in verse about Satoshi, Hal and the creation of Bitcoin. The best part? Both SHAmory and “Goodnight Bitcoin” feature the same, cute monster-themed artwork, so kids naturally fall in love with both.
Find out all about SHAmory at SHAmory.com.
Soul, Sparkle And Smile Of Bitcoin
Besides Bitcoin Bazaar, there were many interesting booths that filled the huge Expo Hall. This was the place to be if you wanted to meet your favorite Bitcoiners (I finally got some of Mandrik’s legendary baklava!), get a book signed by Saifedean Ammous or Allen Farrington, or shop for a new hardware wallet. To be honest, I enjoyed the time mingling with the plebs in the booth maze more than any of the talks. You can always watch the talks online later, but you can’t ever recreate the feeling of meeting new friends, exploring the niches of the buzzing Bitcoiner culture, or — if you’re manning a company booth — getting firsthand feedback from your users.
Bitcoin 2022 was awesome; not so much for the high-profile keynotes, but rather for meeting the fellow orange-pilled Bitcoiners who add the soul, smile and sparkle to the monetary revolution.
This is a guest post by Josef Tětek. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
