Fears Miami Bitcoin conference attended by 12,000 people could be COVID super-spreader event

Fears are mounting that a Bitcoin conference attended by 12,000 people in Miami could turn into a COVID-19 super-spreader event after dozens of guests reportedly tested positive for the virus in the days that followed. 

One attendee issued a warning on Twitter this week, saying ‘everyone’ he interacted with during the three-day Bitcoin 2021 event – where guest speakers included Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, boxer Floyd Mayweather and former US Rep Ron Paul – had tested positive.  It’s not clear how many people he interacted with.

But details and data about positive cases linked to the conference are unclear, and Florida stopped providing daily COVID-19 updates on June 4, the day the convention began. 

The last reported number of positive cases in Miami-Dade County was 287, according to the New York Times COVID-19 tracker. 

The Miami-Dade County Health Department did not return DailyMail.com’s request for information related to the conference on Friday morning. 

However reports on social media have suggested that a number of people who attended the conference may have been infected.  

One user tweeted a graphic that included four tweets related to COVID-19 and Bitcoin 2021 saying, ‘The #Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami was the first major in-person conference since the pandemic started. It may have been a “super spreading event” as dozens of participants reveal they’ve tested positive for COVID-19.”

Another user tweeted: ‘Just tested positive for COVID. Some info if you met me in Miami: I tested negative on the 2nd (anigen) and the 6th (PCR). I had no symptoms until I got back home to Sweeden ([June] 8-9th). I was not vaccinated.’

A third wrote: ‘Just tested positive for COVID-19. Probably got it at the BTC Conference in Miami, but whatever.’

Yet another chimed in: ‘Looks like I’m joining the BTC Miami covid list. It turns out that attending packed events to discuss number-go-up technology does increase the chance of getting sick. I wish you all good health and green candles, and if you’re feeling sick go get tested this week.’

Larry Cermak, research director at cryptocurrency news website the Block, tweeted that ‘everyone’ he hung out with during the conference had tested positive – but he had not. Cermak later deleted the tweet.  

The Bitcoin conference in the Mana Wynwood convention center in Miami’s arts and entertainment district was the biggest Bitcoin event in history and one of the largest events since the pandemic began. 

The CDC has lifted almost all COVID-19 restrictions for fully vaccinated Americans, but most of the country isn’t, yet there were no mask mandates or proof-of-vaccination requirement to attend.

Florida is in the middle of the pack in terms of vaccination rates among adults, with 50 percent fully vaccinated and 61 percent partially vaccinated, according to the NYT tracker. 

The vaccination rate in Miami-Dade County is between 30 and 30.9 percent, according to the CDC. 

While Miami hosted the event, it attracted people from all over the country and even internationally, making an already-difficult task of pinpointing specific outbreaks even more challenging.  

While Florida officials and health experts sort out the issues, the event raises another issue – how should business conferences and vacations, particularly on cruises or indoor events, be run. 

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a CNBC contributer and former FDA commissioner, said on CNBC that he believes the structures of conferences moving forward will be hybrid model with ‘high-value’ clients attending a smaller in-person event while the rest will attend virtually. 

‘I don’t think the idea of trying to pack 5,000 people into a conference room or thousands of people into a conference room and trying to get as large of a crowd as possible is the approach businesses are going to take,’ Gottlieb said. 

Gottlieb said he’s been to events unmasked where ‘there were hundreds not thousands’ and people were fully vaccinated. 

The Bitcoin event itself was the largest cryto-currency event. 

The controversial form of currency has an enthusiastic niche following that supports say is beyond the reach of government meddling.   

Noticeably absent was Elon Musk, who’s drawn the ire of the Bitcoin community after his tweets supporting, or dismissing the currencies, with his outsize influence sending the value of the alternative payment methods up or down accordingly.