The South East Asian Bitcoin Community is gearing up for another highly anticipated regional get-together.
After Vietnam took the lead with LightningCon 2023 Da Nang directly followed by the Bitcoin Island Retreat in the Philippines in March this year – it’s now time for the Kingdom of Thailand to take the limelight and be the host to Bitcoiners from near and far.
The event will take place at True Digital Park in Bangkok’s Phra Khanong district – tickets for the event are still available here.
Ahead of the first Bitcoin Thailand conference we had the chance to catch up with local community builder Piriya, who has been instrumental in bringing large swaths of Bitcoin knowledge into Thai language via his extremely popular Youtube channel or various Bitcoin book translations into Thai, available via the Rightshift Online shop.
BitcoinVN News: Hello Piriya and thank you for your time! Only two more weeks to go until the inaugural Bitcoin Thailand conference! What makes you most excited about the upcoming event and why should people attend?
Piriya: It will be the first Bitcoin event in Thailand. The Thai Bitcoin community has been growing steadily year after year and it has reached a point where I think it’s appropriate that we have a Bitcoin only event where we focus on adoption, technology, and the geopolitical implications of Bitcoin as a global monetary good. So, I’m very excited and honored to be a part of the upcoming event.
BitcoinVN News: Earlier in the year you spoke at the inaugural LightningCon Da Nang. What was your impression of the event? What could have been better? And would you recommend people checking it out next year?
Piriya: It was my first time in Danang and I absolutely love the place. The conference was on the small side but the panels were of the highest quality, all signal, no noise. Overall I had a great time!
BitcoinVN News: These days many inhabitants of Western societies are looking for better economic opportunities and lifestyle situations outside the West.
How do you see Thailand developing in the upcoming years?
For which type of personality would it be a good option to consider as a new homebase – and who might feel out of place / disappointed?
Piriya: That’s a tough question. I can’t really speak for the rest of the country but from what I’ve gathered, Thailand is a great place for digital nomads though our legal and political aspects might pose some difficulties for businesses. The food is great, cheap, and plentiful and you can definitely find a lot of interesting places to visit. It is also a relatively safe environment which is probably the reason we are seeing more and more foreigners taking up residence in various provinces around the country. Bangkok, on the other hand, has a relatively high cost of living compared to other parts of the country.
BitcoinVN News: After lagging behind in terms of actual building on and with Bitcoin in the previous decade, the communities across the ASEAN region seemingly are coming to life. How do you see the Bitcoin communities and business in South East Asia develop in the following years?
Piriya: It is only natural, and quite sad, that most technically minded intellectuals would fall for the crypto trap at first but as time goes by they will realize where the real innovation is. As someone who has been with the local community for almost a decade, I can see the shift becoming more pronounced, many of my crypto-devs friends have since become Bitcoin maximalists after understanding the value of a truly decentralized electronic cash protocol. I think we will see more and more uptake of young developers getting into building on and with Bitcoin in the future coupled with the fact that there are more Bitcoin companies now, there will be more hiring opportunities for younger talents.
BitcoinVN News: What do you perceive as the biggest challenges for Bitcoin in the decade ahead and what should companies and the communities focus on to overcome these challenges?
Piriya: Bitcoin still faces many challenges, both technically and fundamentally and will need to go through many many more tests in the future. Scaling, for example, is still a problem, Lightning has its flaw and can’t feasibly scale to accommodate all of human transactions, multiple solutions will be needed and with that, the resolve of the community will be tested. I believe Bitcoin will find a way and that development in a decentralized environment happens at the fringe but the future is yet unknown.
Political and government push back will also be gaining momentum in the near future, with the introductions of CBDC and ETFs both Bitcoin and Bitcoiners will be tested, many will suffer the wrath of their governments, many may lose their Bitcoin, or their livelihoods, I prefer to enjoy the relative peace and freedom that we have now while I can but one must not forget what Bitcoin really is and be prepared for the worse, especially in the coming decade.
Want to meet Piriya, the BitcoinVN crew and other Bitcoiners from South East Asia and beyond?
Grab your tickets here.
In case you have missed out on Piriya’s talk in Da Nang, you can rewatch it here.
Furthermore you can follow Piriya on Twitter or his Youtube channel.
And if you want to get the Bitcoin goods in Thailand – Rightshift got you covered.
