Political undertones stand out as Bitcoin 2024 hits Nashville

The Bitcoin 2024 conference kicked off on July 25 in Nashville, Tennessee with high profile speakers like Donald Trump, Michael Saylor, Cathie Wood, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Russell Brand and Edward Snowden set to draw record crowds.

The Trump factor

11:26 UTC: Cointelegraph's US news editor Sam Bourgi and journalist Ana-Paula Pereira are on the ground covering the event with the latest insights, pictures and video from panels and interviews.

The conference has garnered significant attention in the preceding weeks as prominent politicians joined the lineup of speakers set to feature at the event in Nashville. 

Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr are two major drawcards along other notable speakers like Michael Saylor, Cathie Wood, senators Marsha Blackburn, Cynthia Lummis 

Bitcoin and Lightning still hold promise for retail banking

15:26 UTC: Lightspark chief strategy officer Christian Catalini and Xapo Bank director of public affairs, policy and regulation Joey Garcia unpack the promise that Bitcoin and the Lightning Network will still significantly impact retail banking.

Catalini emphasized the ability of Bitcoin from its inception to seamlessly allow its users to transfer value globally across "more than 200 countries, every day, 24/7 with deep liquidity':

"There's only one asset and that asset is Bitcoin. It has regulatory clarity. It has on and off ramps in pretty much every country around the globe."

BlackRock' clients are mainly interested in BTC, ETH

17:38 UTC: BlackRock head of digital assets Michael Mitchnick unpacked the global asset manager's move into cryptocurrencies through Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange traded-fund products in 2024 in conversation with Bloomberg's James Seyffart.

"I would say that our client phase today, their interest overwhelmingly is in Bitcoin first. There's definitely interest in Ethereum too but there's very little interest today beyond those two."

Disclaimer: This article is being actively updated on 25 July.