After FTX’s collapse and in the aftermath, people wondered what the company’s Crypto Bahamas conference would be April 17-20, 2023 at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar, Nassau. The April 2023 event was to be hosted by now-bankrupt FTX and conference promoters Salt, backed by Skybridge Capital.
The FTX-invited island event appears to be a flop.
While we know that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) plans to speak at the New York Times (NYT) Dealbook Summit, people are curious what the next Crypto Bahamas will be. The 2022 inaugural conference was held in Nassau and featured a litany of well-known speakers, including former US President Bill Clinton.
Other speakers in 2022 included former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Tom Brady, seven-time Super Bowl champion and co-founder of Autograph, and Bahamian Prime Minister Philip.Brave“Davis. The 2023 event is likely to fail, but with the current events surrounding the exchange now defunct, you can never know.
For example, Andrew Ross Sorkin confirmed he spoke to SBF at the NYT’s Dealbook Summit, and FTX’s new CEO recently explained in bankruptcy court that some of the company’s assets could be bailed out. As for the Crypto Bahamas conference, the project funded by Skybridge Capital is underway. Salt is registered as co-host of the forum.
Many people have asked me if I would still interview @SBF_FTX at the @New York times @dealbook Summit on November 30…
The answer is yes. 👇
There are many important questions that need to be asked and answered.
Nothing is off limits.
Looking forward to it… https://t.co/lShAqXLKGS
—Andrew Ross Sorkin (@andrewrsorkin) November 23, 2022
Just before FTX’s collapse and subsequent bankruptcy filing, Salt’s events page highlighted the Crypto Bahamas 2023 conference on the website. At the time of writing, this November 25, 2022 event is still hosted on the Salt event page and links to the Crypto Bahamas web portal. True to the secretive lifestyle and mysterious transactions of the SBF, Crypto Bahamas 2022 was an invitation-only event attended by 2,000 people.
While it is currently only possible to inquire with Salt about the 2023 event, ticket prices for 2022 were between $3,000 and $5,000 per event attendee. In May, financial news publication Business Insider called the event a “deal for $614 per night“.
Anthony Scaramucci told Business Insider (BI) last May that FTX executives told him they wanted to enter the conferencing industry with his company. “During our debriefing with our sponsors, the guys at FTX wanted us to consider getting them a little more involved with us in the conferencing industryScaramucci said at the time.
The Skybridge manager also noted that the 2022 event should be smaller than the more than 2,000 people who eventually attended Crypto Bahamas 2022.Honestly, we had to start turning people away“, explained Mr. Scaramucci in his May interview with BI.
“It’s an island. So we ordered certain amount of food, refreshments and things like that. So we just said, ‘Listen, I’m sorry, you can’t come Scaramucci added. Other sponsors of Crypto Bahamas 2022 include the Solana Foundation, Galaxy Digital, Elliptic, Ripple, Blockfi, and Google Cloud.
Salty has just completed the Salt iConnections Asia 2022 event at the exclusive Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore.