With the largest Bitcoin conference to date taking place in Miami, CryptoPotato had the chance to speak with one of the most prominent BTC proponents – Max Keiser. During the interview, the host of the Keiser report talked about the remarkable difference between the first Bitcoin conference in Prague ten years ago, price movements, crypto sentiment, and more.

What a Difference Ten Years Can Make

Keiser, who has been among the most well-known BTC bulls for over a decade, spoke about the general mood shortly before the start of the 2021 Bitcoin conference. He went back ten years to the first such event in Prague, which was “dominated by tech guys, coders, hackers – about 40 people were there.”

He compared it to now when official numbers say tens of thousands of people will be in attendance in Miami. Moreover, Keiser noted that even the recent price drops in the market, which drove the primary cryptocurrency from $65,000 to $30,000 in weeks, cannot change the positive vibes.

He referred to recent reports showing that mostly short-term holders dumped their coins during the crash while long-term investors, miners, and institutions kept accumulating. This only goes to show that “real players are here to stay.”

They won’t be deterred by FUD coming from Elon Musk, China, rumors, and more, Keiser added. Just the opposite, he believes that Bitcoin will ultimately prevail and keep attracting new people to itself.

Miami is Just the Start

Keiser spoke about the city of Miami and its pro-Bitcoin mayor, Francis Suarez. As reported, Suarez has displayed a highly positive approach towards BTC and even plans to turn the town he runs into a Bitcoin hub.

The host of the Keiser Report noted that more and more mayors, senators, and politicians will get involved in the following years. Thus, Miami will be the start of a new trend until it becomes a “federal mandate or law.”

He also outlined another city – Austin, Texas – which is “Bitcoin centric” as well.

Buy Bitcoin to Help People Later

While speaking about the retail investors that enter the BTC space when it goes into mainstream media, and its price has skyrocketed, Keiser said that long-term investors should not worry about them yet.

Furthermore, he argued that Bitcoin investors should not be concerned with those who have chosen to buy altcoins – shitcoins – rather than the largest digital asset.

Instead of thinking about them, though, BTC holders should be focused on accumulating more portions. Then, they will be able to help their friends and family survive once “the US dollar and the global economy has collapsed.” That’s why investors would “want to have as much Bitcoin as possible. That will be the only thing left.”

Focus on Hash Rate, not USD Price

On the question of what’s his price target, Keiser, who previously predicted a price tag of $220,000 by the end of the year, said that hodlers actually should focus more on how the hash rate grows in time.

The hash rate is the metric that shows the amount of computational power miners put in the network to validate transactions. The higher the hash rate goes, the more robust the blockchain is.

Aside from a few fluctuations, the metric has also been impressively increasing in the past several years to new all-time highs, showing that more and more miners prefer putting their devices to work on the BTC blockchain.

“Hash rate is much more consistently moving in a higher direction. In my view, it’s a lot more important metric because it shows to what extent Bitcoin is going into the traditional legacy system because it’s taking energy away from these other things.” – Keiser concluded.