Inside Miami Tech Week 2023, where more attention was devoted to AI than crypto and NFTs; tech's downturn was hardly noticeable in Miami despite low VC funding
Lizette Chapman / Bloomberg : Tweets: @volvoshine , @technology , and @producercities Tweets: Ryan RC Rea / @volvoshine : We're still here 😌😌😌😌 https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/... @technology : Police, bikinis, AI and Keith Rabois: Scenes from Miami Tech Week https://www.bloomberg.com/... Jim Russell / @producercities : The Tech Startup Funding Rout Hasn't Stopped the Miami Party: “Last year there were gatherings every night for NFT art galleries & everyone stood around looking at holograms of apes. It was horrible. This year, crypto isn't even being mentioned” https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Miami Tech Week began as an accident of the last boom: an impromptu gathering kicked off by a single Founders Fund tweet in spring 2021, amplified by Keith Rabois championing the city as a tech destination and by a mayor who made Miami the most crypto-friendly city in the US. Two years later, the same party is running on different fuel — attendees report crypto isn't even being mentioned where NFT galleries and holograms of apes dominated last year.
The pivot is confirmed by what comes next on the calendar: Bitcoin 2023 still lands in Miami, but the conference drew roughly half of 2022's attendance, and both the city and its mayor have mostly moved on from crypto even as he keeps taking his salary in it. The notable part is that this rebrand happened during a funding rout, not despite one.
First-order effects
- Crypto-native organizers and NFT-era promoters lose their anchor slot at Miami's marquee week, ceding floor space and mindshare to AI-focused gatherings that now set the agenda.
- Miami's civic branding faces an immediate mismatch: a mayor who built his tech identity on bitcoin salaries is presiding over a week where his signature industry is barely discussed.
Second-order effects
- Bitcoin 2023's halved turnout signals sponsors, speakers, and side-event hosts must compete harder for the same shrinking crypto audience, while AI startups get the networking access that token projects used to command.
- Founders Fund principals and other early Miami evangelists effectively re-anchor their bet on the city to whatever sector VCs are funding next — keeping Miami's draw intact even as the capital behind its first act collapses.
Third-order effects
- Miami is settling into a durable role as a venue whose theme rotates with the hype cycle — crypto in 2021, AI in 2023 — meaning the city's tech status depends less on any single industry than on its ability to host whoever holds momentum.
- If conference-driven scenes outlast the capital that launched them, second-tier cities may treat recurring tech weeks as infrastructure, decoupling local tech identity from local startup funding.
The trend: Miami's tech scene is maturing from a crypto boomtown into a rotating stage for whatever sector carries the hype cycle, with AI replacing crypto as the 2023 draw.