Dispatches from the ‘Coachella of Bitcoin’: Lamborghinis, crypto-jewelry, and fake protests

It’s 8:15 a.m. at the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan, and the escalator has a bouncer. 

An estimated 8,500 blockchain experts and cryptocurrency evangelists have come from around the globe to be here at the 2018 Consensus conference, and the line to pick up attendee badges shows no sign of moving. A security guard in a suit, talking into his sleeve, eventually gives a small group the go-ahead to ride up to the second floor where another line awaits. 

It feels like we’re trying, and failing, to get into New York’s hottest nightclub.

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