Not Another Bitcoin Story

As the Bitcoin rollercoaster ride continues, we go inside a conference for another cryptocurrency called Steem. There, we meet the devotees who see this new financial system as the way of the future – and the man who will lead them there

- Andrew McMillen

On the stage in front of us stands a clean shaven young man, his short brown hair slicked back at the fringe. Dressed in a plain black T-shirt and dark jeans rolled up to reveal heavy brown boots, his name is Ned Scott, a 27-year-old former-financial analyst-turned-tech-entrepreneur who looks remarkably, well, normal. The kind of guy who could easily slot into your social sport team, then buy you a beer after the game. But he also happens to be a millionaire many times over.

Before him sits an audience of 300 men and women who are each hoping to become as rich as Scott, simply by posting on a website named Steemit. Co-founded by Scott, the site officially went live in July 2016 and has since paid out more than R240m in digital currency to its users. These devotees have travelled from more than 35 countries around the world – each paying as much as R14 300 – for the privilege of attending this, the second annual Steem Fest conference in Lisbon, Portugal.

Sporting the kind of wireless headset you might catch Madonna wearing on stage, Scott projects easy confidence as he gives a presentation to open the first day of SteemFest. Hundreds of people have gathered to pray at the altar of this new technology, which might change the shape of the world’s entrenched financial systems. For about 15 minutes, Scott addresses the crowd, who are mostly listening in respectful silence but occasionally erupt into cheers and applause.

‘The thing that’s probably more important than anything else,’ Scott tells the crowd, as his talk draws to a close, ‘is actually something I can describe in one word.’ He clicks the device in his hand to reveal the final slide of his presentation, which features just three large letters.