Dartunorro Clark

dclark@jconline.com

According to blockchain.info, which purports to track all bitcoin transactions, more than 13 million bitcoins are in circulation, and as of Saturday, more than 70,000 transactions have been recorded.

About 50 people came Saturday to the inaugural Midwestern Bitcoin Conference at Purdue University’s Stewart Center, where 12 speakers — including movers and shakers in the evolving world of the software-based online payment system — helped fill in some blanks for Eric Lin, a Ph.D. student.

“I think that bitcoin is something that I don’t know about,” Lin, 27, said. “It may be the future and something that I should learn about, since I’m in financial services.”

Rodrigo Ferraz De Andrade, 35, is president of the Purdue Bitcoin Club, which he started two months ago. The club organized the conference.

“A lot of development is happening now,” the Ph.D. student said. “It’s a great time to be interested in bitcoin and related technologies.”

Economics professor Cathy Zhang, who kicked off the conference with a presentation on monetary systems, said Bitcoin is a fascinating phenomenon.

“It’s tied to people’s belief and expectation of the future,” she said. “It’s volatile because it’s tied to people’s belief.”

Sites such as Amazon.com and Expedia.com, CVS and Sears accept the fairly new digital currency, as do a slew of other brand names.

“I like the notion of people doing what they want, when they want, as they want without interference,” said participant Andrew Zeller, 21, a doctoral candidate in Purdue’s mathematics program.

Other speakers at Saturday’s conference included Rassah Murashchik of Mycelium Wallet; Brian Deery of Factom; Ryan Raymond of Storj; Elizabeth Ploshay of Bitpay; Jad Mubaslat of Bitquick; Daniel Bloch of College Cryptocurrency Network; T.M. Lee of Coingecko; Chris Wagner of Spendabit; and Paul Rosenberg of Cryptohippie.