BCH Booth @ Futurist Conference 2026

The Futurist Conference is the largest crypto conference in Canada, located in Toronto, and is on its 9th year. Their 2024 highlights note 7000+ attendees, 250+ speakers, 100+ press/media, and 200,000+ online views. This year it runs on July 21st and 22nd.Futurist spawned from ETHToronto, so it has a very heavy EVM & smart contracts focus. I attended in 2023 and noted that there was essentially zero Bitcoin/BTC representation since 'nothing is really happening' in it. Having BCH represented with a booth and a couple people that know about the new contracts and app ecosystem that is starting may help draw some outside attention to the ecosystem, be it students, developers, or investors.Futurist had attendees self-select what they considered themselves, and ended up with:Students: 5%Policy/Regulation: 8%Service Providers: 17%Developers: 18%Power Users: 22%Institutional: 26%Crypto Infrastructure/Apps: 30%Investors: 41%Your Booth RunnersSayoshi Nakamario - me! I've learned and done a bunch of random stuff. I enjoy teaching and talking about BCH contracts for some strange reason, which is why I created the BitcoinCashUniversity youtube channel. This Bliss conference presentation gives a good overview of my journey:Jerry (@Lightswarm) has offered to be the second booth runner. He is also a BCH app/contract developer, has an in-depth knowledge of the ecosystem, ran many BCH meetups (Bitcoin Bay), already lives in the area, and has also been to past Futurist events.Performance TrackingTo help track whether the funds to have BCH represented at this conference were 'worth it' we would track these metrics and give a report afterwards:# attendees that interacted with the booth# attendees onboarded to a BCH wallet# devs/students spoken to about developing on BCH# attendees interested in specific BCH appsMinimum Costs (in CAD$):$5000: Booth Sponsorship (includes 2 tickets, standing booth, booth signage, BCH logo on digital signs, Futurist website, etc.)$1000: Sayoshi Flight $600: Sayoshi Hotel $200: High visibility BCH shirts for booth hosts $400: Incidentals (meals, taxis, etc.)Total: $7200 CAD ($5173 USD)Short fundraise time is to try and lock-in early-bird pricing which is expiring soon. I've already been in touch with the Futurist organizers regarding this.If extra funds are raised above the minimum then we would ideally get a larger booth ($10k), otherwise it will go to additional giveaway swag & onboarding.If the BCH price falls substantially and can't cover the minimum costs then the funds will be returned to the addresses that pledged them.If any big pledgers want to advertise BCH at the conference in a bigger way there are a bunch of conference-level options still available - contact me @sayoshinakamario (telegram) or @SayoshiHelpMe (X/twitter)