Apr 11, 2025

Miami Tech Summit served up experts on our region, crypto, AI and more – plus human connections By Nancy Dahlberg and Maria Derchi Russo Three hundred entrepreneurs and executives in tech and finance, as well as university and local government leaders, packed into the Perez Art Museum Miami’s bleacher style seats for the Miami Tech Summit on Wednesday, and as has been the case at past summits, business and politics do mix. The summit leaders brought in experts from government, industry and education for talks about crypto, tariffs, AI, the state of Miami tech, and more. “This event is our gift to Miami. I was born and raised in this community – it is my favorite place on earth, and this community has become such a vibrant and thriving city,” said Jose Felix Diaz, who co-founded the Miami tech summit with Justin Sayfie four years ago. “We believe in Miami, we believe in the tech movement of Miami, we also believe that technology, while it does a lot of powerful things for us, it can also separate us. One of the things we wanted to do was have an event where we could bring back a little bit of human connection,” adds Sayfie, as they welcomed the packed house. The opening speaker, Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple who is now living in Miami, discussed his company’s focus on solving real problems in cross-border payments and crypto custody. Just a day before the conference, Ripple announced a $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road, which aims to provide better infrastructure for large financial institutions. “We’re very excited about this acquisition. We can really exponentially scale their business … and that will help the whole industry.” He also reflected on the crypto climate change in the past two years. “We wanted the clarity of regulation, and the SEC instead of [doing this], they hired scores of lawyers to sue the industry… it really did stifle the innovation, but I think that is now over.” As for what’s next, on the legislative side, he believes stablecoin legislation will clear “very soon,” and also hopes the market structure bill will also pass before the summer break – “it would be a very big deal for crypto at large.” These moves will help unleash innovation leading to “amazing opportunities for different use cases.” Ripple has a small office in Wynwood’s Gateway, but Garlinghouse said for Ripple – soon to be 1,200 or so employees  – to ever have a large presence here, Miami needs more talent and he urged the universities to continue scaling their efforts. That Amazon and Apple recently established small footholds in the Miami area is a good sign though. President Trump’s Special Envoy to Latin America, Mauricio J. Claver-Carone, said the second biggest winner of the president’s tariff strategy (after the US) will likely be the Americas. It may take months or even a couple of years, he said, “but we have a shot to do something very special in the region.” Claver-Carone also lauded the introduction of bipartisan legislation to create an Americas Investment Corporation and Institute for Digital Governance, Latin America’s success in tech, particularly fintech, the opportunity to make a huge mark with data center infrastructure, and how Miami benefits: “Everything good about LatAm is represented here in Miami. We are the community of choice.” And Miami companies benefit from that immigrant spirit that is embedded in Miami’s DNA, and it’s the only city in the country with that DNA, shared Fred Voccola, vice chairman of Kaseya, another speaker at the summit. About a dozen companies have spun out of Kaseya , including Addigy. “The emergence of AI in mainstream usage, that represents a big opportunity for our city. Our universities are embracing it, our startups are embracing it – I think that allows us to start fresh and that’s going to drive the next set of innovation coming out of the Miami tech scene. We have an opportunity to be the leader.” His advice for entrepreneurs: “A lot of people get married to the tech. Technology is a vehicle that allows you to solve a problem. Be laser focused on your customer, the problem you are solving for them, and be ready to pivot  every which way.” And as your business scales, he said, “be able to micromanage your business without micromanaging employees. If you can do that, you have visibility to what’s going on, your systems give you early warning signs when a profess is breaking – and you can do something about it.” Keeping it local, FIU Interim President Jeannette Nuñez, born and raised in Miami and an FIU alum, talked about her career journey and full-circle moment now at the helm of FIU, the state’s leading producer of engineers for companies like Kaseya as well as small and medium sized businesses. FIU has turned up the tap on experiential learning opportunities to get them ready for those jobs. “One of my goals is to make sure we’re embedding AI throughout the university.” She was followed by the Cavinder twins, Hanna and Haley, part of UM’s basketball team and social media influencers, talked about how their differing strengths shape them into a great team together, as they build their social media careers, their podcast and their new Together app for health and fitness, among other projects. Closing out the day on stage, Michael Saylor presented his “21 truths of Bitcoin,” and BTC had already put on a show of its own, rising 5.8% on the day. Apparently, he made the case well, because a few dozen attendees peppered him with questions after his talk even as the Miami Tech Summit’s happy hour had already started. Others got a head start on the networking on the patio for more of that human connection that the summit enabled during Miami Tech Week. READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI: