Consensus Conference Closing Party Held at a Strip Club? The “Crypto Bro” Label Is Back
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Consensus Conference Closing Party Held at a Strip Club? The “Crypto Bro” Label Is Back
This is not the first time the crypto industry has stumbled at this venue.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Jack Kubinec
Translated and edited by TechFlow
TechFlow Intro: The Consensus 2026 conference in Miami has just wrapped up—only for its official after-party to spark controversy. Hosted at E11EVEN, a well-known Miami strip club, the event featured pole dancing and private dances. Photos from the venue quickly circulated online, prompting OKX to publicly announce it would reassess its sponsorship of Consensus. This isn’t the first time the crypto industry has stumbled at this venue—but the timing couldn’t be worse: the Clarity Act is advancing through the U.S. Senate, Stripe and Meta are integrating stablecoins, and the industry can least afford another round of “crypto bro” branding.
Sponsors Rush to Distance Themselves
Multiple crypto firms are scrambling to disassociate themselves from the controversial after-party.
On May 6—the same day Consensus concluded in Miami—the official after-party was held at E11EVEN, an upscale nightclub also licensed as a strip club. Female performers delivered pole and lap dances at the event. After news broke, OKX told the Financial Times it would reconsider its sponsorship of the Consensus conference.
Elliott Suthers, OKX’s Global Head of Corporate Affairs, told the Financial Times: “Events like these—immature and even discriminatory in nature—precisely alienate the very people the industry needs most. We believe the industry must move toward greater professionalism, inclusivity, and credibility—not backward.”
Another major crypto firm, Consensys (note: entirely unrelated to the Consensus conference), stated it “did not participate” in the event but is now reviewing its “partner vetting and brand usage processes” after discovering its logo appeared on-site.
Consensys, founded by Ethereum co-creator Joseph Lubin, is an infrastructure company whose product MetaMask is one of the most widely used wallets in crypto.
$6,000 Tickets, VIP Networking Zones, CoinDesk Logo Projected on Stage
Tickets for the party reportedly cost up to $6,000, with a dedicated VIP networking zone. E11EVEN—a Miami nightclub frequently visited by celebrities—is also a licensed strip club. Attendees’ photos show female performers in revealing attire dancing onstage, with CoinDesk’s logo prominently displayed on a screen behind them. CoinDesk, the organizer of the Consensus conference, declined to comment.
Critics argue that hosting the official after-party at E11EVEN makes it harder for the crypto industry to shed the “crypto bro” label—and harder still to gain serious consideration from mainstream finance.
Brent Fulfer, co-founder of the crypto events firm that produced the party, responded on X, stating E11EVEN is a legally licensed entertainment venue and that the event drew 7,000 registrants, including “executives from top-tier industry companies.”
“This isn’t ‘bro culture’—it’s adults making adult choices,” Fulfer said.
E11EVEN’s Long-Standing Ties to Crypto
E11EVEN’s relationship with the crypto industry goes back years.
In 2018, organizers of the Bitcoin Conference rented E11EVEN for a “social party”—later admitting it was a “misstep.” During the 2021 Bitcoin Conference, someone dumped $500,000 in cash from a bathtub during a performance by rapper 50 Cent; E11EVEN officially posted content about the incident. In 2022, E11EVEN launched its own NFT-based private membership club—though it remains unclear whether the club is still active.
The Worst Possible Timing
The controversy erupted at precisely the worst moment for the crypto industry.
The Clarity Act—a landmark piece of crypto regulatory legislation—has just cleared committee review and is moving toward a full Senate vote. Stripe and Meta are integrating stablecoins, and financial institutions are expanding their crypto offerings. The industry is actively striving for mainstream acceptance—but if anyone assumed mainstream adoption would automatically erase “degen culture,” they may need to think again.
Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos, General Counsel of crypto firm StarkWare, wrote on X: “The Consensus conference itself was excellent—high attendance, energetic atmosphere, numerous well-curated side events, and plenty of traditional finance professionals in attendance. But holding the closing after-party at a strip club makes it exponentially harder for us to credibly tell policymakers, ‘This industry is not just a bunch of crypto bros.’”
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