I went to a major bitcoin conference as a crypto skeptic. I still have doubts, but I see why buying the dip is worth the risk.

• I went to Anthony Pompliano's Bitcoin Investor Week conference as perhaps the lone crypto skeptic.
• The bitcoin community remains highly enthusiastic, even during an ugly correction.
• Here's why I might buy bitcoin for the first time in years.

As a cryptocurrency skeptic, I arrived at the Bitcoin Investor Week conference in New York City significantly outnumbered. I was armed only with my backpack, a notepad, and an open mind.

Eight hours later, I left with something else: a newfound fondness for the crypto community, and a plan to buy bitcoin for the first time in years.

Like many small-time investors, I've had a love-hate relationship with crypto.

I first bought $50 worth of bitcoin in June 2020 when it traded for about $9,300. That would now be worth $455 if I had held through the ups and downs. As bitcoin soared, I bought more, and I later bought some dogecoin and ethereum, inspired by memes and Elon Musk tweets.

My goal was to score a solid return and to have fun. I never was a big believer, so when the crypto market imploded in late 2022, I emptied my Robinhood account for good — or so I thought.

In my mind, crypto was rife with fraud and grifters like Sam Bankman-Fried and Alex Mashinsky. I interviewed Mashinsky in 2021, years before his arrest and guilty plea to fraud. He criticized the financial system and said people "couldn't explain to you what's happening, but they know that something's broken." Ironically, that's exactly how I felt when I heard Mashinsky promising massive, risk-free yields.

Though I haven't covered crypto in years, I made an exception to attend Anthony Pompliano's bitcoin conference on February 27. I spoke with dozens of bitcoin fanatics, and while I'm still not drinking the orange Kool-Aid, their enthusiasm convinced me to reconsider my cynicism.

Bitcoiners are unshaken in a shaky market

I arrived at the conference ready to learn, and to take the crypto community's pulse. Bitcoin had fallen about 25% from its all-time high above $109,000, and I wanted to see whether anyone's heart had skipped a beat.

A clear consensus quickly formed: bitcoiners couldn't care less about this sell-off. Throughout my conversations, bitcoin's plunging price didn't come up unless I brought it up.

One man named Ryan, who's plotting a move from tech to crypto and didn't give a last name, said he obsessed over bitcoin's price moves a few years ago. Now, he said he's no longer fazed by bear markets — even though he estimated 50% to 60% of his net worth in crypto. The hot crypto job market isn't cooling either, he said.

Many others are also running toward the crypto industry, even as some investors bail. They're coming from stable fields like finance, unconcerned by what many may see as a risk. Their primary goal during the conference was to network, and maybe meet the next Vitalik Buterin.

Some attendees were primarily there to learn, including bright-eyed college students and retired professors. With luck, their tickets will be small investments relative to their bitcoin holdings.

One enthusiastic bitcoiner was Peter Giammanco, a crypto startup cofounder who was once wary of the "libertarian types" who hawked bitcoin. The skeptic changed his tune in 2019 and is now a crypto evangelist. His parents and siblings are on board, and he hopes his cousins are next.

Why I'm now a borderline bitcoin believer

Some of my conversations abated as speakers took the stage, where they extolled the virtues of everything from crypto mining under Trump 2.0 to bitcoin-backed life insurance policies.

However, I learned most from mingling in the foyer, where I spent much of the day. On occasion, I'd ask bitcoin fanatics the questions at the root of my skepticism: What is bitcoin worth, and if there's no clear way to value it, how can I be sure that it's a worthy investment?

For most of my career, I've written about stocks. Investors often disagree about what companies are worth, which is why stocks move, but everyone in markets knows equities' primary value comes from the cash they produce now, issued in the form of dividends, or their future profits.

By contrast, bitcoin doesn't create anything, nor is it tangible like gold or other commodities. But that doesn't make it worthless; on the contrary, bitcoin has several clear advantages over other cryptos and even traditional fiat currencies.

Bitcoin's supply is limited, unlike most cryptos and the US dollar — which has been devalued by inflation and rampant money-printing. It also runs on an ultra-secure, pseudonymous network where there's both transaction transparency and privacy since wallets aren't tied to names.

I appreciate the value of bitcoin's network, especially for those without viable banking systems, and can see why its proponents see it as a crucial store of value as the dollar gets devalued.

However, as I told several bitcoin gurus, it's hard for me to buy bitcoin since it can't be valued by traditional metrics. Who's to say whether it should sell for $5,000, $10,000, or $510,000?

No one seemed to mind my doubts, and one attendee thanked me for making an effort to learn. The bitcoiners agreed that there's no reliable way to intrinsically value the asset, though their confidence isn't tied to a mathematical formula of fair value.

Instead, bitcoin fans' bull case centers on the ECON 101 principles of supply and demand.

Bitcoin's supply is capped at 21 million. Close to 20 million units are already in circulation, including several million that may be unrecoverable. And demand is steadily rising, including from asset management giants like Fidelity and BlackRock, which just put a bitcoin ETF in its model portfolio for the first time. Companies are also adding bitcoin to their balance sheets, even if few are going to the extremes of MicroStrategy. Crucially, the Trump administration is also enamored with crypto, and there's even been talk about building a strategic bitcoin reserve.

Essentially, the thinking is that bitcoin will appreciate as supply steadily shrinks unless demand dries up. And all indications are that interest is growing, especially as major players buy in.

While I'm not completely sold yet, I did fire up my Robinhood app and place a limit order for $300 worth of bitcoin at a price of $81,000. If, or when, the transaction goes through, I'll hold for at least six months so I follow our company trading policy.

I had few expectations when I arrived at the bitcoin conference. But although I was an outsider who didn't own crypto or work in the industry, everyone was very kind and respectful. I can see why some seem to value the crypto community almost as much as the digital asset itself.

When I left, I'm glad I consumed more than just a pair of iced lattes and happy-hour margaritas. I came away with a better knowledge of crypto and the fast-growing world that's propping it up.

As for whether I left with an idea for a winning investment, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed.