There’s a Bitcoin conference in Vancouver this weekend, and the mayor will be in attendance, which has led to some discussion online.
One of the more peculiar parts of the event is a scheduled talk that pertains to Kits Pool.
Learning Bitcoin takes place on Saturday and Sunday at the Vancouver Convention Centre, featuring hands-on workshops, presentations, and exhibitions. Sim is a speaker at the event for a chat called Bitcoin and the City of Vancouver, alongside Scott Dedels.
The Kits portion of the event is called “Heating Kitsilano Pool with Bitcoin Mining,” and features host Jarrett Vaughan and panellists Colin Sullivan, Mike Degroot, and Leo Wesse. We’ve asked organizers for more information about the panel.
Some members of the public have thoughts, and some are even in support of the idea of crypto heating the pool.
While Sim isn’t featured on the Kits Pool panel, he has shared his thoughts about the Vancouver landmark in recent weeks, following controversy around the reservation system.
Sim posted on X that he supports a pool that is “accessible to everyone” and also supported the efforts of folks trying to get rid of the reservation system entirely.
What councillors are saying about the Vancouver mayor’s fascination with bitcoin
Daily Hive reached out to a few city councillors for their thoughts. Pete Fry and Sean Orr responded.
“Obviously, the mayor spends a lot of time hustling cryptocurrencies: as has been reported elsewhere, he’s used his literal and figurative office to promote bitcoin and other digital lucre over a multitude of videos and conferences in the last year,” Fry told Daily Hive.
He added, “It’s fine to have a hobby of course, but since the mayor’s scheme for the city to invest public funds into crypto has already been debunked and dismissed by the Province, so I think it’s a fair question to ask if the mayor’s personal interests are in conflict with running the city in a way expected by the taxpayers of Vancouver.”
Orr was also critical of the mayor’s fascination with bitcoin.
“Sim says bitcoin is the greatest invention in human history. He compares it to air travel, cars, and the internet, and that bitcoin is ‘more important than that,'” Orr suggested.
“Overall, the economic theories that Ken Sim espouses are pretty out-there and outside the economic consensus,” Orr said.
He added, “Are we seeing the DOGE-ification of Vancouver’s finances? I think Vancouverites are right to be concerned that Ken Sim’s economic magical thinking could very well be putting Vancouver’s economy in trouble.”
What others are saying
Mo Amir, host of a local current events program on CHEK, had some thoughts on that and shared his opinion of Sim’s idea of an accessible pool. He referenced the bitcoin event on X, saying, “Tech bros hawking bitcoin at you while you’re just trying to swim with your kids.”
In response to Amir’s post, some celebrated the idea of Bitcoin mining heating Kits Pool.
Using excess waste heat from crypto mining and AI servers to cheaply heat community infrastructure like pools is actually a really good win-win idea and exactly the kind of thing we should want government to do more of.https://t.co/hYOik6BECu
— 🇨🇦 | Aaron Ottho | MOT MBA B.Sc. (@aottho) August 13, 2025
Others weren’t as supportive.
“What in the hell,” one X user responded.
We contacted the City of Vancouver for comment on Sim’s attendance, and we were deferred to the Mayor’s Office. The Mayor’s Office said it wouldn’t comment on Sim’s attendance since his participation is part of a personal vacation.
“As such, we don’t have any further details to provide.”