Gallery: Inside Bitcoins Hong Kong Unites International Industry in Asia

UPDATE (30th June 16:00 BST): Updated with additional photos from CoinDesk contributor Rui Ma.

Inside Bitcoins Hong Kong took place this week in the Special Administrative Region of China that has so far proved to be one of the more permissive places in Asia for bitcoin entrepreneurs.

Following the heavy media controversy generated by the ultimately successful Beijing-based Global Bitcoin Summit in May, Inside Bitcoins Hong Kong featured a number of influential speakers from China's bitcoin community, including Huobi CEO Leon Li, OKCoin CEO Star Xu and keynote speaker and BTC China CEO Bobby Lee.

Though smaller in scale than the Global Bitcoin Summit, Inside Bitcoins Hong Kong saw more international attendees than its predecessor and overall succeeded at increasing awareness of emerging China-based bitcoin companies with enthusiasts abroad.

Prominent international members of the community, including Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, Hive CEO Wendell Davis and BitAngels chairman Michael Terpin were also in attendance for panels covering topics such as bitcoin investment, the rise of altcoins and more.

The event itself produced big announcements from bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoinnect and bitcoin wallet specialist Hive, which introduced its web wallet during the event.

Despite these big names, the exhibition may have been the highlight as it connected exhibitors in a tight-knit environment that allowed for discussion between attendees and visitors.

Asia's bitcoin mining ecosystem may have seen the most success, however, as some attendees successfully secured equipment sales at the event.

For more on China's emerging bitcoin mining ecosystem and its increasingly powerful players, read our most recent report.

Additional reporting by Betty Zhang; Images courtesy of Bitell

Asian lantern image via Shutterstock