... gala dinner in the Romanov suite of the Manor House, with real silver tableware, engraved ...
I wasn't going to make comment, but I feel I must say:
None of this reminds me of Bitcoin, nor do I hope that it ever shall. It is almost as if you describe, but with intended satirical device, the trappings by which one may seek to identify those who may harbour an ideology antithetical to community design.
The coolness of the summit does not depend on the pledges.
The reason there are pledges, which cost more and more when the # of participants is increasing, is that
otherwise I would benefit too much from the tickets. The ticket income increases quadratically with the number of admissions, the costs go up perhaps in the 1.5th power. This leaves me excess money that I don't need or want. Original intention was to refund it equally to all the participants. Then I realized that was uncool. So better spend it on vanities, since at least there will be a major ripple effect. Nobody is forced to drive in the limos, we have used cars available too.
You can easily buy money with coolness. You can hardly buy coolness with money. So the cool guys (in Bitcoin economy at least), have no shortage of money (bitcoins). The only thing they need to take care of, is that they stay cool.