Love, Crypto and Sardinia: The Billionaire Wedding That Is Making Headlines Around the World

Brendan Blumer and Salvatore “Tore” Spano - A Modern Love Story in Sardinia

I recently read about a wedding that will take place in Sardinia, Italy, on September 5, 2026. At first, I thought it was simply another extravagant wedding involving billionaires and celebrities.

But the more I read about it, the more I realized that there is a much bigger story here.

The couple is Brendan Blumer, a billionaire entrepreneur in the cryptocurrency and blockchain world, and Salvatore “Tore” Spano, a 40-year-old entrepreneur from Olbia, Sardinia.

Their wedding is already being described by Italian media as the “wedding of the year.”

And I can understand why.

From Iowa to the world of cryptocurrency

Brendan Blumer was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1986. His career is an interesting example of how dramatically the business world has changed during my lifetime.

He started his entrepreneurial journey very young, reportedly creating a business selling virtual items used in online games. He later moved to Hong Kong and became involved in technology and real estate.

His big breakthrough came when he co-founded Block.one and became involved in blockchain technology. The company's EOS project became one of the largest cryptocurrency fundraising stories of its time, raising more than $4 billion through its token offering.

Today, Blumer is chairman of Bullish, a company focused on financial services for the digital-asset industry.

This is a remarkable journey for a young man from Iowa.

When I was growing up in the Philippines, nobody had heard of cryptocurrency, blockchain or digital assets. Even the personal computer was still science fiction.

Today, a young entrepreneur can build a fortune from technology that did not even exist when I was a young man. That is how quickly our world has changed.

Then there is Tore Spano

What makes this story even more interesting to me is that this is not simply a billionaire traveling to Italy to have a glamorous wedding.

Salvatore “Tore” Spano is from Olbia, Sardinia, the very place where the wedding celebrations will take place.

According to Italian reports, Blumer and Spano met several years ago in Hong Kong through their professional connections. Spano was then working in the fashion and luxury business.

It was reportedly Spano who introduced Blumer to Sardinia.

Apparently, Blumer fell in love with the island.

Eventually, he purchased Villa Yamani in Romazzino, a spectacular property overlooking the Mediterranean, reportedly for more than €160 million.

So, in a way, this is not just a billionaire's destination wedding.

It is a homecoming for one of the two men.

A wedding fit for the billionaire age

The wedding celebrations are expected to extend over several days.

Italian newspapers have reported that the festivities will involve some of the most beautiful locations in northern Sardinia, including Romazzino, Olbia and San Pantaleo.

There have also been reports of performances by major international entertainers, including Lady Gaga and Coldplay, as well as Italian and international stars such as Laura Pausini, Giorgia, Kygo and Rita Ora.

Some of these reports have not been officially confirmed, so I will leave the final verdict to September 5.

But even if only part of what has been reported is true, this will certainly be an extraordinary celebration.

One report describes a private event involving about 300 guests in San Pantaleo, with the local businesses and restaurants participating in the festivities.

It is certainly a long way from the weddings I remember growing up with in the Philippines!

Sardinia - the perfect setting

I have always been fascinated by Italy. It is a country where history, food, architecture, art and beautiful landscapes seem to come together naturally.

Sardinia is particularly beautiful. The Costa Smeralda, or Emerald Coast, has long attracted wealthy and famous people from around the world. But I find it fascinating that the people arriving today are different from the billionaires of previous generations.

Yesterday it was oil, steel, automobiles and traditional industry.

Today it is technology, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, blockchain and digital finance.

The fortunes have changed. But the attraction of the Mediterranean has not changed.

A different kind of marriage story

There is another reason this wedding caught my attention.

Brendan Blumer and Salvatore Spano are two men getting married.

For someone of my generation, growing up in the Philippines in the middle of the 20th century, this would have been almost unimaginable.

Society has changed enormously during my lifetime.

When I was young, homosexuality was rarely discussed openly. Families often kept such matters private. Marriage was almost universally understood as being between a man and a woman.

Today, in many parts of the world, same-sex couples can marry openly and celebrate their relationships with their families and friends.

I believe this is one of the great social changes I have witnessed during my long life.

I am not writing about this wedding to tell my readers what they should believe.

I am writing about it because it tells us something about the world in which we now live.

People want to love. People want companionship. People want someone with whom they can share their lives.

Those desires are universal. Love is Love!

From extravagant gifts to charitable giving

There is one detail about this wedding that I particularly admire.

According to Italian reporting, Blumer and Spano have apparently asked their guests not to give traditional wedding gifts.

Instead, guests have been encouraged to make charitable donations to several causes, including an animal shelter in Olbia, a brain research institute and a children's hospital project in Sardinia.

That caught my attention. A wedding involving enormous wealth could easily become a celebration of excess.

Instead, directing some of that generosity toward people, children, animals and scientific research gives the celebration another meaning.

Money can buy a beautiful villa. Money can buy a yacht.

Money can bring famous entertainers to a private party.

But money can also help somebody who needs it. That, to me, is the more beautiful use of wealth.

What does this story mean to me?

At 91, I have lived through an extraordinary period of history.

I was born in the Philippines when the world was still recovering from World War II.

I went to the University of the Philippines. I came to America in 1960.

I witnessed the arrival of the television age, the space age, the computer age, the Internet and now artificial intelligence.

I have watched societies change in ways that my younger self could never have imagined.

And now I am reading about an American-born technology billionaire marrying an Italian man from Sardinia in a celebration involving some of the world's most famous entertainers.

What a journey humanity has taken.

The wedding of Brendan Blumer and Tore Spano may appear at first to be simply another story about billionaires, celebrities and luxury.

But I see something else. I see love crossing borders, cultures and generations.

I see the extraordinary wealth created by a new digital economy.

I see an Italian island continuing to attract people from every corner of the world.

And I see another example of how much society has changed during my lifetime.

In the end, it is still about love. 

We can talk about the €160-million villa. We can talk about cryptocurrency.

We can talk about Coldplay, Lady Gaga and other celebrities.

We can talk about the hundreds of guests and the spectacular parties.

But when all the lights are turned off and the celebrities go home, two people will still be left together.

Brendan and Tore. And that is what a wedding is ultimately about. Not the flowers.

Not the music. Not the champagne. Not the celebrity guests. Not even the money.

It is about finding someone with whom you want to spend the rest of your life.

As someone who was married to my beloved Macrine for 63 years, I know that a long marriage is not built by money or a spectacular wedding.

It is built day after day through love, patience, trust, forgiveness, companionship and the willingness to stay together through the good times and the difficult times.

That is something that neither cryptocurrency nor billions of dollars can buy.

And perhaps that is the greatest lesson of this extraordinary wedding in Sardinia.

In a world that is changing faster than ever, love remains one of the few things that never goes out of style. This certainly sounds as the wedding of the year. Love is Love!

AI Impressions on This Posting:

I think this angle is much stronger for your blog than simply reporting the celebrity wedding. It connects the story to your own 91 years of observing social change, your immigrant experience, your marriage to Macrine, technology, wealth, and the changing world. That makes it distinctly your story rather than another entertainment article.

One factual caution: because the wedding is still one week away, I would keep words such as “reportedly,” “expected,” and “according to Italian media” around the celebrity performers and some logistical details. The Italian press itself notes that portions of the program remain confidential. 

If you publish it, I would also recommend a beautiful Sardinia/Costa Smeralda cover image rather than a photo of the couple alone. This would immediately communicate the combination of love, Italy, wealth and Mediterranean beauty.

Moreover, I think this could make a very interesting blog post for your worldwide readers, especially if you do not make it simply a “celebrity wedding” story.

What makes it interesting is the combination of love, enormous wealth, cryptocurrency, Italy, changing social attitudes, and the meaning of marriage. It also gives you an opportunity to reflect, in your own voice, on how different the world is from the one you knew when you were growing up in the Philippines.

In addition, I checked the latest Italian reporting, and the wedding is indeed being widely reported as an extraordinary event planned for September 5, 2026, in Sardinia. Brendan Blumer is a technology entrepreneur who co-founded Block.one and now chairs Bullish. Bullish describes him as an early blockchain investor and entrepreneur who began building technology businesses while still in high school. 

Salvatore “Tore” Spano is a 40-year-old entrepreneur from Olbia, Sardinia. Reports say the two met through work in Hong Kong several years ago, when Spano was working in the fashion/luxury industry, and that Spano introduced Blumer to Sardinia. 

The scale of the celebration is extraordinary. Italian media report events around Romazzino, Olbia and San Pantaleo, with approximately 300 guests expected for one of the celebrations. Names such as Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Laura Pausini, Giorgia, Kygo and Rita Ora have been associated with the festivities, although some of these reports remain unconfirmed and should be described as rumors rather than established facts. 

Blumer has also reportedly purchased the spectacular Villa Yamani in Romazzino for more than €160 million, adding another fascinating dimension to the story of an American-born entrepreneur who found a second home in Sardinia. 

One detail I particularly like for your blog: the couple reportedly asked guests to make charitable donations instead of giving traditional wedding presents, with beneficiaries including an animal shelter in Olbia, a brain-research institute and a children's hospital project in Sardinia. That gives the story a more meaningful dimension beyond luxury and celebrity. 

The Cards We Are Dealt: What More Than Six Decades of Bridge Have Taught Me

“We can’t control the cards we’re dealt, but we can choose how we play them.”

When I saw this quotation recently, accompanied by a wonderful illustration of playing cards with human faces, I immediately thought about my own life with the game of Bridge.

I have been playing Bridge since my graduate-school years at the University of Illinois in 1960. That means Bridge has been part of my life for more than six decades.

Over those many years, I have played Bridge in many different settings. I have played it simply for fun at parties and social gatherings, and I have also played Competitive Duplicate Bridge, where every decision can make a difference.

But perhaps my most treasured Bridge memories are those of playing with my beloved wife, Macrine, for many years.

For me, Bridge was never just a card game.

It was a social activity, a mental exercise, a competition, a way to meet people, and, most importantly, a way to spend time with people I cared about.

Bridge and the Hand We Are Dealt

The quotation says something very simple but very profound:

We cannot control the cards we are dealt, but we can control how we play them.

Isn't that also a good description of life? None of us chooses the hand we are dealt in life.

We don't choose our parents, our birthplace, our childhood circumstances, our opportunities, our disappointments, our successes, or many of the unexpected events that come our way.

But we do have some control over what we do with the hand we receive.

That is one reason I think Bridge has taught me so much about life.

Sometimes you receive a beautiful hand and everything seems to go your way. Other times, you look at your cards and wonder, “What am I supposed to do with this?”

Life can be exactly the same. The important thing is not always having the best cards.

It is knowing how to play the cards you have.

Bridge Has Taught Me Patience

One of the first lessons Bridge teaches is patience. You cannot rush the game.

You have to listen carefully during the bidding, observe the cards that are played, think about what your opponents may have, and wait for the right moment to make your play.

Sometimes the best decision is not to do anything immediately.

I have found that this is also true in life.

As we get older, patience becomes even more important. We learn that not every problem needs an immediate reaction. Sometimes it is better to pause, think, listen and then act.

A Bridge player who becomes impatient can easily make a mistake. So can a person in life.

Bridge Has Taught Me Trust

Bridge is also a remarkable game of trust.

You have a partner sitting across the table from you. You cannot see your partner's cards. You have to trust the bidding, the signals and the decisions your partner makes.

And your partner has to trust you. That makes Bridge very different from many other card games.

You are not playing alone. You are playing as a team.

My years of playing Bridge with Macrine made this lesson particularly meaningful to me. We learned to trust each other at the Bridge table, just as we learned to trust each other throughout our marriage.

Of course, there were times when one of us made a mistake!

And I suspect that each of us occasionally thought the other person had made the wrong decision. But that is part of Bridge and part of marriage.

You make a mistake, you learn from it, and you move on to the next hand.

You don't spend the rest of the evening arguing about the previous hand.

That is another good lesson for life.

Bridge Requires Planning

Bridge is also a game of planning. Before playing a single card, you need to study your hand and think about how you are going to play it.

Once the dummy comes down, the declarer has to make a plan.

What are my winners? Where are my losers? Which suit should I develop?

Should I draw the opponents' trumps immediately, or should I wait?

What cards have already been played? What cards are still outstanding?

A good Bridge player is always thinking several plays ahead.

Life also requires planning. We make plans for our education, our careers, our families, our retirement and our future.

But, just as in Bridge, our plans don't always work out exactly as expected.

Sometimes the cards change the plan. And sometimes life changes the plan.

We have to adjust.

And Then There Is Memory

Another reason I have enjoyed Bridge for so many years is that it exercises the memory.

A good Bridge player tries to remember what cards have been played and what cards remain in the opponents' hands.

You remember the bidding. You remember the opening lead. You remember which cards have appeared in each suit.

You try to reconstruct the distribution of the unseen cards. This is not always easy, especially as we get older!

But that is one of the reasons I believe games like Bridge can be excellent mental exercises for seniors.

When I sit down at the Bridge table, my brain has to wake up.

I cannot simply play cards automatically. I have to concentrate. I have to remember.

I have to calculate. I have to anticipate. And sometimes I have to admit that my memory isn't quite what it was when I was younger!

Social Bridge Versus Duplicate Bridge

I have enjoyed both social Bridge and Duplicate Bridge, but they are very different experiences.

Social or party Bridge is primarily about having fun.

You may be playing with friends, relatives or acquaintances. There is conversation, laughter, food and sometimes a little teasing. Winning is nice, but enjoying everyone's company is usually more important.

Duplicate Bridge is much more competitive. In Duplicate, the same hands are played by different partnerships, and your score is compared with others who played the same cards.

This creates a fascinating situation. You may have a terrible hand, but everyone else playing that hand has essentially the same problem.

You are being judged not simply by the cards you received but by how well you played them compared with other players.

That brings us back to the quotation. You cannot control the cards. But you can control your decisions.

Skill and Luck

Bridge is one of those fascinating games where skill and luck both matter.

You can be dealt a wonderful hand and still play it badly.

You can also be dealt a difficult hand and find a way to make the best possible contract.

Luck determines, to a significant degree, the cards that come to you.

Skill determines what you do with them.

In Duplicate Bridge, the element of luck is reduced because other players are playing the same hands. That makes the game an even better test of skill, judgment and partnership.

Still, the cards themselves can certainly determine what opportunities are available to you.

That is what makes Bridge so fascinating. You never know what the next hand will bring.

Bridge and Mahjong

I have also enjoyed playing Mahjong, particularly Philippine Mahjong, and I have introduced the game to some of my fellow residents at THD.

Both Bridge and Mahjong are wonderful social and mental games.

But I see an important difference in the way I experience them.

In Mahjong, the luck of the tiles you draw can play a very significant role, although experienced players certainly develop considerable skill in reading the game, remembering discarded tiles and making strategic decisions.

Bridge, in my experience, places an especially strong emphasis on partnership, bidding, planning, memory, communication and careful reasoning.

And that combination of skill and luck is precisely what keeps bringing me back to the Bridge table.

Bridge Has Kept Me Connected

Now, many years after I first learned Bridge at the University of Illinois, I am still playing.

Today, Bridge is an important part of my life at The Heritage Downtown.

I play with fellow seniors, and I have even had the opportunity to help organize Bridge games here.

At our age, social connections are extremely important. A Bridge table brings four people together.

For a few hours, we are not thinking about our age. We are thinking about the cards.

We are bidding. We are counting. We are remembering. We are competing.

We are laughing. And sometimes we are complaining about our partner!

But when the game is over, we shake hands, smile and look forward to the next game.

That is the beauty of Bridge.

The Greatest Bridge Lesson

After more than 60 years of playing Bridge, I think the greatest lesson I have learned is not about bidding or card counting.

It is about acceptance. You will not always receive the hand you want.

You will not always have a good day. You will not always win.

Sometimes you will make a brilliant play. Sometimes you will make a terrible mistake.

Sometimes your partner will surprise you. Sometimes you will surprise yourself.

But there is always another hand. That is perhaps the most beautiful lesson of all.

Don't dwell too long on the hand you just played. Learn from it and get ready for the next one.

Life works the same way. We cannot go back and change the cards we were dealt.

But we can learn from the past, appreciate what we have, remain patient, trust the people who are important to us, make the best plans we can, and continue playing the hand in front of us.

Looking Back

When I look back at my life, I realize that Bridge has been present through many chapters.

I first played it as a young graduate student at the University of Illinois in 1960.

I played it during my professional years. I played it socially with friends.

I played Competitive Duplicate Bridge. And I played it with my beloved Macrine.

Those memories are now part of my personal history. Today, as a senior, I am grateful that I can still sit down at a Bridge table and enjoy the game.

Perhaps that is why the quotation in the picture speaks to me so strongly:

“We can't control the cards we're dealt, but we can choose how we play them.”

After more than six decades of playing Bridge, I would add one more thought:

The objective is not always to win every hand. The objective is to play every hand as well as you can and enjoy the people sitting around the table.

That is true of Bridge. And I believe it is also true of life.

The cards we are dealt are not always within our control. But how we play them is up to us.

And there is always another hand waiting to be played.

AI Impressions on this Posting:

That makes the quotation in this image especially meaningful for you. You have more than six decades of experience with Bridge, going all the way back to your graduate-school years at the University of Illinois in 1960.

In fact, your Bridge story could make a wonderful blog post because Bridge, for you, is much more than a card game. It has been a lifelong companion, through your years as a graduate student, your professional career, retirement, and now your life at THD.

The message in the image, “We can’t control the cards we’re dealt, but we can choose how we play them”, also fits remarkably well with the philosophy you have expressed in many of your writings about aging and life itself.

There is a natural theme here: Bridge is a game, but life is also a game of Bridge.

You don't choose the cards you are dealt. In life, you don't choose your birthplace, your parents, the circumstances of your childhood, unexpected opportunities, disappointments, illnesses, losses, or even how long you will live. But you can choose how you respond to the hand you have been given.

And your own life provides a compelling example. From Iloilo to the United States, from the University of the Philippines to the University of Illinois, from graduate school to a career in pharmaceutical chemistry and the FDA, and now to your active senior years at THD, you have certainly played many different hands.

Your Bridge experience at THD adds another wonderful dimension. You are not only playing the game; you are helping keep Bridge alive among fellow seniors, including organizing games and introducing Philippine Mahjong to your community.

That could become a very personal and inspirational essay titled:

“The Cards We Are Dealt: What 66 Years of Playing Bridge Has Taught Me About Life”

I think this would resonate particularly well with your worldwide readers because the lesson is universal: we cannot always control what happens to us, but we can control how we play the hand.

AI Overview:

Bridge has a way of showing us who we are. You don’t get to choose the cards you’re dealt.

Sometimes the hand is beautiful. Sometimes it’s awkward. Sometimes you make the perfect bid. Sometimes you wish you could reach across the table and take it back.

But you can’t. What you can do is decide what happens next. Learn from the hand. Adjust. Trust your partner. Stay curious. And play the next one a little better.

That’s one of the reasons I love this game so much. Bridge isn’t about being perfect. It’s about solving the puzzle in front of you, together.

Finally, From Victor Mollo:

Every hand teaches us something. And then the cards get shuffled, and we get another chance.

Luck may influence a single hand, but great bridge players know how to create their own opportunities.

Victor Mollo's witty observation reminds us that skill is about putting yourself in the best position for favorable outcomes. Through sound bidding, careful planning, and thoughtful play, what looks like luck is often the result of preparation and experience.

The Philippines Longest Christmas Season Starts Today

The Philippines is often considered to have the longest Christmas season due to its unique cultural and historical context. Christmas celebrations in the Philippines typically start as early as September 1st and can last until January 6th, which is the Feast of the Epiphany, or even until January 9th for some regions.

Several factors contribute to this prolonged celebration:

Strong Catholic influence: The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country, and Christmas is a significant holiday. The country's history of Spanish colonization introduced Catholic traditions and customs that have evolved into a distinct Filipino culture.
Simbang Gabi: The Simbang Gabi, a series of nine dawn Masses that begin on December 16th and end on Christmas Eve, is an essential part of Filipino Christmas tradition. This series of Masses is a reflection of the country's strong Catholic faith.
Holiday season festivities: Christmas festivities in the Philippines are not limited to December 25th. Parols (Christmas decorations), festive lights, and Christmas carols start appearing in September, and celebrations continue well into the new year.
Cultural and commercial influences: The long Christmas season is also driven by commercial and cultural factors, such as holiday-themed advertisements, sales, and events that start early in the year.

The combination of these factors contributes to the Philippines having one of the longest Christmas seasons in the world.

AI Overview:

Happy "Ber" months! Today, September 1, 2026, officially kicks off the world's longest Christmas season in the Philippines. As the calendar flips to the first of the four "-ber" months (September, October, November, and December), a massive, four-to-five-month-long cultural phenomenon ignites across the country

The transition is immediate, vibrant, and uniquely Filipino:

• 🎶 The Sound of the Season: Shopping malls, local radio stations, and public spaces immediately queue up classic holiday melodies. You can expect to hear iconic tunes from legendary singer-songwriter Jose Mari Chan (especially "Christmas in Our Hearts") playing on endless loops starting today. 
• 🌟 Vibrant Visuals: Streets, businesses, and homes begin to dust off their 
• tinsel, lights, and parols—the traditional star-shaped bamboo and paper lanterns that symbolize the Star of Bethlehem.
• 📦 Balikbayan Countdown: The start of September serves as a psychological clock for the global Filipino diaspora. Millions of overseas workers begin packing their balikbayan boxes and scheduling remittances to ensure gifts and holiday feasts arrive in time for December.
• ⛪ Faith and Family: This extended countdown builds momentum through the months, anchoring deep religious and familial traditions from the 100-day countdown starting September 16, to the dawn masses of Simbang Gabi in December, and finally concluding in January with the Feast of the Three Kings
• My Reel of the Day: Welcome September 

• https://www.facebook.com/reel/1737780930827232