Vitalik Buterin

The creator of Ethereum, the blockchain platform that acts as a world computer for
decentralized applications. Its cryptocurrency, Ether, has seen its value skyrocket in
2017 (Ethereum's market cap is nearly $30 billion). He cofounded Bitcoin Magazine and
now leads Ethereum, working on upgrades to its protocol.

Charlie Lee
The creator of Litecoin, and formerly Coinbase's Director of Engineering. Although he is
the creator of Litecoin, Lee remains focused on a number of Bitcoin-specific projects as
well. Prior to Lee's forays into the world of cryptocurrency, he held various engineering
positions at companies like Google and Guidewire Software.

Brian Armstrong
Brian is the co-founder & CEO of Coinbase, an open financial system and Bitcoin
exchange for the world. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, a
Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from
Rice University. He was also featured in the 2014 movie, "The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin".
Roger Ver
Roger is considered the world's first Investor in Bitcoin startups (including investments
in Bitcoin.com, Blockchain.com, Z.cash , BitPay, Kraken & Purse.io). Ver's computer
parts business, MemoryDealers, was one of the first online retailers to accept payment
in Bitcoin, and he now speaks regularly at Bitcoin events worldwide.

Andreas M. Antonopoulos
Andreas is the author of "Mastering Bitcoin" and “The Internet of Money”, seminal books
about why bitcoin matters on a global scale. Antonopoulos is also a public speaker at
bitcoin events and is frequently called in as an expert witness in trials relating to the
security and technical details of crypto-currencies.

Nick Szabo
Nick is a blockchain and cryptocurrency pioneer. Szabo is widely regarded as the
inventor of the concept of smart contracts, which are now a fundamental feature of
cryptocurrencies. Szabo also is the creator of "bit gold", a decentralized precursor to
bitcoin which informed the initial construction of Bitcoin's architecture.
Don Tapscott
Don is the co-founder and Executive Director at Blockchain Research Institute, which
seeks to drive clear policy-making and governance of bitcoin. He is also the best-selling
author of "Blockchain Revolution", a book on the numerous impacts that
cryptocurrencies and blockchain will have on the world.

Gavin Andresen
Gavin is one of the original Bitcoin developers, having been appointed the lead
developer on Bitcoin Core by Satoshi Nakamoto. A Bitcoin developer since 2010,
Andresen founded the Bitcoin Foundation as a vessel for cryptocurrency advocacy and
has dedicated much of his time to that organization in recent years.

Jihan Wu
Jihan is the co-founder of BITMAIN, which sells ASIC chip technology to bitcoin miners
around the world. BITMAIN is presently the world's largest manufacturer of bitcoin
mining parts, having built ~70% of the world's bitcoin mining machines. He studied
Economics and Psychology at Peking University in Beijing.
Laura Shin
Laura is Forbes' senior editor of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology coverage
and is a co-lead reporter on the Forbes Fintech 50 list. She also hosts the crypto and
blockchain podcast "Unchained". Shin holds a Masters of Arts from Columbia
University's School of Journalism.

Thomas Power
Thomas is a board member of 9Spokes, an open banking dashboard. Power is a
cryptocurrency expert who has published 7 books and spoken at 1000 conferences and
events across 56 countries. Additionally, Power is a board member or advisor to
numerous Blockchain and Bitcoin-focused startups around the world.

Erik Voorhees
Erik is the CEO of ShapeShift. Voorhees currently writes at MoneyAndState.com about
the struggle for the separation of money and state, and about Bitcoin as the instrument
by which it will happen. He is the co-founder of bitcoin startup Coinapult, and previously
sold his startup Satoshi Dice for $11.5M in bitcoin in 2013.
Tyler Winklevoss
Tyler is the Principal of Winklevoss Capital and co-founder and CEO of Gemini, a next-
generation digital asset exchange. Winklevoss has long been a bitcoin advocate and is
widely noted for becoming the world's first bitcoin billionaire, on account of his initial
$11M investment in the cryptocurrency in 2013.

Barry Silbert
Barry is the founder and CEO of DigitalCurrencyGroup, which builds and supports
Bitcoin and blockchain companies. He is also an investor in numerous bitcoin and
blockchain companies worldwide. Silbert also created the Bitcoin Investment Trust,
which is the only public security whose value comes directly from Bitcoin.

Tuur Demeester
Tuur is the Editor-in-Chief at Adamant Research, which focuses on macro investment
opportunities in the Bitcoin and blockchain space. He is an early investor in Bitcoin and
is a regular speaker at Bitcoin conferences around the world. He also cofounded the
Belgian Rothboard Institute, an academic think-tank.
Vinny Lingham
Lingham is known as the "Bitcoin Oracle" on account of his highly accurate predictions
around the pricing of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. He is the founder of Civic, an
identity management startup run on the blockchain. He was previously recognized as a
Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Charlie Shrem
Charlie is a co-founder of the Bitcoin Foundation and is a controversial Bitcoin
Evangelist. He helped found BitInstant, one of the earliest bitcoin startups, and has
been an investor in Bitcoin since 2011. Shrem is now the Director of Community and
Business Development for Shrem, a blockchain wallet startup.

Peter Todd
Peter is one of Bitcoin's most prominent open source developers, and is an applied
cryptography consultant. Todd is an advocate for cryptocurrency, and is vocal about the
need for more effective (yet flexible) governance of Bitcoin and other alt-coins in the
years to come.

Adam Back
Adam is a cryptographer who is the inventor of Hashcash, the underlying technology
behind a number of anti-spam softwares. Back is the co-founder/ CEO of Blockstream,
which develops protocols for blockchain developers. He has a Computer Science PhD
in Distributed Systems from the University of Exeter.

Tone Vays
Tone is the host of CrytpoScam Podcast. Days was previously a well-known derivatives
trader on Wall Street, later was a VP at JP Morgan, and is now a blockchain consultant.
He is also a regular contributor to The World Crypto Network. He was recently featured
on the Bitcoin documentary, "Magic Money".

Jameson Lopp
Lopp is presently an engineer at BitGo and the creator of Statoshi.info, which displays
bitcoin node stats in real time. He is also the organizer of Bitcoin SIG, a group of
MENSA members who discuss bitcoin matters. Lopp also posts regularly on the
Coindesk blog and other notable bitcoin publications.

Tim Draper
Tim Draper has been listed as #7 on the Forbes Midas List, and #98 on the 2014 Worth
Magazine 100 Most Powerful People in Finance. Draper is the founder of DFJ Venture
Capital, an advocate for blockchain technologies, and was an early investor in Bitcoin.

Jeff Garzik
Jeff is the co-founder of Bloq, an enterprise-grade blockchain startup. Bloq recently
announced its own cryptocurrency, Metronome, which it hopes will eventually be run on
multiple types of blockchains. Prior to Bloq, Garzik was the founder of Dunvegan Space
Systems, a startup focused on enabling space infrastructure.
Bobby Lee
Bobby is the CEO and co-founder of BTCC, China's first bitcoin exchange. Lee has
been involved with bitcoin since 2011, and envisioned BTCC as a full-stack solution for
bitcoin in China - ranging from exchange functionality, to providing secure wallets to
consumers. Prior to BTCC, Lee held a senior role at Walmart China.

Fred Wilson
He is a co-founder and managing partner at Union Square Ventures (a significant
investor in Coinbase) and the founder of VC firm Flatiron Partners. As a vocal advocate
for blockchain as a whole, Wilson writes regularly about cryptocurrencies, investing
strategies, ICOs, and more at AVC.com.

Naval Ravikant
The AngelList co-founder and CEO is also an investor in Bitwise Asset Management,
one of the first cryptocurrency index funds. As a proponent of blockchain, Ravikant is
also providing capital and advisory services to blockchain startup Blockstack, which
recently released its first decentralized browser.

Michael Arrington
Michael is the founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch. As a VC with a proven track
record, Arrington is now the lead partner at Arrington XRP Capital, a $100M hedge fund
based entirely on cryptocurrency. The fund will be denominated in XRP, the
cryptocurrency that drives much of the startup Ripple's software.

Jon Matonis
Matonis is a bitcoin researcher and economist. He is presently the Founding Director
and co-founder of the Bitcoin Foundation. He is also the chairman of Globitex, a bitcoin
and derivatives exchange. He is also a Board Member at First Global Credit, a
cryptocurrency investment and advisory firm based in Geneva.

Stephan Tual
Stephan is the co-founder of AtlasNeue and Slock.it, a blockchain infrastructure for the
collaborative economy that's built on the Ethereum platform. Formerly, Tual was the
CCO of Ethereum, and is universally regarded as an expert in the crypto and blockchain
community. He was previously Managing Director at Ursium.

Jimmy Song
Song is a prominent blockchain developer and entrepreneur. He is also an instructor at
Programming Blockchain, which helps talented developers learn how to code for the
blockchain platform. He is currently a developer at Paxos, a fintech blockchain startup
focused on automating post-trade settlements.

Chris Burniske
Chris is now a partner at Placeholder VC. Burniske previously led ARK Invest's
cryptoasset and product development efforts, where he interfaced with press to ensure
accurate reporting around cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets. He is also the author of
"Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor's Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond".

Derin Cag
Derin is the co-founder of BlockchainAge, the global leader in blockchain research and
consultancy. He is also the founder of online business magazine Richtopia, and the co-
founder of Marketing Runners, a professional services firm. Additionally, Cag is a guest
lecturer at the University of Monaco and the INSEEC Group.

Fred Ehrsam
Fred is previously co-founder of Coinbase, and is now working on building decentralized
blockchain applications. Prior to his forays into the crypto world, Ehrsam was a trader at
Goldman Sachs. He is an investor in crypto hedge fund Polychain Capital. He holds a
BS in Computer Science and Economics from Duke University.

Luke Martin
Luke is one of the most prolific and well-known cryptocurrency traders, and is best
known for hosting Coin Chat, an informative YouTube series about Bitcoin and
cryptocurrencies. Martin also founded (and now runs) VentureCoinist, a crypto analysis
and education website that is run on a membership basis.

Dinis Guarda
Dinis is the CEO of IntelligentHQ, a social business network. He is also the CEO of
blockchain startup Humaniq, which aims to become a secure, decentralized banking
solution for the 2 billion+ people in the world that don't yet have bank accounts. Guarda
is a regular speaker at bitcoin-related conferences worldwide.
Michael Kitces
Michael is the publisher of the Nerd’s Eye View blog, which focuses on financial
planning and has recently begun to delve into cryptocurrencies. Kitces is the Director of
Research at Pinnacle Advisory Group, and is an advisor to a number of fintech startups.
He holds master's degrees in Taxation and Financial Services.

Josh Olszewicz
Josh started investing in Bitcoin in 2013 and is now an advisor to Experty.io and
AltCoinExchange. He is well-known for broadcasting detailed crypto technical analysis
on his YouTube channel. Olszewicz also writes regularly on bitcoin finance site
BraveNewCoin.com, and is an adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University.

Joseph Lubin
Joseph is the co-founder of Ethereum, and the founder of ConsenSys, a blockchain app
development firm. Lubin also helped to set up the non-profit Ethereum Foundation and
VC fund ConsenSys Ventures, which invests in decentralized blockchain applications.
Lubin holds a B.S. in Engineering from Princeton University.
Ari Paul
Ari is the CIO of cryptocurrency hedge fund BlockTower Capital. Prior to his time in the
crypto space, Paul was a portfolio manager for the University of Chicago's endowment,
as well as a derivatives trader. He is interviewed about his views on crypto regularly by
publications like BusinessInsider and Forbes.

Ryan Selkis
Ryan was the Managing Director at CoinDesk, a site providing the latest news, analysis,
and insights in the cryptocurrency and blockchain spaces. Prior to CoinDesk, Selkis was
the Director of Growth for Digital Currency Group, an investment firm focused on the
crypto space. He holds an MBA from MIT School of Business.

Joey Zhou
Joey wrote the first node implementation of Ethereum, and also made significant
contributions to the development of the geth, go-ethereum, and cpp-ethereum protocols.
He is a managing partner at consulting firm Cyborgenic, which focuses on fintech
innovations. He is also an active angel investor and startup advisor.
Brock Pierce
Brock is the co-founder of Blockchain Capital, a venture capital company that invests in
blockchain related startups (such as EOS and Tether). He is the Chairman of the Bitcoin
Foundation, and also runs one of the top AngelList syndicates. He also speaks at
numerous blockchain events and conferences around the world.

Spencer Bogart
Spencer is currently the Head of Research at Blockchain Capital, one of the first funds
focused solely on blockchain technologies. He formerly was the VP of Equity Research
at Needham, where he led the firm's research on blockchain technologies. He holds a
BS in Economics from University of California, Santa Barbara.

Michael Novogratz
Michael is presently an investor and the CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners, which
makes investments in emerging blockchain startups. Novogratz was formerly a principal
and member of the board of directors of Fortress Investment Group LLC and was the
Chief Investment Officer of the Fortress Macro Fund.
Da Hongfei
Da is the co-founder of blockchain group NEO, formerly known as AntShares. He is also
the founder and CEO of OnChain, one of China's most innovative blockchain
technology firms. Through OnChain, Da is collaborating with the Chinese government
on establishing blockchain technology standards that will apply across the country.

Willy Woo
Willy is a data-driven cryptocurrency analyst and bitcoin investor, writing primarily for his
blog, Woobull. He writes regularly about cryptocurrency as an investment for
publications like Forbes, CoinDesk, and BraveNewCoin. Woo also speaks regularly
about bitcoin at conferences and events around the world.

Gav Wood
Gav is the founder of Parity Technologies, which develops cutting-edge blockchain
applications. Most notably, Wood was one of the co-founders of Ethereum, having
coded its first functional implementation. He is also the co-founder of Grid Singularity,
which aims to develop a decentralized energy management platform.
Nicolas Cary
As the President and Co-Founder of Blockchain.com, Cary travels the world to connect
with the bitcoin community and be an evangelist for the story of Blockchain. As an
active philanthropist, Cary executed the world's first University donation in Bitcoin. Cary
is also an active investor in cryptocurrencies and blockchain.

Eric Lombrozo
Lombrozo is the co-CEO and CTO of Ciphrex Corp, a provider of enterprise-grade
software specialized in the cryptographic transaction processing (CTP) space. Before
his time at Ciphrex, Lombrozo was the founder of cryptocurrency startups CoinSurge
and RingCoin. Lombrozo is also an active contributor to Bitcoin Core.

Vlad Zamfir
Vlad is part of the Ethereum Development Team and is an analytics consultant at
Burson-Marsteller. Zamfir is known for his active involvement in the Ethereum
community, as well as his consistent research in the blockchain technology space.
Brad Garlinghouse
Brad is currently the CEO at Ripple, an enterprise blockchain solution for global
payments. He is also a board member for Animoto, a video creation service. Previously,
Garlinghouse was the CEO of file-sharing startup Hightail and also held senior roles at
both AOL and Yahoo. He also has a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Elizabeth Stark
Elizabeth is the founder of Lightning Labs, which develops Lightning, an open protocol
layer for blockchain. She is also a fellow at Coin Center, a cryptocurrency policy
institute. Stark is an advisor to numerous AI and blockchain startups, and previously
taught at Stanford and Yale, and holds a law degree from Harvard.

Preethi Kasireddy
Preethi is a blockchain engineer that formerly worked at Goldman Sachs and
Andreessen Horowitz. She is the founder and CEO of Schelling, a blockchain startup
currently in stealth mode. Kasireddy was an engineer on a number of blockchain and
smart contract projects, and previously was a software engineer at Coinbase.
Kyle Torpey
Kyle is a prolific freelance writer who focuses primarily on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
He regularly contributes to Forbes, Bitcoin Magazine, CoinJournal, and Crypto Insider,
among others. His commentary and writing has also been featured on Motherboard,
NASDAQ, and other publications.

Charles Hoskinson
Charles is the co-founder of Ethereum and is presently the CEO of Input Output, a Hong
Kong-based blockchain research firm. He was also a founding member of the
Cryptocurrency Research Group, which was established in 2013. Hoskison is a bitcoin
evangelist, and writes about cryptocurrencies for numerous publications.

Vinay Gupta
Vinay is presently the CEO of Mattereum. Gupta helped coordinate Ethereum’s 2015
release, while working as a project manager on strategy and communications. He is
also the Designer of the United Arab Emirates' National Blockchain strategy, which will
enable Dubai to become the first blockchain-powered government.
Meltem Demirors
Meltem is the Managing Director at Digital Currency Group, which invests in (and
advises) 100+ bitcoin and blockchain startups. She is a member of the Global Future
Council on Blockchain at the Davos World Economic Forum and is also an advisor and
teacher at MIT and the University of Oxford.

Andrew DeSantis
Andrew is an early investor in bitcoin who is now the co-founder of BTC Media, a
leading provider of news and educational information about financial technology and
cryptocurrency. DeSantis is also a software engineer at 21 Inc, which is focused on
building out the full-stack infrastructure for Bitcoin.
Marek Palatinus
Marek is the CEO and Head IT Architect at Satoshi Labs, which is responsible for
building some of the most widely used Bitcoin products (such as TREZOR, Slush Pool,
and Coinmap). He is one of the co-inventors of TREZOR, and founded Slush Pool, the
world's first bitcoin mining pool. He has been involved in crypto since 2010.

Michael Parsons
Michael was a former executive in the banking industry and was an early evangelist for
Bitcoin. Parsons is now a sought-after speaker and advisor on the subject, and currently
serves as the Chairman and Executive Director of the Cardano Foundation, which
promotes and supports the new Cardano blockchain protocol.

Sunny Ray
Ray is the co-founder of Unocoin, an India-based startup that aims to make it easy to
securely buy, sell, and store bitcoin. He has been involved with cryptocurrencies since
2013, when he directed Business Development for Buttercoin, one of the earliest
cryptocurrency trading firms.
Anondran
Anondran is a cryptocurrency analyst and trader who is best-known for his Twitter-only
commentary on the crypto world. Anondran covers Bitcoin and Ethereum on a regular
basis, as well as other alt-coins (such as ZCash, XRB, and others).

Alexander Tapscott
Alexander is the co-author of "Blockchain Revolution" (along with his father, Don
Tapscott) and is the CEO and founder of NextBock, a blockchain investment firm.
Tapscott has advised multiple government agencies on blockchain (particularly in
Canada) and has spoken at numerous conferences about the potential of the platform.

William Mougayar
Author of the best-selling "The Business Blockchain", the first detailed book on the
blockchain ecosystem, and its future. He is the producer of Token Summit, which is an
in-depth exploration of the Token-Based Economy. He is an advisory board member at
the Ethereum Foundation, as well as Coin Center.
Dr. Craig S. Wright
Craig is the Chief Scientist of nChain, a startup focused on transforming how the world
conducts all transactions. nCash was recently acquired by a private equity fun.
Controversially, he is rumored to be behind the psuedonym Satoshi Nakamoto. He is
also the founder of Australian cryptocurrency company DeMorgan Inc.

Ryan X Charles
Ryan has been active in the bitcoin community since 2011 and has been an active
contributor to the Bitcoin open-source community. He is the creator and CEO of
Yours.org, a bitcoin-centric social media startup. Previously, Charles was a
cryptocurrency engineer at Reddit, and led development for Reddit's cryptoequity
project.

Kris Marszalek
Kris is the CEO and co-founder of Monaco, the pioneering payments and
cryptocurrency platform with a vision of Cryptocurrency in Every Wallet. Marszalek is
active in the Asian crypto community contributing to industry events and engaging with
media to discuss the implications of cryptocurrency and blockchain solutions.
Jackson Palmer
Jackson is the creator of Dogecoin, which currently has a capitalization of $1B+ and is
now a widely traded cryptocurrency. Palmer is presently a Group Product Manager for
cloud products at Adobe, and also runs a popular YouTube channel that's widely
followed in the crypto community for its thoughtful analysis.

Chris Ellis
Chris works at Bitfinex, the world's foremost cryptocurrency exchange, and is the
founder of ProTip, a P2P tipping platform. He is also a presenter at the World Crypto
Platform, an open-source media platform that covers the crypto ecosystem. He also
runs Future.do, P2P recruiting and career coaching service.

Alan Silbert
Alan is the founder and CEO of BitPremier, a Bitcoin-only marketplace that specializes
in real estate and luxury goods. In addition to founding BitPremier, he's also a Senior
VP at Capital One Healthcare. Prior to starting BitPremier, Silbert held senior
management roles at GE Capital and Merill Lynch Capital.
Dan Morehead
Dan is the CEO of Pantera Capital, an investment firm focused exclusively on digital
currency and blockchain technology. He also sits on the Board of Directors at Bitstamp,
one of the world's largest Bitcoin exchanges. Previously, Morehead held senior roles at
Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and Tiger Management.

Muneeb Ali
Muneeb is the co-founder of Blockstack, a full-stack solution for decentralized apps. He
has given several talks on cryptocurrencies at forums like the TEDx conference and has
written numerous academic publications and whitepapers on the topic. He also has a
PhD in Distributed Systems from Princeton University.

Nejc Kodrič
Nejc is the co-founder and CEO of Bitstamp, an online cryptocurrency exchange.
Bitstamp was the first fully licensed cryptocurrency exchange in the EU and has been
growing rapidly since being founded in 2011. Kodrič has been involved with Bitcoin
since 2011, and speaks at cryptocurrency conferences around the world.
Michel Bauwens
Michel is the founder of the P2P Foundation, an organization studying the impact of
peer to peer technology on society. He is a P2P researcher and is a frequent speaker at
bitcoin and crypto conferences around the world. He has also written for publications
like Al Jazeera and Open Democracy and was featured in the New York Times.

Francis Pouliot
Francis is the Head of Research at Catallaxy and CEO of Satoshi Portal. Catallaxy
combines the technical expertise of the best blockchain talent and the consulting power
of the accounting firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton. Satoshi Portal works on a
number of cryptocurrency projects, such as exchanges and payment solutions.

Peter Smith
Peter is the co-founder and CEO of Blockchain, a company whose software powers
hundreds of crypto applications around the world. Smith is widely regarded as an expert
in the crypto space, having been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York
Times, Fox Business News, and Bloomberg (among other media outlets).
Oleg Andreev
Oleg is a protocol architect at blockchain startup Chain and is a crypto-anarchy
historian. He is the author of the Gitbox app, as well as the CoreBitcoin and BTCRuby
libraries. Andreev also developed the Mycelium iOS crypto wallet. He is known for being
the designer of Russian social network VK's video sharing service.

Elaine Ou
Elaine is presently a blockchain engineer at Global Financial Access, a financial
technology firm in the Bay Area. Previously, Ou was a lecturer in the electrical and
information engineering department at the University of Sydney. She holds a PhD in
Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Ran Neu-Ner
Based in Johannesburg, Ran is the host of CNBC Africa's popular TV show,
Cryptotrader. He is the founder of OnChain Capital, a bitcoin investment firm, and is the
CEO of The Creative Counsel, one of South Africa's largest marketing agencies. He
holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Witwaterstrand.
Susanne Chishti
Susanne is the CEO of FINTECH Circle, Europe’s 1st Angel Network focused
exclusively on fintech opportunities. Through this role, she also founded the FINTECH
Circle Institute, which is a P2P online learning platform. She is also the author of best-
seller "The FINTECH Book", the first globally crowdsourced book on fintech.

Jonas Schnelli
Jonas is a Bitcoin Core developer and maintainer. Schnelli is the co-founder of
digitalbitbox, a Bitcoin hardware wallet that's presently in development. Author of libbtc,
a key Bitcoin library. He has been interviewed about his views on cryptocurrency by a
number of publications, such as Bitcoin Magazine.

Pierre Rochard
Rochard is a Software Engineer at Axial, an online deal network, and also is an expert
in the cryptocurrency space. Rochard was formerly a Staff Accountant at BitPay, and
also worked as a Senior Accountant at Hudson River Trading. He also cohosts the
Noded Podcast, which covers cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
Linda Xie
Linda is the co-founder of Scalar Capital, a cryptoasset fund. Xie is also an Advisor at
0x, a decentralized exchange run on Ethereum. Previously, Xie was a Product Manager
at Coinbase. Prior to that, she was a financial analyst at AIG in New York. She holds a
BS in Economics from University of California, San Diego.

Juan Benet
Juan is the founder and CEO of Protocol Labs and inventor of the InterPlanetary File
System (IPFS), a new protocol to make the web faster, safer, and more open. Benet is
also the founder of Filecoin, a cryptocurrency-incentivized storage network. He holds a
MS in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Chris Larsen
Larsen is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ripple, an enterprise blockchain
solution for global payments. He is presently an advisor at Distilled Analytics, a data
science firm. Prior to founding Ripple, Larsen was the CEO of Prosper, a P2P lending
service, and was also the CEO of E-LOAN, an online lending service.
Stephen Pair
Stephen is the co-founder and CEO of Bitpay, a Bitcoin merchant service. Prior to
founding Bitpay, Pair was a senior development engineer at IBM. Widely regarded as a
cryptography expert, he also holds two patents related to streaming analytics.

Joseph Young
Joseph is a financial analyst and journalist based in Hong Kong. Young is well-known in
the crypto community for his regular contributions to Cointelegraph, Cryptocoinsnews,
Hacked, Merkle and other publications. He's also the Managing Director at NewsCrypto
and B21M, focusing primarily on bitcoin and cryptocurrency news.

Preston Byrne
Preston is the founder and former COO of Monax,the makers of the first open-source
permissioned blockchain client (now called the Hyperledger Burrow blockchain client).
Byrne specializes in advising law firms and public-sector organizations on how to best
handle emerging technologies like cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Ben Davenport
Ben is the CTO at BitGo, a blockchain security company. Davenport has been an
investor in bitcoin and actively involved in the crypto space since 2011. He is an
investor in numerous blockchain startups (like BitPay, Coinsetter, itBit and Yoyocard),
and runs SVBitcoin, a cryptocurrency and blockchain focus group.

Arianna Simpson
Arianna is an early stage investor, with close to 40 investments in the crypto space to
date. She was previously a product manager at BitGo, a Bitcoin security provider. She
is also now a venture partner at Crystal Towers Capital, an investment firm focused on
emerging technologies, enterprise SaaS, and healthcare.

Tai Zen
Tai is a Senior Technical Analyst at Cryptocurrency.Market and the co-creator of the
TaiFu™ 30 Cryptocurrency Market Index. Zen is a renowned authority on
cryptocurrencies and frequently gives interviews on the topic to news outlets around the
world. He is an active trader in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies.
Alex Sunnarborg
Alex is a Founding Partner at Tetras Capital, a hedge fund focused on diversified
cryptoasset exposure. Sunnarborg founded Lawnmower, a blockchain investment
startup, which was later acquired by CoinDesk. Prior to joining Tetras Capital,
Sunnarborg worked in banking and was a Research Analyst at CoinDesk.

Tony Gallippi
Tony is the co-founder and chairman of the online crypto payments firm BitPay - the
world's largest bitcoin payment processor. Gallippi speaks regularly to the media about
bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and in 2013, also spoke before the US Senate about
bitcoin as a means for preventing credit card fraud.

Ansel Lindner
Ansel is the host of Bitcoin & Markets, a podcast that examines markets and politics,
money and economics. Lindner has been involved with Bitcoin since 2011, and founded
his own firm, Blockchain I/O, to house his crypto projects. He also writes frequently for
various news publications about blockchain and bitcoin.
Diego Gutierrez
Diego is the CEO of RSK Labs, which is putting blockchain technology in the service of
social transformation. He is widely regarded as one of the foremost Latin American
thought leaders involved in cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Gutierrez is a frequent
public speaker, and volunteer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ned Scott
Ned is the founder and CEO of SteemIT and the creator of Smart Media Tokens (SMT).
Additionally, he founded SteemNetwork, a blockchain-based rewards platform for
publishers to monetize content and grow their communities. Before his forays into the
crypto space, Scott was an analyst at Gellert Global Group.

Wong Joon Ian

Wong is a reporter covering tech, cryptocurrencies, urban studies and blockchains at
Quartz. Before his time at Quartz, Joon was also a reporter at CoinDesk, and spent
some time as a freelance journalist as well. He holds a Masters in Arts from University
of London, and a BA in Journalism and Philosophy from NYU.
Olaoluwa Osuntokun
Olaoluwa is the Chief Technology Officer at Lightning Labs, an open protocol that
leverages blockchain to enable private transactions anywhere in the world. Prior to this,
he spent time interning at Google in software engineering. He also holds a Master's in
Computer Science from University of California, Santa Barbara.

Oscar Williams-Grut
Oscar is a Senior Reporter at Business Insider UK, covering fintech, cryptocurrencies,
and retail. Prior to joining BusinessInsider, Osuntokun worked for the London Evening
Standard and Independent newspapers as their stock market reporter - and before that,
covered London's technology scene for the local newspapers.

Chris DeRose
Chris is a bitcoin evangelist, public speaker, podcaster, and journalist. He is the lead
organizer of the South Florida Bitcoin group, and a prolific YouTuber at his channel,
Bitcoin Uncensored. He is also the Community Director at the Counterparty Foundation
and writes regularly for publications such as Bitcoin Magazine.